The Reading Vent & Rant Thread

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by John F

Personally, I have more books that I want to read then time to read, so skipping a book that is an Amazon exclusive is no big deal.

Yes, but you're not the one venting & ranting about it.

While the exclusivity thing annoys me as well, it won't stop me from buying a book from Amazon if I really want to read it. I do have a couple of older Kindles registered to my account, true; but I've also used the old Kindle for Android method several times. No Kindle device is needed for that.

And, while I won't ever buy a book with an unremovable DRM, many people (possibly even the majority) don't care about DRM at all; they buy a book, read it once and that's it for them. I don't know if Hildea is one of the "I'm willing to die on the DRM removal hill" crowd ; hence my suggestion about the Kindle app.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Unless you're not a Kindle user. Yes, there's workarounds. But I'm not going to pay for a book I can't read on my preferred device.

Neither would I; but we're in the minority with that mindset, given that dedicated ereaders themselves are a niche product. Most people read on a phone or a tablet.

[John F]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Yes, but you're not the one venting & ranting about it.

While the exclusivity thing annoys me as well, it won't stop me from buying a book from Amazon if I really want to read it. I do have a couple of older Kindles registered to my account, true; but I've also used the old Kindle for Android method several times. No Kindle device is needed for that.

And, while I won't ever buy a book with an unremovable DRM, many people (possibly even the majority) don't care about DRM at all; they buy a book, read it once and that's it for them. I don't know if Hildea is one of the "I'm willing to die on the DRM removal hill" crowd ; hence my suggestion about the Kindle app.

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Neither would I; but we're in the minority with that mindset, given that dedicated ereaders themselves are a niche product. Most people read on a phone or a tablet.

I don't really care about most people, and I don't mean to project what others should do, I'm just stating my personal preferences.

[hildea]

Originally Posted by John F

Personally, I have more books that I want to read then time to read, so skipping a book that is an Amazon exclusive is no big deal.

Yes, I feel like that too, but it hurts when it's a book that looks especially tempting. (And I'm really, really happy that Bujold started selling her books more widely, I broke my Amazon boycott for those.)

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

Buying from Amazon is getting less and less practical if you don't own an old Kindle, though, since Amazon is making it more difficult to decrypt its books.

Yes, that makes it easier to resist.

Originally Posted by Sirtel

hildea has an Onyx Boox; she could install a Kindle app on that and read the book there.

Thanks for the advice! But I'll go update my profile now: My Boox died after just a year (the on-button only worked under the full moon or when the wind blew from north or something like that, extremely wonky) and the manufacturer could neither repair nor replace it, so they gave me a refund) and I went back to my previous ereader with the bad battery and found that I can live with it and an external powerbank.

Originally Posted by Sirtel

And, while I won't ever buy a book with an unremovable DRM, many people (possibly even the majority) don't care about DRM at all; they buy a book, read it once and that's it for them. I don't know if Hildea is one of the "I'm willing to die on the DRM removal hill" crowd ; hence my suggestion about the Kindle app.

I'm part of that crowd Both for ideological reasons and because I reread a lot. I'll both reread whole books and go back to favourite passages of favourite books.

I'm still annoyed about the twenty-ish books I lost when an ebookstore went belly up ten years ago or so

Originally Posted by Sirtel

(by the way - the review seemed interesting at first, until the bit about one of the main characters groveling. I absolutely hate it when authors make their characters do that, no matter how deservedly. Immediate do-not-buy for me.)

I'm the opposite: I can't stand romances where one of the romantic pairing is an asshole unless there's some serious reason to believe they have learned and grown and done their best to make amends.

I really like books which use classic tropes in new ways. As a teenager in the 80s I loved "The Flame and the Flower", with an innocent heroine who finds herself married to a horrible person. That book is gross in so many ways (the "hero" rapes the heroine, but that's presented as OK, because a) he thought she was a prostitute and b) he marries her afterward ) A book with a similar premise but without the 80s grossness is tempting.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by hildea

I'm the opposite: I can't stand romances where one of the romantic pairing is an asshole unless there's some serious reason to believe they have learned and grown and done their best to make amends.

I could swallow the groveling trope if both men and women were made follow it in straight romances. But it is almost always the man who is an asshole and has to grovel, never the heroine, while in real life women can be just as big assholes as men. Of course I'm aware of the reason for that (romances are written for women; the reader is meant to identify with the heroine and so the heroine can't be an asshole), but it's still extremely annoying for me. Possibly because I don't identify with romance heroines (I'm asexual), I read them from an outsider's viewpoint and so I find many tropes annoying that the target audience perhaps doesn't.

