Petty things that have put you off a book

[RosieLemonade]

I have just finished a book based in 2017. Teenagers called Tim, Paul and Sarah. It really took me out of it.
Anyone been put off a book for a petty reason?

No... but this reminds me of the fact that there is currently a 16ish year old character in Coronation Street called Kelly. Nothing wrong with the name but so anachronistic it really bugs me.

in dawn french's latest book a cat in it, instead of killing mice makes friends with them. its not a major bit of the book but it so annoys me!

There is a very good book about Breaking Bad called Let's Cook - it dissects each episode and is very informative. However the author refers to the song Up the Junction by Squeeze and says that it is about somebody going to the hospital with a loved one to hear a cancer diagnosis.

It sooooo isn't. How can you misinterpret that so badly?

A character reading English at Imperial College. Basic fact checking fail.

I've read a couple where one of the character's name has changed randomly. It's like the author decided they didn't like the first one but then it was never changed in the beginning and I was supposed to be like yeah no problem, I'll go with that.

I can't name the books as I probably put them down after seeing it but it's definitely happened more than once. I can clearly remember flicking back through going 'who's Tom?!' And then getting very wound up by it!

I read a book that was partly set in my home town, but then mentioned the main character living in a housing estate but with a Burger King just round the corner. Our BK shut down several years ago but even when it existed it was right in the centre of town and nowhere near any housing estates. A small thing but it really irritated me. If you’re going to use a real place you need to get the geography right.

Tom Cruise playing Jack Reacher. Never read another after that.

There isn't much that really gets me immediately putting a book down, but fact checking is probably the main one.
I don't mind stretching facts, nor when it's something I know but wouldn't necessarily expect to be general knowledge, but when it's something that could be easily found out by googling. Or when they make it a real place but then ignore that. Make up a place, fine. But don't call it by a real name then make the place unrecognisable.

Haha op I read a book set in 1970s with girls called Grace and Tilly. I was young in the 70s and NO ONE young was called either of those names.

Tho I do know a 17yo Tim and a couple of 19yo Sarah's actually. But I agree, not common.

If a book is set in the USA or told in the first person, I won't read it

I've just finished a book where one of the main characters was called Topher. It really annoyed me.

I was annoyed by a book that had a character whose flat in Poplar was directly next to the Olympic Park. No, it isn't, and it wouldn't be hard to check. It made me distrust anything else in the author's depiction of London.

I borrowed the book from the library because I was intrigued by the first chapter. But the rest of the book was about something completely different. I checked to see if the first chapter was an extract from the author's next book or something, but no, it was chapter 1 and on the next numbered page was chapter 2. I persevered with the book to see how the author managed to fit in the characters and events of chapter 1. They were never mentioned again. Wish I could remember what it was called and who wrote it, just so I could dis-recommend it.

Not a book, but I'm currently watching Elite on Netflix, and one character throws up a few times because she is 4 (!) weeks pregnant.
Also anything paranormal makes me switch off instantly.

I think I've read that one OP. Something about a train journey, and a cottage in Cornwall? It really jarred on me too!

I read a book that was set in about 2000 and kept going on about smartphones and Facebook. I just couldn't read it because I couldn't make it compute. It wasn't very good anyway, but surely that's basic level research.

As an author I know how easy it is to make errors and if they're not picked up in the edit they can remain and then you tear your hair out. So the name changing one, Word's find and replace tool is not always completely reliable and one might get missed, which is very annoying for the reader. Authors often get 'word blind' after going through a thousand edits and simply don't see it, but the copy editors and proof readers should. I've noticed more and more though that standards are slipping and books are published containing terrible grammar and poorly constructed sentences. I have no idea how they get through.

I once read a period piece set in England, but so obviously written by an American who had never set foot here, didn’t see any reason why the past shouldn’t be identical to the present, and didn’t intend to do any so-called “research”.

It was a while ago so i can’t remember the details, but imagine Victorian English heroines called Britney and Piper, and heroes called Randy and Chuck P. Erickson III (Jr). It was gloriously awful.

I once put down a book because it included a description of the protagonists co worker as a woman of about 17 stone, who didn't even seem to notice or mind her weight at all! Fuck me, the horror of a 17 stone woman existing and going about her business like everyone else! Couldn't enjoy it after that.

I recently read a book based in North East and the went through the Tyne tunnel to get from Northumberland to Newcastle.
That route just doesn’t exist, basic research fail.

One where they used ‘should of...’ erm eh? Also a book by Ben Elton where he used Glaswegian dialect so well until he referred to a male as ‘hen’, any Scot knows that you only ever call females ‘hen’ never a male.

@SilentBob

I've read a couple where one of the character's name has changed randomly. It's like the author decided they didn't like the first one but then it was never changed in the beginning and I was supposed to be like yeah no problem, I'll go with that.

I can't name the books as I probably put them down after seeing it but it's definitely happened more than once. I can clearly remember flicking back through going 'who's Tom?!' And then getting very wound up by it!

I think I read that one. It was actually a good book but the male character became Daniel halfway through when he was Tom or something at the start. Just how?

I was very amused reading an autobiography last year by an American who was VERY proud of their links to Ireland/basically considered themselves Irish

Towards the end she described Roscommon as being "just outside Dublin"

It's 80 miles away.

Also, noted this about names being wrong for the era several times but the name of the most recent offender escapes me.

@SingleHandSue

Tom Cruise playing Jack Reacher. Never read another after that.

My DH was the same. Isn't jack r supposed to be very very tall?

A book where a woman worked as a part time maths tutor yet could afford a London house. I really liked the book but it did annoy me!

Anything from the absolute swamp of titles on Amazon that consists of a faintly preposterous plot and a deeply pedestrian first person narrative, full of stuff like "I decide to make myself a cup of tea. I get the mug out of the cupboard and the milk out of the fridge. I switch the kettle on and stare out of the window." I mean AAAAAARRGGHHH. And yet, they all have 5 star reviews................... 🤔🤣

Where a character's eyes are blue in chapter one, then by chapter four they are brown

Books by Irish authors where none of the characters have Irish names. The books are presumably aimed at bigger sales outside Ireland, but it grates on me as it's not realistic.