Tuesday October 1: Top Ten Book Turn-Offs
10. Books with movie covers, I'd like to make up my own mind. (see: Can a movie ever be better than the book?)
9. No description of the book on the cover, just "Magazine XYZ thinks this is brilliant" or something like that
8. Spoilers in the introduction (see: Introduction to a classic novel - - To read or not to read? and To read the introduction or not to read the introduction - that's not really the question)
7. Description of clothes, big chick lit flag!!!
6. Mentioning shoes, instantly recognizable as chick lit.
5. Bad translation (see: Why I am glad that I can read in more than one language)
4. Contradictions within the story or even compared to real life, e.g. someone is 30 in 1980 and then 40 in 2000 but even worse in science fiction, they are on a planet with no gravitiy and someone falls off something, you know the kind of subjects ...)
3. Wrong dates, e.g. war started three years later in reality, a real life character was born on the wrong date, so easy to check, so unncessary; (see: Novels and their link to reality)
2. Wrong grammar, wrong spelling, I am a Grammar Nerd. But, honest, if you write for a living, get your grammar correct.
1. Bad language. See #2.
omg I cannot believe I forgot to put your first one on my list! If I'm looking for a book at a bookstore and all they have is the movie cover I literally will not buy it. I'd rather buy the real cover online and spend the money on shipping!
ReplyDeleteI accidentally bought the movie cover for the spectacular now and didn't realize until I'd already started reading and I was SO pissed!
All good points! I especially agree that it's irritating when the book has no description on it. I won't buy it just because of the cover image or recommendations and praise for a book that gives no hint what it's about.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jenna. After I read everyone else's comments, I found quite a few points I might have added but these were the ones that came to my mind first so they must have been the most important ones for me.
ReplyDeleteSame here, Annette, if they can't tell me what the book is about, why should I want to buy it. The critic from the renowned newspaper might know a lot but he might have a completely different taste, so why should I trust him.
I am glad I am not the only one who is irritated by these things. Thank you.
Amen. This probably makes me a dork, but I don't buy books unless I've read them. For me, books are mementos, like photographs, on my bookshelves. We have fabulous librarians in our little college town, and they are forever recommending books. The last book I purchased was actually a gift from my husband, Les Miserables, and that is one I could read from like a bible, again and again.
ReplyDeletexomichele
I think in the eyes of non-readers, we are all dorks. So, welcome to the club. ;-)
ReplyDeleteAs I said on your page, I buy and borrow, both from friends and the library, I lend my books to friends, so most of the books I buy are read by more than one reader. They definitely get read at one point. And I am sure I read more when I buy because then I have the book in the house. But sometimes I wish I would just borrow, especially when it comes to fitting all my books into my shelves. ;-)
Have a good day,
Marianne