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Original poster

Are there key words on the jacket that puts you OFF a book?

189 replies

sweetnessandlite · 07/09/2014 15:58

Me?

As soon as I read the words 'Cornwall' or 'Painter' or 'tea shop' or 'young mother'
I immediately Put The Book Back.

Why do a lot of female authors set their story in Cornwall? It's so boring and predictable.

OP posts:
BeerTricksPotter · 07/09/2014 17:26

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
sweetnessandlite · 07/09/2014 17:20

Chicklit

As soon as I see the word Chicklit it puts me right off not that I'm not partial to a good bodice ripper if it's done WELL Blush

But Chicklit is usually mass produced garbage.

OP posts:
ThatBloodyWoman · 07/09/2014 17:18

Romantic or yesteryear.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 07/09/2014 17:16

Game

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 07/09/2014 17:15

GaemOfScones - think you might be sitting on a goldmine there.

Original poster
sweetnessandlite · 07/09/2014 17:14

I've just picked a random book up:

Powerful and Emotional. (it wasn't)
Her technique is faultless (so what)
Relentlessly suspenseful (really?)
Deeply moving and lyrical (lyrical wtf?)
A real page turner (lies)

OP posts:
Original poster
sweetnessandlite · 07/09/2014 17:10

instantly leaves for Cornwall to knit cupcakes

I actually know somebody who does this. I kid you not!

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Original poster
sweetnessandlite · 07/09/2014 17:09

GameofScones, Strangely enough, you putting all those horrors together, actually made it sound interesting! Shock

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GameOfScones · 07/09/2014 17:06

Worst book ever Grin

GameOfScones · 07/09/2014 17:06

When Cressida, a show-loving klutz, found the hidden letter little did she know it would take her back to the past, with flashbacks to her Irish 1950's childhood and a discovery that is both heartwarming and harrowing.

The young mother, whilst juggling her children and her career, instantly leaves for Cornwall to knit cupcakes in a tea-shop and work on a colonial farm, when she meets angry but sexy twin farmers Dermot and Nermal, and so begins an intoxicating, haunting and hilarious quintessentially British family saga spanning fifteen generations because they travel to the future on planet Zurg and find there is no greater love.

This collaboration by Booker Prize Winning Authors Ian McEwan, Martin Amis and Paul Auster will appeal to fans of Sarah Waters and anybody who loved Twilight and is recommended by The Guardian and Grazia magazine and is written entirely in twirly font with bad sepia photos dipped in glitter on the front cover.

Original poster
sweetnessandlite · 07/09/2014 17:04

Everybody is raving about that One Plus One book, but I don't know whether I can be arsed to read it.
It doesn't sound like my type of read.

OP posts:
Original poster
sweetnessandlite · 07/09/2014 17:03

tipsy! I see it! They are Watching Us! Shock
When I was on a Lifestyle Thread a few hours ago - I had slimming ads on the Right.

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Original poster
sweetnessandlite · 07/09/2014 17:02

Jodi Picoult is all Doom and Gloom. I can't stand her books.
My Sisters Keeper was about the only decent one and even then, it was one of those rare instances where the film was actually better than the book.

OP posts:
tipsyloolah · 07/09/2014 17:01

Ha! I have a JoJo Moyes ad on the right of my MN page - anyone else? She's watching . . .

Original poster
sweetnessandlite · 07/09/2014 17:00

DadonIce, the intrigue! :)

(it never lives up to the expectation)

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tipsyloolah · 07/09/2014 16:59

'against unimaginable odds'

'triumph of hope over adversity'

'resilience/human spirit/hope in the face of blah di blah'

I save my deepest, darkest hatred for Jodi Picoult nonsense though. All that, 'imagine you were having a cup of tea, there was a biscuit in your hand, the most perfect biscuit ever made - then your son killed everyone in the world except you and possibly a cliche-ridden lawyer. How do you love your baby when the biscuits are crying?'

Or something.

DadOnIce · 07/09/2014 16:55

"the past comes back to haunt her"

"nothing is quite as it seems"

Original poster
sweetnessandlite · 07/09/2014 16:53

Sometimes I wish I could find my 'double' (doppelganger). I would get her to proof read all the books in the world andthen she could tell me which ones are worth reading and which ones I would like - instead of me wasting my time ploughing through a load of drivel.

OP posts:
PicandMinx · 07/09/2014 16:52

Oh behave Grin

Original poster
sweetnessandlite · 07/09/2014 16:50

Really PicandMinx? Page 69? Grin

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PicandMinx · 07/09/2014 16:49

Before I purchase a book, I read page 69. If I get to the bottom of the page without rolling my eyes, I buy it.

Original poster
sweetnessandlite · 07/09/2014 16:45

I want something that I can't wait to read every night

That's a sign of a really good read, when you can't wait to get back to it.

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tipsyloolah · 07/09/2014 16:42

I know sweetness - I want something that I can't wait to read every night, that I don't want to end, that goes on my comfort list forever.

I'm finding YA much more entertaining, but I still want grown up stuff. I'm getting ruthless about giving up on them much more quickly than I used to though. I wish people would write the books that the back covers promise as they often sound brilliant - they're just nothing like what actually lies within.

Original poster
sweetnessandlite · 07/09/2014 16:39

tipsy,
I have started so many books lately, only to give up on them after a few pages.
There doesn't seem to be anything good around. Nothing you can get your teeth into anyway!

OP posts:
BOFster · 07/09/2014 16:38

Elegiac