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 read a book about a family consisting on husband, wife and 3 daughters. Husband goes through midlife crisis and decides to go to Thailand for 6 months without his family and live as if he is single with minimal contact. When he comes back, he slept with 2 women out there and his wife still took him back and they lived happily ever after...

Was really hoping for some glow up revenge or the wife finds someone else, but unfortunately not! Luckily I skipped to the end instead of reading the whole thing, I was already angry I wasted time reading the first half of it 😂

@Alltheworldisgreen but that's number 112 West 25th Street, not 112th Street.

The most egregious error I found in a book was one where the mum was trying to get her 10year old a (private?) secondary school place.
Then mentioned he had done his Bronze DofE award...

I was already pretty annoyed with the book, and after that i stopped reading.

@babo993 was that the recent Marian Keyes one? I couldn't believe she took him back! I nearly didn't bother reading her latest one because of it, but did in the end and it was v good.

I find a lot of books written by American men so painfully self-conscious and earnest that i have been put off even trying. I couldn't get through the first chapter of Sophie's Choice.

@Babo993 and @BalloonSlayer

Yeah that didn't sit well with me either. If I remember correctly it was all her fault for not "seeing him" or some such nonsense and he had actually done her a favour.

Just finished a book where there were multiple mentions of someone kissing their teeth. Aah why??

Was also extremely annoyed listening to an audiobook where the narrator kept pronouncing Scottish names incorrectly. Burn-‘tis-land instead of Burnt-island really annoyed me!

hopeless I think 'kissing your teeth' is an expression from some Black communities. I saw a thread about it on the Black Mumsnetters board.

Kissing your teeth is a pretty common expression associated with specific ethnic groups. It refers to a specific physical gesture/vocalisation, basically sucking air through your teeth.

I would find overuse in a novel annoying though, especially if it was not a novel set in one of those communities.

Oh yes to JD’s rhyming, which doesn’t always work if you don’t have a southern accent. I’m from the midlands and was always forgetting to lengthen the “a” in “giraffe” so it rhymed with “scarf” in the Smartest Giant in Town. I was relieved when my children outgrew that one!

(On the subject of altering language for an American audience, The Smartest Giant is called The Spiffiest Giant over there, which I found charming )

Spiffiest :o brilliant

I hate it when authors give you a piece of information and then continually repeat it throughout the book as if you're an idiot and can't remember.
I read a silly series of books where the main characters liked to drink Chilean Chardonnay. Fine - except you don't need to tell me this in every bloody chapter.
Recently finished a well received book where the author states they have long legs and a big forehead time and time again

I'm reading a book at the minute where the character runs his hand through his hair at least twice a chapter. It's a wonder he's got any left.

It also unnecessarily italicises words in contexts that don't need it or where it makes no sense. It's bloody annoying.

Yeah I wouldn’t have minded the kissing teeth a couple of times but it was so many times! The book was otherwise well written, I don’t know why the author needed to use the same expression that often!

@balloonslayer and @daydrambeliever yeah, The Break! I was so mad when I realised that's how it ended! I want to read her new one but I'm skeptical as I'm worried it's gonna be like that one and I really don't wanna waste money on something that's just going to annoy me 😂

@Babo993

I read a book about a family consisting on husband, wife and 3 daughters. Husband goes through midlife crisis and decides to go to Thailand for 6 months without his family and live as if he is single with minimal contact. When he comes back, he slept with 2 women out there and his wife still took him back and they lived happily ever after...

Was really hoping for some glow up revenge or the wife finds someone else, but unfortunately not! Luckily I skipped to the end instead of reading the whole thing, I was already angry I wasted time reading the first half of it 😂

I stopped reading and skipped to the end for exactly the same reason- it was shit, and completely unbelievable!

I think there was a thread about The Break last year as an 'imagine if she came on MN' thread. It didn't go well for her DH

@Babo993

In fairness her most recent one is much better.

@PerpendicularVincent glad I wasnt the only one who thought that!!

@Daydrambeliever oh really? I've been contemplating it so may have to give it a go :)