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Reading peeves

157 replies

DopamineHits · 11/08/2020 00:06

1 - I hate it when several characters in a novel have the same name. I know books like Wolf Hall can't help it as they were real people, but I'm halfway through One Hundred Years of Solitude and please, not another Jose Arcadio... There are twenty two Aureliano's! I know only five of them are main characters, but I'm getting confused!

2 - I don't like irregular page edges, like the ones on the Puffin Chalk editions and the Little Women Penguin Classics Deluxe edition. Not a good feature. I don't know the name for them but why make it harder for readers to turn the page?

3 - Trends that really outstay their welcome. For instance;

"The stamp collector of Auschwitz."

"The stamp collector's ex wife's niece, and other women who are only described in the title in relation to a man and his profession, for some reason..."

"Romeo, and Juliet the stamp collector: a Shakespeare retelling (because we exhausted all the fairytales by now we think but we're checking again, don't worry.)"

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CherryValanc · 01/09/2020 20:11

So it is!! Imagine all those years of reading it I'd never looked it up. On top of that I'd always imagined it was hard and uncomfortable, not the opposite as it seemingly is!!!

Prokupatuscrakedatus · 31/08/2020 19:45

I am not a native speaker and I looked up this term while reading a book - it is a genuine type of furniture - you can order it online. My granny had things like that.

SJaneS48 · 31/08/2020 10:34

Usually someone who’s trying hard to be posh i think?

Never seen any book feature under stuffed sofa’s

CherryValanc · 30/08/2020 21:37

@ImaSababa

"Overstuffed furniture". WTF is that?
Exists in fiction only I think.

It's usually used to depicted someone is 'posh' doesn't it.

ImaSababa · 29/08/2020 17:17

"Overstuffed furniture". WTF is that?

CherryValanc · 26/08/2020 18:27

@BlusteryShowers

Where the author has a favourite turn of phrase that they use over and over and over.

I forget which book it was but the author seemed to describe everything "like so many..." . It got really bloody grating.

It might have been Little Fires Everywhere but I'm not sure.

Yes,definitely - I mentioned this up-thread (and very much worth mentioning again)

At the time I'd forgotten the word that Mary Shelley used many times in Frankenstein. It was 'countenance'. I've even gone as far as checking its usage - 48 times - and its not a particulrly long book.

(If i'm honest I found that answer on reddit - someone had asked the question and whoever replied looked i up in an ebook!)

summerfish · 26/08/2020 08:37

@BlusteryShowers

Where the author has a favourite turn of phrase that they use over and over and over.

I forget which book it was but the author seemed to describe everything "like so many..." . It got really bloody grating.

It might have been Little Fires Everywhere but I'm not sure.

Oh God, yes this! I read a book called Bunny which was bad for lots of reasons but the "like so much white icing", "like so many tears" was nauseating.
JuneSpoon · 25/08/2020 22:30

Yes to the names
Similar names eg Ellie, Elaine and Emma. Who is who?!

Multigenerational stories where the granny, the mum and the daughter are called Laura, Sarah and Kate or similar. Again, who is who?! The granny should be called Betty, the mother maybe Kate or Laura and the daughter be Tiffany or Chloe.

And the mystery constantly alluded to just irritates me. I read Tiger Eye by Judy Blume when I was about 13. Even then I was unimpressed. The heroine constantly thought about "the night that changed everything" and "the bag at the back of her wardrobe". A whole book later we discover her dad was killed when his store was robbed and she still has his blood stained clothes in her wardrobe or similar

RightOnTheEdge · 25/08/2020 20:49

I came on to say book titles like
The Photographer's Wife
The Paramedic's Daughter
The Beekeeper's Daughter
The Builder's Great Uncle
Blah blah

I really hate books that don't end properly and leave you guessing. If I wanted to use my imagination or decide myself what happened I'd write my own book Hmm

BlusteryShowers · 25/08/2020 20:32

Where the author has a favourite turn of phrase that they use over and over and over.

I forget which book it was but the author seemed to describe everything "like so many..." . It got really bloody grating.

It might have been Little Fires Everywhere but I'm not sure.

CherryValanc · 25/08/2020 20:17

(Had a smiley face at the end of that. It's gone!.)

CherryValanc · 25/08/2020 20:16

War and Peace.

