Things that put you off, as a reader

Torin · Jun 14, 2010

I've just started reading a book that I picked up in a yard sale, by an author I've never read before, and there are a few things that are making me want to shake him/her (first name Jay, could be either/or). The first thing is the six-month old baby crawling across the screened-in porch, out the door, into the yard and across the yard, in the dark...it just all didn't ring true for me. AND he's cutting teeth, which is possible at that age--one of mine had two teeth at five months and no more until she was 10 months old. But the booting it out the door and presumably down some steps to the yard, unless the porch is level with the ground, which doesn't seem likely--all of that kicked me out of the story.

The other thing that grated on my eyeballs, as it were, is that one character has a "tobacco-cured voice" and another has "a bourbon-cured voice". WTF is up with that? (It's like the one and only book I ever read by Nora Roberts: if one more woman had turned up wearing a "silk sheath", I was going to throw the book in the fireplace. That book almost made me wish I were illiterate.) I'll be looking for other "something-cured" voices from here on in.

Am I the only one who is so easily put off by stupid little things like that? I'll finish reading this book, but I bet I don't pick up any more by this author.

*Edit*
OMG!!!!! So, after my little rant, I picked up the book to carry on from the "bourbon-cured voice" and guess what? In the second sentence after that: "...dark Sicilian eyes like two salt-cured olives..."

I kid you not. I'm not sure I can finish this book. I don't care how many copies it's sold, I don't care how successful the author is...this is just so...so...you know?

Midnight Star · Jun 14, 2010

When the plot thickens but doesn't advance. I'm currently in the middle of a book (I won't say what it is because I'm nice) and for the past twelve chapters, the plot has advanced maybe a smidge. It's thickened, but they aren't progressing. I'm putting it back on the shelf.

Also, I hate when I can point out the errors such as missing commas or strange sentences--even info dumps, which the book mentioned above has a lot of. I'm not very experienced, but if I can point out things like this, it makes me want to put the book down.

spamwarrior · Jun 14, 2010

Commas in weird places, turning lots of sentences in run ons.

I also don't like it when the people have these long moments of introspection, often including this whole flash back sequence. For example, a character sees a rose. She muses on roses and their uses in perfume making. She muses on her first love. She muses on the person she is married to at the moment. She then thinks about why her life sucks so much. She muses on daisies and peonies and the way her love smells like both. She muses... gah! Moments of introspection have their use, but when it's happening every other page I want to shoot myself.

shadowwalker · Jun 14, 2010

Dialogue tags that sound like a thesaurus; sex scenes that describe every part of the human anatomy, in every conceivable way, in every inconceivable position; descriptions that are so lengthy and detailed I feel like I'm reading via Photoshop; constant factual errors...

I'm picky. :guns:

spamwarrior · Jun 14, 2010

Forgot something... there was one book where there was a sex scene and the hero described himself as proud that she would allow her fleshly virgin self to be impaled by his sword of love or something like that.

BenPanced · Jun 14, 2010

There was a series western I tried reading back in the early 80's where everything was "tedious". At least twice a chapter.

Lyra Jean · Jun 14, 2010

I read a story by Kim Stanley Robinson and at the end of every chapter it basically said this will happen in the next chapter but you'll find to read it to find out for sure or something like that. It was very very annoying. I didn't finish the book even though I liked the premise.

I read a YA where the prologue was just the first chapter written in second person. It made me put the book down.

kayleamay · Jun 14, 2010

Hmmm...I bought a book at a yard sale yesterday. *looks at Torin with paranoia-cured eyes* Are you copying me?

Flawless characters. They bug me.

AriaKane · Jun 14, 2010

Too many metaphors/similes - especially tired ones. I read a Dean Koontz book that made my blood pressure rise because of how often he did this. Really? You have to tell me that the sewer grate he walked by looked like a waffle iron after telling me the fog was like soup and the shadows danced and blah blah blah blah.

