Things in books that annoy you

[Catlady]

I read a book last year that was classified as mystery/thriller/suspense, which is my favored category. It was enjoyable and great fun, and firmly belonged in the category, but for the big reveal at the end, which introduced an unreal element.

It was well done and I was only a little bit annoyed by the twist, but there's no way to warn off someone who might be a lot annoyed, without ruining the book for everyone else. Which is why I won't say the title.

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by DNSB

One example of the issues I have with people who insist on putting books into genres is how do I classify books such as Dead Reckoning by Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill? A western with zombies? Three main characters drawing from 3 different backgrounds (the ancient girl dressed as boy hunting her brother trope, the steampunk genius inventor whose people skills are best expressed in negative numbers and the wise man raised by aboriginal Americans). A decent read, BTW, especially for the younger reader but neither authors' best work. Is it a western? Zombie apocalypse? Steampunk? Is zombie steampunk western a genre yet?

I like to be able to sort and look at my TBR and already read lists by genre so that when I am wanting to read some fantasy or a thriller I could find them easily. Or when I want to nominate a book for a book club and it needs to be in a certain genre. But I also realize that only having a single label is NOT sufficient for most books.

So, I now just label them with anything that I think applies. The book above might be Western, Paranormal, Horror, Steampunk, and Alternative History in my library (I'm not completely consistent.) When I find that I label a lot of books with the same set of genres I might go and find a more "formal" genre that meets all of those criteria (like the "weird west" mentioned) but that doesn't happen often. The GoodReads "top shelves" area for a book is a decent starting place if I am trying to find out what genres a book is before reading it.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Be careful there. You could be treading in to horror territory.

Treading? I'm stomping all over it. Generally, if the intent of the book is not to keep you from falling asleep without a light on, I don't consider it as horror.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Yes, it is called Weird West

AFAIR, Weird West only includes elements of one other genre while quite a few books I've read need a shopping list of genres they could be considered part of.

[Penforhire]

On the topic of factual errors, I was just reading a book in Mark Greaney's "Gray Man" series (Deadeye) and the protagonist hot wires a BMW R1200 "off-road model" of motorcycle.

The problem is, since their inception in 2004 the R1200GS series always had a wireless code system in its keys (EWS immobilizer a.k.a. Drive Away Protection System). There is no way to simply "hot wire" those motorcycles and get the ignition to function. BMW started using something similar on other models as early as 1994.

I normally enjoy his books and the touchstones of realism his uses. Grrrr.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

While we are dumping paranormal romance, we can also lump in the sparkly vampires (i.e., Twilight) as they too can go.

I always wonder with the vampire romances, what happens when Auntie Flo comes to visit (fill in the euphemism of your choice -- Great Ghu knows there are enough to them).

[sjfan]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Be careful there. You could be treading in to horror territory.

Horror has a large overlap with fantasy, though there's obviously a lot of horror that isn't fantasy (e.g. the Telltale Heart) as well.

[PurpleStar]

Originally Posted by DNSB

I always wonder with the vampire romances, what happens when Auntie Flo comes to visit (fill in the euphemism of your choice -- Great Ghu knows there are enough to them).

They never worry about things like that in books (or movies, etc...) But I wonder that myself sometimes.

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I read a book last year that was classified as mystery/thriller/suspense, which is my favored category. It was enjoyable and great fun, and firmly belonged in the category, but for the big reveal at the end, which introduced an unreal element.

It was well done and I was only a little bit annoyed by the twist, but there's no way to warn off someone who might be a lot annoyed, without ruining the book for everyone else. Which is why I won't say the title.

I also had this exact experience with a psychological thriller last year, except I was A LOT annoyed by the ending. I wonder if it was the same book?

The author's initials are:

Spoiler:

S.P.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by DNSB

AFAIR, Weird West only includes elements of one other genre while quite a few books I've read need a shopping list of genres they could be considered part of.

I'm not sure why that would apply.

[barryem]

Originally Posted by DNSB

I would have to disagree. Science fiction was used back in the 1930s

Actually I found references on the web to the term "science fiction" being used as far back as 1830, or some year around that time. I forget exactly what it said. But there was pretty general agreement that the term wasn't generally known and used till the mid to late 1950s.

In the case of "1984" we can be sure that Orwell's intent wasn't to write science fiction since his name for the book was "1948" and he was writing it as an allegory about the current state of the world. His publisher, fearing controversy, thought that putting it in the future would be safer.

Gene Roddenberry did the same thing with Star Trek to be able to tell stories about such things as racism in a way that was acceptable to TV networks. Anybody remember "East Side, West Side", a very popular and critically acclaimed TV series with 2 little known actors at that time (George C. Scott, Cecily Tyson) that was taken off the air because the networks thought it dealt with topics that were too controversial. It's not nice to mess with mother network.

Barry

[barryem]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Can we add authors who depend on deus ex machina to the "they'll never be missed" list?

Sure! And anyone who disagrees with me!

Barry

[barryem]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I understand. And I can't say much without having read that particular book. I was just saying a few fantastical elements don't necessarily make a book fantasy.

I can't recall it's name now but I read a mystery that took place in the present that had flashbacks to the civil war. No characters in the book moved back and forth in time but the reader certainly did. Does that make it science fiction?

What about a book like "Pillars of the Earth"? It ends about 80 or 90 years after it begins and yet the audiobook is 41 hours long. That's moving through time very quickly? Science fiction? Fantasy?

Actually I think there's something to be said for both sides of this discussion. "Brave New World" and "1984" both contain some elements of science fiction. But most people don't think of them as science fiction and I think that's what wins the argument.

Barry

[barryem]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I don't understand why 1984 wouldn't be science fiction except for inherent snobbishness that calling it science fiction somehow makes it lesser.

Precisely! We snobs don't want you messing with our favorite books!

Barry

[barryem]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I read a book last year that was classified as mystery/thriller/suspense, which is my favored category. It was enjoyable and great fun, and firmly belonged in the category, but for the big reveal at the end, which introduced an unreal element.

"Smilla's Sense of Snow" fits that description pretty well. At the very end it turned into science fiction with no clue to that beforehand. It was a beautiful book.

I remember an old rather conventional western I saw on TV, probably about 1955 or so, that took place just across the Mexico border from Texas where a rancher from the USA was having problems with the caballeros from a much larger nearby ranch. Finally at the end they had surrounded his little ranch house with the intention of killing him and a dinosaur came out of the woods and ate all the bad guys. I always liked that ending.

Barry