Head wreaking for names. Each character has three names and can be referred to as a combination of the three or each one individually or a diminutive of some sort.

There's enough characters without each one having 18 possible names.

SJaneS48 · 25/08/2020 18:21

Chicken and caramel latte - sounds fowl. Bit confused though if the rabbit shifter has a hirsute problem? Suspect the barista might be behind the dastardly poultry napping - can you let on @DancelikeEmmaGoldman??

toffee1000 · 25/08/2020 17:55

“she can’t decide between saying yes and running up his trouser leg”
GrinGrinGrin

TabbyM · 25/08/2020 11:49

DanceLikeEmmaGoldman ;)

DancelikeEmmaGoldman · 25/08/2020 04:18

I would read the half fairy/half ferret book...
Grin

Dulcie the fairy is having a bad day. Her auburn locks are refusing to cascade properly and in a fit of mustelid fury she’s chewed her favourite Manolos to pieces.

Added to her angst, the sexy-as-hell barista in her favourite coffee shop has just asked her out, and she can’t decide between saying yes and running up his trouser leg.

Even her favourite chicken and caramel latte can save her day from disaster. And that’s before her nemesis, the tall, dark and fluffy rabbit shifter tries to hire her to investigate some missing chickens.

BitOfFun · 25/08/2020 04:08

I absolutely loved The Nightingale by Kristen Hannah. Set in WW2 France, it's mostly very well-researched. The thing that spoiled it for me though, was the (fairly frequent) references to rural French homes as having "mismatched chairs" at the dining table. You can almost smell the Annie Sloan...

toffee1000 · 25/08/2020 03:08

Interestingly, with the Cormoran Strike books, Strike doesn’t really have an accent. This is probably because he’s lived all over the place, including Cornwall and London, and it was mentioned at one point that he and his sister could alter their accents to fit in. In the Audible version, he’s given rather a West Country accent, but doesn’t really have one in the TV version. Also, Robin is from Yorkshire, but her accent isn’t written as such. She does have a definite accent in the TV version though.

seayork2020 · 24/08/2020 05:13

A lot of these I agree with but I have not read all so will add my own list

  • similar names
  • Using first name some times then just surname so I think 2 characters but the same person
  • spending 20 pages on describing hair colour, the weather, type of car just any random thing
  • some flashbacks work and some don't
  • books with no proper chapters
  • a character sees their partner hugging someone, giving someone money, doing something that may be dodgy but not asking the person concerned just assuming the worst automatically
  • prequels written after a series starts, start with the beginning then continue if you are doing a series

I will have loads more

TildaTurnip · 23/08/2020 20:50

Finally got round to reading The Muse and so many gripes mentioned above in there: rheumy eyes, pages of italics, trying to write how accents are spoken, obvious ending...

kshaw · 18/08/2020 07:12

@countfosco - that made my teeth itch!! 😂

MsTSwift · 18/08/2020 07:04

Remember reading a Prue Leith book the heroine was a single mother so took her baby to work and popped her under the desk and merrily did a days work 🙄. I was a SAHM to a baby of the same age and couldn’t get past this. Ridiculous!

CountFosco · 18/08/2020 06:55

@kshaw just for you, The X Files <a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3D087QGg2Ggxs&ved=2ahUKEwj7oojQhKTrAhWVQhUIHRP8CP8QwqsBMAB6BAgJEAM&usg=AOvVaw0jUKjSSIcKpfbrZWXhX-5R" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Southern Blot.

SJaneS48 · 17/08/2020 19:40

I liked WH a lot and found it a really moving book. The Mirror and the Light though (which I’ve read this summer) - Jesus! It’s incredibly well researched but another book that really needed a heavy edit. Any book you have to force yourself through is hard work - others have said how sad they felt when Cromwell gets executed, from about page 500 onwards i was looking forward to his execution!

senua · 17/08/2020 12:56

I know that's why JK did it
OK. It's just that we did the whole "queuing through the night for the release copies" thing. It was a competition to see who could finish it first so when JK slammed the anchors on I thought, "good for you. Slow them down. Made them actually read it and savour the experience."

I got WH from a charity shop and it was put on the To Be Read bookshelf. A friend spotted it and gave me APoGS as a present. To be polite, I tackled GS first and couldn't finish it. I subsequently gave WH back to the charity shop, unread.