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Original poster

Petty things that have put you off a book

594 replies

RosieLemonade · 20/03/2021 16:49

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?

OP posts:
iklboo · 26/03/2021 13:35

Topher is a name in the US. There's an actor called Topher Grace - short for Christoper.

tuliprosedaffodil · 26/03/2021 14:14

Alexandra Potter writes some good easy reading fluff which I enjoy when I want to switch off from the world but in every single book she writes 'I mused' or 'she mused' when the character is thinking in any way at all. It really grates especially when the character is 'musing' all the way through the book!

BikeRunSki · 26/03/2021 14:25

I have a cousin known as Topher, short for Christopher. It’s not the most common diminutive form, but using the end of a name not that difficult to grasp. Like Lottie for Charlotte.

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Books
tuliprosedaffodil · 26/03/2021 14:28

I also find it really off putting when buying kindle books when it has a description added to the title 'A Summer Song: a feel good romp for the holidays set in an idyllic cotswold village!'

I'll read the blurb, thanks! I don't know why but it irritates the life out of me and puts me off buying it.

tuliprosedaffodil · 26/03/2021 14:44

@StealthPolarBear

This isn't petty but people who write the same book over and over again, just changing the names and settings.
Katie Fforde is the queen of this! The same book thirty times over I swear.
BikeRunSki · 26/03/2021 17:21

And Jodi Picoult!

WiseOwlOne · 26/03/2021 18:15

@RaraRachael

Maverick197 I'm glad I'm not the only one Grin I can't read books by American authors either as they seem to use about 20 words when 3 would do. I remember getting loaned an Amish trilogy that a friend absolutely raved about. I think I managed one chapter of the wordy rubbish before I returned them. It's the same with American recipes. I don't need the cook's life history of where her granny lived and what occasions she made the recipe for....just list the ingredients and tell me how to make it.
I know what you mean. I end up thinking, "we all have a grandma, yours was no better than mine, but you were on towie. 😵😳" or... whatever m3an spirited thought enters my head!! Before i push it out.
StealthPolarBear · 26/03/2021 20:06

I've never read Katie fforde... And now I never will thanks :)
The life story recipe thing is just an extension of this influencer rubbish isn't it? Fluff and crap to fill time.

JustNotFunAnymore · 26/03/2021 20:40

[quote LondonStone]@JustNotFunAnymore hahahaha, that’s brilliant! Grin

I was totally baffled by the word Connecticut and read it as Connect-eye-cut. I remember hearing it for the first time (that I remember, anyway!) a few years later and it was like OHHHHHHH![/quote]
I read it as connect ee cut

tuliprosedaffodil · 26/03/2021 20:44

@StealthPolarBear

I've never read Katie fforde... And now I never will thanks :) The life story recipe thing is just an extension of this influencer rubbish isn't it? Fluff and crap to fill time.
Don't get me wrong I like a bit of Katie Fforde escapism, it's pure fluff and in this miserable old world I quite like reading things like that. I enjoyed Practically Perfect and Floras Lot especially. But I stopped buying them after I'd read about ten of them and they were basically all the same story in different places.
SingToTheSky · 26/03/2021 20:45

I always appreciate when an online recipe has a “skip to recipe” button high up on the page.

As if I wouldn’t press it. I mean obviously I am craving this easy three ingredient cookie recipe therefore I want to spend half an hour reading every detail about how your darling children enjoyed them.

Sorry that wasn’t book related was it. 😳

IAcceptCookies · 26/03/2021 20:46

@tuliprosedaffodil

I also find it really off putting when buying kindle books when it has a description added to the title 'A Summer Song: a feel good romp for the holidays set in an idyllic cotswold village!'

I'll read the blurb, thanks! I don't know why but it irritates the life out of me and puts me off buying it.

I just presume they're self-published crap, so give them a swerve.

It can be hard to discern the difference (between 'real' and vanity published books) on Kindle.... most annoying!

tuliprosedaffodil · 26/03/2021 21:25

@IAcceptCookies It used to always be the self published ones that did it but I've noticed in the last year or so that they're doing it on books from well known authors too. I wish they'd stop!