I also hate when an MC is too weak. Don't get me wrong, character flaws are great - but if she doesn't have ANY strengths to contrast her flaws with? Snooze fest.

backslashbaby · Jun 14, 2010

I'm reading a book I love by an author I love, but every single time he walks outside he describes the exact position of the sun. He's a human sundial, apparently

backslashbaby · Jun 14, 2010

Oooh, 4000!

(Excuse me, Torin!

)

mirandashell · Jun 14, 2010

I once found a book in a hotel and lay on my bed reading it. My blood started to rise with each page but when I read

As I lay back on my 18th century antique Chinese silk pillows, a small tear ran down my cheek.

the book went out of the window, over the balcony and into the pool....

Mr Flibble · Jun 14, 2010

I like fantasy. I would usually say I don't care for fantasy that has low fantastical elements and is about political shenanigans ( I can read the paper for that) only what I'm reading now is exactly that and I'm loving it! Cannot. Put. It. Down.

So I'll go with - so much description of every damn extraneous detail I can't see what the chuff the story is

the addster · Jun 14, 2010

Telling too much of the story will put me off a book in a minute. If nothing happens on the way to the next scene, leave it out.

I read one recently that cataloged retail establishments between the MC's place and her mothers. Other than possibly being a comment on urban sprawl, it did nothing to move the story along. It's not like I'm going to have to find the McDonald's in a fictional town.

MissMacchiato · Jun 14, 2010

I really started to dislike the 'tomorrow, when the war began' series when the characters would do all of these seemingly unconnected, totally bizarre things, and then afterwards, the author would spend half a paragraph telling you what they were ACTUALLY doing it all for - keeping you in the dark for most of the book. Infuriating.

I also hate it when books in a series become unbelievably samey, that you know all the elements that will be involved before you even read it - one book series has the main female teetering between her decision for two extremely attractive men. Which is great. But after 15 books, it gets to the point where you think, you are a shallow, fickle creature. Just frigging pick one and stick with it.

I love Terry Pratchett books but I don't like the way some of them are told from 2 separate view points, one per chapter - I find myself wanting to stick with one character, and skip the less interesting story altogether.

MsGneiss · Jun 14, 2010

Poor language and dialogue, incredible coincidences, more suspension of disbelief than I can possibly handle ... i.e. I'm ok with "vampires and werewolves are among us," but less so with "every amazingly hot vampire and werewolf in the United States is madly in love with a chubby and uneducated waitress from the backwoods of Louisiana."

Silver King · Jun 14, 2010

What puts me off is bad writing, period. There's too much good stuff out there to suffer crap lightly. It's similar to eating, which doesn't take more than a spoonful to turn me off and seek something more tasteful to fill my need.

Mom'sWrite · Jun 14, 2010

I hate it when the book begins well, develops well, then nothing. The end is an ode to an author losing interest. *blech*

Things that put you off, as a reader

Torin

Wandering vaguely

Midnight Star

We are once in a lifetime.

spamwarrior

rewriting.

shadowwalker

empty-nester!

spamwarrior

rewriting.

BenPanced

THE BLUEBERRY QUEEN OF HADES (he/him)

Lyra Jean

Two years old now.

kayleamay

I'm on the phone.

AriaKane

Write. Wine. Repeat.

backslashbaby

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backslashbaby

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mirandashell

Mr Flibble

They've been very bad, Mr Flibble

the addster

MissMacchiato

Bring on the Sweet, Sweet Coffee

MsGneiss

Silver King

Megalops Erectus

Mom'sWrite

Service with a smile

Things that put you off, as a reader

Wandering vaguely

We are once in a lifetime.

rewriting.

empty-nester!

rewriting.

THE BLUEBERRY QUEEN OF HADES (he/him)

Two years old now.

I'm on the phone.

Write. Wine. Repeat.

~~~~*~~~~

~~~~*~~~~

They've been very bad, Mr Flibble

Bring on the Sweet, Sweet Coffee

Megalops Erectus

Service with a smile

*

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