I am in a foul mood today!
So I thought I would vent a little.....I hope you don't mind
It's just that no one else will listen to me
but I know you....my blog friends will
I have some book pet peeves I will list them in no particular order of annoyance
Cover Art that doesn't match the book - Don't put a girl with bright green eyes on the cover if there will not be a bright green eyed girl in the book. I will wonder throughout my reading when I will meet this mysterious green eyed girl and it will drive me crazy when the end comes and she never shows up. I understand the cover art does not have to literally reflect the story....like if there are flowers on the cover I don't expect the story to be about flowers....its just when you put a person on there I expect to see the person somewhere in the book.
Misspelled words - I know this is completely nit picky but it drives me crazy. Especially with the number of times the book has been read and edited and then reviewed by an editor.
Leaving out part of the story - Please do not introduce a storyline to me if you are not going to finish telling me the story. A prime example of this is the book In the Woods by Tana French.
Here is the book synopsis
As dusk approaches a small Dublin suburb in the summer of 1984, mothers begin to call their children home. But on this warm evening, three children do not return from the dark and silent woods. When the police arrive, they find only one of the children, gripping a tree trunk in terror, wearing blood-filled shoes, and unable to recall a single detail of the previous hours.
Twenty years later, the found boy, Rob Ryan, is a detective on the Dublin Murder Squad and keeps his past a secret. But when a twelve-year-old girl is found murdered in the same woods, he and Detective Cassie Maddox – his partner and closest friend – find themselves investigating a case with chilling links to that long-ago disappearance. Now, with only snippets of buried memories to guide him, Rob has the chance to unravel both the mystery of the case before him and that of his own shadowy past.
Okay so you would think at some point we would find out what the heck happened to this kid and his friends but guess what.....YOU DON'T......it never tells you! not in an epilogue not in the last chapter not anywhere.
In truth it was the mystery of what happened to those kids that led me to continue reading....not that I didn't care about the other murder but I kept waiting for a flash back or something to tell me what happened. I have not read another of Tana's books even though many people have recommended that I do...I am vindictive like that.
Characters I don't care about - I can love a book that has a poorly written story if I love the characters. I have a really hard time when the author fails to make me care about the characters...even if its just a minor one I still need to feel something.
Too much description - I know this is probably weird but sometimes I don't feel like reading about every detail.....Is it important for me to know that the moon appeared blue against the black sky and a blue bird flew by while singing a sad song before landing on the dark branch of a nearby tree whose green leaves lit up the night? If it is then by all means elaborate but otherwise I don't need you to describe every scene in detail....let me use my imagination a little bit.
This is actually not a book pet peeve but rather a pet peeve against e-book readers - Stop complaining about paying more then 99 cents for every e-book. It drives me crazy when you look at the reviews for a book and there are twenty people just complaining about how much the e-book cost. If you are buying a self published work then yeah I guess 99 cents is good but if you are buying the latest James Patterson or Stephen King or someone like that why the hell would you think you should only pay 99 cents? Just stop it! And if you don't think this persons creative work is worth the 5.99 or 12.99 or whatever then don't buy it. Or go to the store and buy the hard cover for 24.99 or 28.00 or whatever. Geez....cheapo
Well I probably could go on in my current mood but I will stop before I lose you guys and that would be devastating to me right now.
Have a wonderful Wednesday!
9 comments:
Well, I must say that you're peevishness brought a smile and a few chuckles to my day!!! LOL
Why don't paperbacks have dust jackets? No one cares if paperbacks get cold...uh, dusty? And the price of e-books!!! Do you ever hear anyone complain about spending $5 for their morning coffee? It's all a matter of priorities!!!
You're not being nitpicky with the misspellings. In the not-so-long-ago past, they were unheard of in published books, but now...and grammar mistakes, in general, are rampant in books these days.
And leaving out part of the story and too much description? These too are editorial issues. A good editor sees these.
Publishers need to hear complaints like yours. Rest assured, you aren't alone in them. :)
I could probably comment on most of these things, but I'll just zero in on the e-book thing. I HATE the whole $0.99 pricing thing. It completely devalues writers. Completely. People happily fork over $10 (or more) to go see a movie that they then walk out of but complain about a few dollars for a book they get to keep? What's wrong with this picture? The worst part about it is that people are beginning to believe that books just aren't worth more than a buck.
I totally agree. I don't like it when all the book is about silly descriptions...Keep renting!
Just in case you want to put it up again:
I could probably comment on most of these things, but I'll just zero in on the e-book thing. I HATE the whole $0.99 pricing thing. It completely devalues writers. Completely. People happily fork over $10 (or more) to go see a movie that they then walk out of but complain about a few dollars for a book they get to keep? What's wrong with this picture? The worst part about it is that people are beginning to believe that books just aren't worth more than a buck.
I always take off the dust cover as well. I can't stand it because mainly it gets in the way!!! Every time of hold it, the dust cover comes off or it keeps slipping. Its annoying.
But I do admit that I put them back on once I'm done. :)
Yes, so I hate dust covers, too. WTH.
Misspellings and typos drive me nuts, too. I was reading one book once (which I LOVED) but there was a killer typeo in the middle of an important scene and I am still lost about it. How could they do this to me, I ask you???
I agree with all your others but I those really really really bug me.
And, your last one... I agree, too. Support the author or a library. There is so much hard work that goes into this. Good grief, people.
I'm just sayin'.
:-)
I share your peeves. Dust jackets come off when I start to read the book. I read the synopsis of that book and was instantly intrigued at what might have happened to those kids originally. That's the only part I cared about just reading the "jacket," so I would have been gravely disappointed if I'd read it. Messed up!
I agree with all of these!
Makes me feel better to know I'm not the only one.
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