I have said it before and I will say it again: I love Top Ten Tuesday, the wonderful meme created at The Broke and The Bookish: http://www.brokeandbookish.blogspot.com.
This week the topic is pet peeves related to books and I can definitely find ten of those... easily! So here are mine - now share yours and link up on The Broke and The Bookish :-)
10) Memoirs/biographies by reality stars or teenagers. The first ones are just boring and a waste of paper, the second rarely have lived enough to actually write a book about it. Yes there are exceptions but they are few and far between.
9)Authors that overtell and over-explain. You don't have to spell out every feeling or thought of the characters. Sometimes (often) being subtle is so much better.
8)Spoilers on the back cover. So not cool!
7) Publishing PRs that hype a book as the next "Harry Potter" or an author as the nexst Stieg Larsson. Please respect the individuality of auhtors, that type of PR is not cool.
6) Ugly covers. Why? Why? There is no reason at all to ruin the sales of a book by giving it an ugly or stereotypical cover. One of the covers that I found so disappointing is the orange cover of "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins.
5) Stereotypical characters... It just gets so boring when you can predict what each character is going to do or say.
4) Authors that blantantly copy plots and characters from other books... You know who you are and you should be ashamed of yourself!
3) Spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. Not acceptable. This is why you have people proof-reading! It is disrespectful to readers who have paid (a large sum) to buy a book.
2) Snobbish readers that never read. Fair enough to have opinions about literature and books but if you have never read Harry Potter, don't tell me that it is a badly written children's book. If you haven't read it, don't pollute the air with your unfounded opinions.
1) Fast endings. A plot has built up, you have gotten to know the characters and you are really wondering how it is all going to end. Then poof everything sorts itself out over a couple of pages. Anti-climax, majo
#10 reminded me of Justin Bieber or Miley Cyrus; completely agree with #3; and ugly covers or covers that misrepresent the book are a pet peeve of mine. Also just remembered that some books have the same (or very similar) covers, eg. Twilight.
ReplyDeleteNo. 10 - these can make really hilarious reading once the star has fallen from grace.
ReplyDeleteNo. 9 - is something that has made me stop reading books, I get that annoyed by it.
No. 7 - good call, I really hate that.
No. 3 unfortunately seems to be in the rise.
Nr. 10 is one of those love-to-hate things. I mean, these books can be quite entertaining but at the same time I feel that they still budget and space from the "real" books.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely hear you on #8 - spoilers on the jacket description? What are they thinking?? I hate it when that happens.
ReplyDeleteAmen on #2
ReplyDeleteI just received an group email the other day by someone "warning me" about a newly published book...the content, etc. When I asked my friend who forwarded the email if she'd read the book, she said, "of course not...I just forwarded the email. Oh brother
I hate fast endings too. It's like the author just got tired of writing the book all of a sudden.
ReplyDelete#4 is a good one. However, it seems that there is a large readership for books that are all the same.
ReplyDeleteHere is my list: http://hawthornescarlet.blogspot.com/2011/03/top-ten-tuesday-i-hate-that.html
Yes, #9. I so agree. Less is more!
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with your #10. I stay away from books written by celebrities because I tend to think they only got the contract because of their name. And as for young people with biographies, I agree there, too! Justin Bieber is NOT old enough to have much to write about :o(
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree with #8, 2, & 1 as well :o)
Wow, number two is the biggest thing I hate EVER! I get so angry when someone says that to me. Good list of other cringe-worthy things - especially number 5.
ReplyDelete