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?

I had to stop reading one book because a character was described as being “mildly autistic” (or words to that effect) in a context where it seemed to be intended to convey that they were merely a bit finicky and had to have things “just so”. Think of the way some people use “a bit OCD”, only with autism. As someone who has had to seek medical treatment on several occasions for my OCD symptoms, I actually hate the whole “I’m a bit OCD because I like my house nice and clean” thing, but I’m used to it and I appreciate that it comes from a lack of awareness rather than malice, so it wouldn’t necessarily make me put a book down. But I couldn’t pick that book up again after the autism line, even though it was one sentence in a 400 page book. It was a fairly recently published book too.

I’ve also been completely thrown before by books that were bizarrely unrealistic about how long the grieving process takes (e.g. it being seen as somehow weird that a character wasn’t starting to move on from the death of a child after a matter of weeks). Just odd and easy to avoid by tinkering with the timeframe of the novel.

In the Outlander series several of the men have a fixation about breastfeeding from their wife after she’s given birth. It’s a few years since I’ve read then but it really jarred.

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit

Irvine Welsh is the worst offender for writing in dialect and being incomprehensible.

I love it. He's my favourite author but I grew up in Edinburgh. I came on to say though I hate the names he gives his female characters.

LostPEkit the autism comment would annoy me too, what book was it?!

I started listening on audiobook to The Thursday Murder Club by R Osman, I couldn't get into it, the characters sounded a bit dated/unbelievable, it reminded my of Crossroads for some strange reason (shows my age) - so stopped after a a few goes.

But I don't normally like whodunnits. (who cares who killed an imaginary person for an imaginary reason). Though Anthony Horrowitz's the Word is Murder was good. Audio again.

Unfortunately I can’t remember, SingToTheSky. I deleted the ebook too. Wish I’d made a note of the title!

I like a series of books set in the 15th century. Most if it is modern language with the odd smattering of 15th century speech. Every time the word between is replaced with the word betwixt, every time even when not in speech, absolutely drives me mad.

@WhereHaveAllTheGoodTimesGone you’re being unfair to Reddit in this case. The Men Writing Women sub is where people go to post terrible examples of male authors describing women they’ve found from books.

I can see I've been beaten to it, but I will almost always give up on books written in dialect. I'm not stupid, I know what a scottish/welsh/northern/southern accent sounds like, no need to write it in and render the text impossible to actually read!!

In The Poisonwood Bible (an otherwise very good book) some people take a train from Johannesburg to go to the beach for the day. Annoyed the hell out of me. It's nearly 400 miles to the nearest beach. Just wouldn't happen.

@RaraRachael

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

😮 that's a lot of great literature you're cutting yourself off from there...

@Madhairday

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.

Because many publishers pay copy editors and proofreaders very low rates, so find it hard to find and keep good freelancers.

@SingleHandSue

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

That's hardly the book's fault! But yes, stupid decision.

@EnterFunnyNameHere

I can see I've been beaten to it, but I will almost always give up on books written in dialect. I'm not stupid, I know what a scottish/welsh/northern/southern accent sounds like, no need to write it in and render the text impossible to actually read!!

I agree with you entirely on tone deaf attempts to do a (usually condescending) shorthand for, say, northernness, by giving a character in a novel otherwise written in standard English bits of dialogue that essentially say 'Ey up, lass, I'm off down the ginnel' every ten lines.

But I think it's entirely different in Irvine Welch (though I don't much like his work) or a novel like James Kelman's How Late It Was, How Late (which is the stream of consciousness of a working-class Glaswegian drunk) -- Sammy doesn't think or speak in 'standard' English, so it would make no sense for the novel, which is set entirely inside his head, to use it, any more than it would for Kelman to convey Sammy's thoughts in 'Pip pip, cheerio, wizard prang' Bertie Wooster slang.

And agree entirely with @tenlittlecygnets -- more and more publishers are sending out copyediting and proof-reading, and freelancers are poorly-paid and juggling too many projects to make a living.

@lostPEkit

Unfortunately I can’t remember, SingToTheSky. I deleted the ebook too. Wish I’d made a note of the title!

