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 love the Comfort Food Cafe series, but some things really irk me. Decide whether you are writing in present or past tense please! Also, several characters were able to buy houses even though their earning potential made it nigh on impossible in real life.

I hate when characters have needlessly similar names! I was reading a picture book to the munchkin the other day, and the two characters were called James and Jack! I was trying to do 'voices' and it got me all muddled.

I keep reading books by Haruki Murakami but his obsession with breasts really ruins it for me. Every female character he writes seems to be very aware of her breasts at all times!

@GreenSlide

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.

Er, sorry, what?

I'm on book 15 of a series and the author is trying to recap every little thing. At a certain point you've just got to say, go back and read the other books. It's crazy to start a series so late anyway.

Medical inaccuracies. One I just read mentioned that the protagonist had read about a doctor performing a type of surgery which was totally impossible in the circumstances described.

She put the bottle down and raised her arm. Lady nuzzled up to her then rolled over, clumsily, onto her back.
‘Typical woman, aren’t you?’ Kellie slurred affectionately, the buzz from the vodka lifting her midday blues. ’Just want your tits caressed.’

This was from a Peter James book. It was like a needle scratching a record: I couldn’t read another word.

@OnceUponAMidnightBeery the author had literally written into the book something like 'Joan was a loud woman who must have weighed seventeen stone. She never even seemed to notice her weight or want to do something about it.'

It was just completely random and nothing to do with the plot at all. Why did it need adding in that Joan wasn't outwardly concerned about her weight? Actually now I think about it maybe the author was a MNer. If I had continued to read, the book would probably have been full of everyone eating one massive salad a day.

I won't read anything written in dialect (just say at the start he's from Glasgow and I'll use my imagination) or long pages with no paragraphs. I read a psychological thriller recently written in the first person where she was killed at the end - what!

Oh yes, dialects. Rudyard Kipling wrote some short stories where a character has a strong Irish dialect. Impossible to understand.

I stopped reading a series when the author switched to first person after at least 20 books, it was just so jarring after that long (and I don't particularly like first person anyway).

She also suddenly changed one of the main characters to a complete arsehole who tried to rape the female lead, after many years of them being friends and colleagues. It was like she got bored of writing the series and went crazy!

A book where the protagonist visited the Edinburgh Festival and it was like a music festival, so everyone camping in a field, which I think was bizarrely close to the city centre.

I can’t stand dialects or “accents” used for characters either. It always seems really patronising and starts from an assumption that we are all Crisp BBC English Speakers and will have to have it spelt out for us how anyone else speaks. Never been able to stomach Dickens for that reason. Reminds me of when Radio 4 used to have very RP actors doing regional accents in their dramas and you just want to cut off your ears.

Pinkywoo - was that the Kay Scarpetta series? I used to love those, she definitely lost the plot....

@Pinkywoo

I stopped reading a series when the author switched to first person after at least 20 books, it was just so jarring after that long (and I don't particularly like first person anyway).

She also suddenly changed one of the main characters to a complete arsehole who tried to rape the female lead, after many years of them being friends and colleagues. It was like she got bored of writing the series and went crazy!

I know that series! I thought the same. Such a shame.

The House of Mirth is a brilliant book but the typos in the Penguin edition made my teeth itch

My mum just finished The Thursday Murder Club and complained that it featured a Lidl delivery van when "everyone knows Lidl don't deliver".

Yes, because that's the only chink in armour of plausability...

I read a book recently that riled me. It was set in London and all of the Cara haters were British. The main character had to to find cash quickly. It turns out her sister of about 8 needed heart surgery. We have the NHS! Any child in the U.K. would get treatment needed.

The nail in the coffin for me was when they were having a hearty stew and dumplings. Big description of the beef stew and then she added salad to her plate! I couldn’t finish the book after that.

I had to abandon one recently as the author used the names of the character every time in direct speech. " So, Tom, what do think?"
" David, I dont know"
" But Tom we need to make a decision "
" I know David but it's difficult"
Etc

Recently read a book where the author mixed up On The Road by Jack Kerouac and The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Fair enough for the author to get muddled but you’d think a book editor would know the difference!

@FurrySlipperBoots

I hate when characters have needlessly similar names! I was reading a picture book to the munchkin the other day, and the two characters were called James and Jack! I was trying to do 'voices' and it got me all muddled.

Yes, I just read "Last Orders" by Graham Swift and it has two characters called Vic and Vince. I still hadn't figured out who was who by the end of the book.

@Pinkywoo

I stopped reading a series when the author switched to first person after at least 20 books, it was just so jarring after that long (and I don't particularly like first person anyway).

She also suddenly changed one of the main characters to a complete arsehole who tried to rape the female lead, after many years of them being friends and colleagues. It was like she got bored of writing the series and went crazy!

@Pinkywoo

Spot on!
It was like somebody else had written it without ever having read the previous books, and she kept referring to stuff that had obviously happened in her head, but had not made it onto the actual page.

Generally bad spelling and grammar, especially when I've paid more than a pound or so. Noticing it more and more.
I was reading a book set in the North East and Darlington was shortened to 'Darly'. That just isn't how it is, darlington is shortened to 'Darlo'.

Read a series of books where a character switched from being Irish to Scottish in book 6 or 7.

Wouldn't be quite so bad if it wasn't for the fact the third book was focused on them returning to the family home in Ireland to deal with some long standing family feud.

The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley. Great premise and liked the story overall but she totally got the gamekeeper character wrong. It was so jarring.
There was a bit about his life before in the services and frankly everyone gets asked if they’ve killed someone. Then he talks about the deer and his job and it’s completely wrong. Having a non believable character annoyed me through out.