Things in books that annoy you

[GrannyGrump]

Well, that was educational. I have in the past listened to a scattering of Lovecraft audio stories, and now I must wonder if the narrators were accurate.

Confession -- I've never read any Lovecraft, he wasn't available in the small-town libraries or drug-store bookracks when I was growing up, and anyway, horror wasn't my bag as a pre-teen. Then it was too late -- Shirley Jackson, Richard Matheson, Dean Koontz, and Stephen King caught me in their snare.

[GlenBarrington]

Originally Posted by GrannyGrump

Which does remind me of a peeve in modern speculative/fantasy books -- the unpronounceable “alien” name or phrase. Having to stop to puzzle out a word like “Bxzphorrhgrw” is likely to put the author on my better-never-read list.

I am irritated by a similar conceit by SF writers. That is calling Earth, "Terra" I'm pretty sure English has dropped that name for the planet quite some time ago. And why would, in the future, some 'global naming agency' use the word 'Terra' for the planet Earth?

If we are concerned about being too "Anglo-centric", isn't the Euro-centrism of using 'Terra' for the planet, just as blind? Wouldn't the name of Earth in the future, as likely to be in Mandarin or Hindi, as it is in English or Latin?

I don't expect this to change, this tired trope now seems set in concrete at this point for Science Fiction. And God help us, future generations may take their lead from Science Fiction. (Look how often the name "Enterprise" is used on both real ships, NASA craft, and in SciFi, it is NOT because of the US Aircraft carrier!)

But I do feel better for saying it!

[JSWolf]

[QUOTE=GlenBarrington;3649159(Look how often the name "Enterprise" is used on both real ships, NASA craft, and in SciFi, it is NOT because of the US Aircraft carrier!)[/quote]

The movie Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home did have the aircraft carrier Enterprise in it. The aircraft carrier is named for the starship not the other way round.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by GrannyGrump

A peeve for me--- mostly in much older books --- The UNTRANSLATED foreign language epigraph, or line of verse, or supposedly-familiar-to-everyone ancient Greek or Latin motto. Etc.

This was a widespread practice for many authors up until the 20th century. (It probably still occurs in hoity-toity lit-fic.)

Ah yes. The Name of the Rose. Not sure who benefits from all that untranslated Latin.

[MikeB1972]

Originally Posted by GlenBarrington

I am irritated by a similar conceit by SF writers. That is calling Earth, "Terra" I'm pretty sure English has dropped that name for the planet quite some time ago. And why would, in the future, some 'global naming agency' use the word 'Terra' for the planet Earth?

Auto-translation programs.

You come from dirt?

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by MikeB1972

Auto-translation programs.

You come from dirt?

That depends on who you believe created us in the first place. Maybe "clay" would be more appropriate for a man, and "rib" for a woman?

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by GlenBarrington

I am irritated by a similar conceit by SF writers. That is calling Earth, "Terra" I'm pretty sure English has dropped that name for the planet quite some time ago. And why would, in the future, some 'global naming agency' use the word 'Terra' for the planet Earth?

I can handle 'Terra' for 'Earth'. What I don't get is why in those same books, other aliens are named for their planets. Vulcans come from Vulcan, Martians come from Mars and humans come from Earth. But then, Earther always sounds a little stupid. Terran sounds slightly better, which is why I suppose I don't mind swapping Terra for Earth.

[Witty Username]

Originally Posted by GrannyGrump

Which does remind me of a peeve in modern speculative/fantasy books -- the unpronounceable “alien” name or phrase. Having to stop to puzzle out a word like “Bxzphorrhgrw” is likely to put the author on my better-never-read list.

There's a whole series of fantasy books that I cannot read because the author litters the text with apostrophes - mostly in the middle of otherwise unremarkable names. Luckily, every title in the series has an unnecessary apostrophe so they are easily avoided.

(Yes, I am one of those people who get twitchy in the presence of a wrongly used apostrophe.)

[GlenBarrington]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The movie Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home did have the aircraft carrier Enterprise in it. The aircraft carrier is named for the starship not the other way round.

I understand that. But that belies the Science Fiction community's desire to propagate certain favored conventions, that may spill out into the larger culture.

[Catlady]

Oddly spelled, unpronounceable names is one of the (many) reasons I avoid science fiction. It seems a silly affectation.

[sjfan]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Oddly spelled, unpronounceable names is one of the (many) reasons I avoid science fiction. It seems a silly affectation.

Fantasy's often as bad, IMO. I'm not a huge fan of George R.R. Martin's actual writing (he's a very good world-builder but his prose is workmanlike), but he uses names that are largely either historically inspired or at least reasonably pronounceable and plausible-seeming: Jaime, Cersei, Jorah, Eddard, Sansa, Bran, Arya, Gregor, Stannis, etc

I think Patrick Rothfus is a much better writer in general, but Kvoth is a comparatively dumb name.

[jj2me]

For audiobooks in particular, lots of characters with simple names. Below is from my handwritten cheat list for "Last Orders" (there may have been more that I didn't need to write down). I had to list characteristics/occupations/relationships next to each name to keep them straight.

Ray
Amy
Vince
Lenny
Vic
Mandy
Jack
Bernie
Brenda
June
Jimmy
Barry

[Sydney's Mom]

You're and Your. Just ran into this last night-it stops me in my tracks. You would think, since it is so common, that I would just glance over it, but it doesn't happen that way.

[4691mls]

I once read a book where the local policeman rode a bicycle and every single time, he peddled instead of pedaled. The book didn't have other problems, just this one recurring error. Drove me nuts.

[Tarana]

Originally Posted by barryem

I suspect your grandmother misremembers. I'm 77. I grew up in Texas. From about 14 on I lived in Houston. I was an avid reader since before first grade (I learned to read at home) and an avid bookstore browser since about age 12.

During my younger years I shopped in bookstores in various places in Texas, Louisiana, California, New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts. The first time I ever saw genres in fiction books in a book store was in a Crown Book Store in Houston, probably about 1980. Could have been as early as 1975. I'm really not sure.

It was a few years after that before genre became popular in other bookstores.
Barry

I can't disagree with your experience, because it is your experience. The photo of my grandmother is from 1932 or 33 (her dad is in it and he died in 1933) showing the genres at Dayton's Department store. One of the Dayton's grandsons started B Dalton Booksellers in 1966 and photos from the original store opening showed that books were separated by genres. Within the genre, they would be in alphabetical order. Pretty much what they do today. I've been shopping in bookstores since 1972 and they've ALWAYS been separated by genres. Small book departments and certainly student bookstores WERE (and often still are) as you described - books just shelved in order of author name.

As an additional comment, Uncle Hugo's, which has always carried only science fiction and fantasy, opened in Minneapolis in 1974. Uncle Edgar's, specializing in mystery and suspense, opened in 1980. To this day though, science fiction and fantasy are genres that are not as popular as we like to think. Most people read general fiction.