Granted, I don't read romances often and am probably not aware of the latest developments in the genre; perhaps there have been changes to the "the asshole is always the male half of the pairing" trope too.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by hildea

That book is gross in so many ways (the "hero" rapes the heroine, but that's presented as OK, because a) he thought she was a prostitute and b) he marries her afterward ) A book with a similar premise but without the 80s grossness is tempting.

It may be be presented as OK in the book, but neither are OK.

[Renate]

Originally Posted by hildea

My Boox died after just a year (the on-button only worked under the full moon or when the wind blew from north or something like that, extremely wonky) and the manufacturer could neither repair nor replace it, so they gave me a refund) and I went back to my previous ereader with the bad battery and found that I can live with it and an external powerbank.

I'm sorry to hear that.

I had to repair the power switch on my Poke3. (But I broke it in the first place.)
I repaired the power switch on my B&N Glow2. (Pictured.)
I replaced the battery on my Poke3 with a non-compatible battery.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Renate

I repaired the power switch on my B&N Glow2. (Pictured.)

It's a FrankeNook!

[hildea]

Originally Posted by Quoth

It may be be presented as OK in the book, but neither are OK.

Oh, I agree absolutely. There's nothing OK about the behaviour of the "hero" in that book. There are a lot of books I enjoyed as a child or teenager which really, really don't age well.

Originally Posted by Renate

I'm sorry to hear that.

Actually I found that I prefer my PocketBook. The bells and whistles of the Boox turned to be more of an annoyance than useful.

I had to repair the power switch on my Poke3. (But I broke it in the first place.)
I repaired the power switch on my B&N Glow2. (Pictured.)
I replaced the battery on my Poke3 with a non-compatible battery.

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

It's a FrankeNook!

I like the FrankeNook

[hildea]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I could swallow the groveling trope if both men and women were made follow it in straight romances. But it is almost always the man who is an asshole and has to grovel, never the heroine, while in real life women can be just as big assholes as men. Of course I'm aware of the reason for that (romances are written for women; the reader is meant to identify with the heroine and so the heroine can't be an asshole), but it's still extremely annoying for me. Possibly because I don't identify with romance heroines (I'm asexual), I read them from an outsider's viewpoint and so I find many tropes annoying that the target audience perhaps doesn't.

Granted, I don't read romances often and am probably not aware of the latest developments in the genre; perhaps there have been changes to the "the asshole is always the male half of the pairing" trope too.

That's an interesting point! Usually I prefer romances where none of the protagonists are assholes. Looking back, I can't remember any where a woman in a romantic pair was an asshole -- at least not without some serious mitigating circumstances, like planning to betray someone because she was in a desperate situation, or being antagonistic towards someone because she had been told lies about his actions.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by hildea

That's an interesting point! Usually I prefer romances where none of the protagonists are assholes. Looking back, I can't remember any where a woman in a romantic pair was an asshole -- at least not without some serious mitigating circumstances, like planning to betray someone because she was in a desperate situation, or being antagonistic towards someone because she had been told lies about his actions.

I don't mind occasional assholey behavior from the protagonists (actually too nice main characters irritate me - I'm no paragon myself), but I'd like to see it in women too, not only in men. "The hero is a jerk, but will redeem himself by diligent groveling in the end" trope has gotten pretty old. Let them both be a bit of a jerks from time to time, like real people are. And no groveling from either; there are other, more mature ways to reach a HEA.

Of course I'm not sure if this is even something most romance readers want. Perhaps the average (female) reader wants the heroine to be better than the hero; it's even possible that seeing the hero groveling excites some women. At least this is the impression I've got, because this trope crops up with some regularity.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Let them both be a bit of a jerks from time to time, like real people are. And no groveling from either; there are other, more mature ways to reach a HEA.

I've read some Romances like that and they were better than the more common kind. Wife thought so too.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

It's a FrankeNook!

And the brain is from "Abby Normal".

[hildea]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Let them both be a bit of a jerks from time to time, like real people are. And no groveling from either; there are other, more mature ways to reach a HEA.

Of course I'm not sure if this is even something most romance readers want. Perhaps the average (female) reader wants the heroine to be better than the hero; it's even possible that seeing the hero groveling excites some women. At least this is the impression I've got, because this trope crops up with some regularity.

Originally Posted by Quoth

I've read some Romances like that and they were better than the more common kind. Wife thought so too.

I don't know about "more common kind" or what the average (female or not) reader wants - the vast majority of romances I've read are like that.

The romance field is vast, I don't think generalisations will fit well.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by hildea

I don't know about "more common kind" or what the average (female or not) reader wants - the vast majority of romances I've read are like that.

The romance field is vast, I don't think generalisations will fit well.

Oh, sure. I just hoped that "the hero has been a jerk and needs to grovel" type of romances were a thing of the past, but apparently not. So they must be attractive to some readers.