IAcceptCookies · 26/03/2021 21:34

Ah really, @tuliprosedaffodil? That's snnoying.
I haven't used my kindle for about 18 months because it has a backlit screen and I wasn't sleeping well. Was going to get a paperwhite for my birthday, but maybe won't bother now!

iklboo · 26/03/2021 22:04

@IAcceptCookies - there are loads of good books for kindle now. Pretty much every book now has a kindle version. I have most of the classics on mine as well as newer stuffSmile

SingToTheSky · 27/03/2021 09:06

I ended up with a few self published books when I first got the kindle, a few I enjoyed but I got annoyed at the poor quality/editing. I often look titles up on the library website when I can’t work out if it’s SP. When I worked there it was clear they don’t stock SP books even as donations (although I think there may be the odd exception for local history up in Ref, can’t remember now).

I’ve actually returned a kindle book once within a few paragraphs. I’m not squeamish generally and am ok reading about all sorts of crime etc but this started with someone watching child abuse and the way it was written made me think the writer was enjoying writing it TBH, I couldn’t get past that. Worst thing is I think it may have said it was a psychologist who wrote it. 🤢😖

IAcceptCookies · 27/03/2021 09:16

@iklboo ah yes, there always were, really; I used to really enjoy it. Great for travelling, and good to get all the classics free/cheap, too.

Also I was in a book club and could go home afterwards and download the book and get started straight away.

It’s just looking for new books or authors that’s tricky.... too much chaff!

Cosmos45 · 27/03/2021 09:18

A book a few years ago about a woman who fell in love with Joe as s childhood sweetheart but could not carry on the relationship for a variety of unknown reasons. She then went and got married had two kids etc.. many many years she divorced snd sought out her true love ‘Joe’ they got together and lived happily ever after.. the problem with this is Joe was actually female. She should have been called Jo from the beginning. It made it a pointless read really.

borntobequiet · 27/03/2021 09:24

Being anything written by Elizabeth George, an American who pens crime novels set in the UK but whose research seems to consist entirely of reading the works of similar British authors of the 1950s and then regurgitating characters and plots in the same style but full of weird anachronisms and geographical absurdities.

borntobequiet · 27/03/2021 09:30

Sorry, I realise my E George complaint isn’t petty but fairly major.

StealthPolarBear · 27/03/2021 09:37

@borntobequiet

Being anything written by Elizabeth George, an American who pens crime novels set in the UK but whose research seems to consist entirely of reading the works of similar British authors of the 1950s and then regurgitating characters and plots in the same style but full of weird anachronisms and geographical absurdities.
I loved Elizabeth George when I was younger, and am reading one at the moment, was trying to put my finger on the problem. That's exactly it, a mix of sherlock Holmes and a modern crime story.
Arbadacarba · 27/03/2021 09:38

She should have been called Jo from the beginning. It made it a pointless read really.

How strange. If the author wanted it as a plot twist that the love of the protagonist's life was female, there are plenty of unisex names with the same spelling she could have used - Sam, Alex, Pat, Phil (short for Philippa) Robbie (short for Roberta) ... I won't go on because there are probably hundreds.

StealthPolarBear · 27/03/2021 09:38

@SingToTheSky

I ended up with a few self published books when I first got the kindle, a few I enjoyed but I got annoyed at the poor quality/editing. I often look titles up on the library website when I can’t work out if it’s SP. When I worked there it was clear they don’t stock SP books even as donations (although I think there may be the odd exception for local history up in Ref, can’t remember now).

I’ve actually returned a kindle book once within a few paragraphs. I’m not squeamish generally and am ok reading about all sorts of crime etc but this started with someone watching child abuse and the way it was written made me think the writer was enjoying writing it TBH, I couldn’t get past that. Worst thing is I think it may have said it was a psychologist who wrote it. 🤢😖

Horrible. Never that severe but I've certainly read some books where the author does seem to be enjoying describing the nasty stuff humans do to each other. I can cope so far but then I do stop reading.
Dailywalk · 27/03/2021 09:39

Recently read about a character who died falling into the foundations of a house extension and banging her head on a beam! For a start the foundation would only be about half a metre below ground and there wouldn’t be a beam down there! Totally implausible and ruined the whole thing for me.

iklboo · 27/03/2021 11:06

A book a few years ago about a woman who fell in love with Joe as s childhood sweetheart but could not carry on the relationship for a variety of unknown reasons. She then went and got married had two kids etc.. many many years she divorced snd sought out her true love ‘Joe’ they got together and lived happily ever after.. the problem with this is Joe was actually female. She should have been called Jo from the beginning. It made it a pointless read really.

I have a female friend Joanne who refers to herself as Joe. Jo would have made it more obvious she was female, spoiling the (you can see it coming over the hill) 'twist', I suppose.