And this is why one of my virtual shelves on Good Reads is called 'Never Again' so I don't have to remember the dreadful books.

And agree entirely with @tenlittlecygnets -- more and more publishers are sending out copyediting and proof-reading, and freelancers are poorly-paid and juggling too many projects to make a living.

Hold on a minute, @Postprandial - that's not what I said at all! I said that many large publishers pay poorly (both staff and freelances), especially trade fiction.

I'm a freelance editor and proofreader, and I make a very nice living, thank you - because I work mainly with businesses and self-publishing authors. I only take on a few jobs from publishers - e.g. if I'm really interested in the book or if I think it will look good on my portfolio/website.

One of my bugbears is how many authors (especially middle-aged men) describe women. I've read books where all the female characters are described - in not particularly complimentary terms - but none of the men are described.

Comma splicing

I've just finished reading a novel about a woman who unexpectedly inherits a castle in Northumberland. The characters were constantly winking at each other.

proudgeek I love the never again idea :o

Hopefully I’ll never come across it lost being autistic it winds me up, and the OCD one as well 🤬

I’ve done typing/editing for a lovely self published author, it happened by chance though. I’d love to find more work like that.

I really don’t understand why one would cut themselves off from all USA based books?!

Re the men writing women. I’ve actually been wondering how I could manage to write a male character if I needed to (not in first person as I’m not keen on that, but them being the focus IYSWIM). Probably about 90% of the books I read are mainly female POV. That’s probably down to genre though, I mostly read from the “general fiction” section in the library with the odd thriller.

It did make me laugh that most of the bad sex award winners are male though, from a quick skim through (I tried reading all the excerpts but I got bored 😂)

I'm not Scottish but I find with Irvine Walsh I adjust to the dialogue pretty quickly. Obviously I can't comment on its authenticity but it doesn't come across as contrived.

I read a book recently where the main character was in Scotland but she hailed from Yorkshire. The action took place in January. It jarred slightly that the character kept being surprised that it was still dark at 6am where she was in Scotland. If she was from Yorkshire, it's dark at 6am until at least mid-February there too! Overall the book was very good, though, so I forgave this.

Use of the phrase ‘couple times’ honestly makes me consider putting the book down. It’s ‘couple OF ’. Very specific bugbear I’ll grant you!

The Girl Who...books by Stieg Larsson really suffered after his death. I read the second two and it was like they just decided to put them out with no editing whatsoever. I mean, I get that the 6 ft former Olympic gymnast/swimmer blonde woman was going to be the love interest for the self-insert protagonist, but did we need three whole pages of description before we find out the most important thing about her - that she’s a police officer taking over the case?!

I recently read a book (which, to be fair, was pre publication) but in a chapter which hinges on the printing of an invitation being done incorrectly, referred to ‘stationary’ throughout. If I remember correctly, 15 times in that single chapter. I did feed that (and the other numerous errors) back.

Someone on here pointed out how many female characters 'pad' around the house and now I can't unsee it. Women are padding about everywhere!

And have you noticed they pad about one stocking feet’? Not stockingED feet, or even socked feet - always stocking.

If a novel is set in Britain, the main character is British and has lived in Britain since birth, it puts me off when they speak or narrate in American English or mention something that doesn't happen in Britain

I can just about forgive this from a book perspective (not really!) but two instances of this in tv have riled me:

• Winx saga on Netflix: ok it’s set in a fictional fairy college, but all the actors bar one are English. And yet they refer to ‘math’ not maths.
• This Is Us: absolutely loving this series - but an Englishman, probably 55-60 named Jesse? I don’t think so. Also recent episode (small spoilers ahead!)

TWO mothers who have just had literal multiple births having to drive home from the hospital because their husbands are behaving like dicks. Never referred to, how painful would that be? It’s like when they wrote those scenes they literally didn’t have a woman in the room, let alone one who’d given birth. Or maybe they did and just didn’t care

Phew that was cathartic

I enjoyed the Shetland series on audible I loved listening to the accents and descriptions of Shetland.
Towards the end of the series Willow who grew up on one of the Shetland islands and had a lovely Scottish accent starts speaking with a pure English accent! Once I'd realised it started to really irritate me everytime her character spoke.