What kills a book for you? - Page 3

CommonReader · 06-05-2011, 02:22 PM

- The killing of pets. Yes, it is sentimental but I don't like it when the pet dog or cat gets killed. It does seem to get ever more popular as part of the plot. Almost no current thriller seems to be without a pet killing.

- The incompetent treatment of the German language in English books. Many authors like to insert some German expression or a German sentence to either show off their erudite education or to create an authentic atmosphere, e.g. in war time thrillers. Well, you can take it for granted that at least 50% of these attempts contain a glaring spelling or grammatical mistake.
This might still be acceptable if it only happened with low volume editions published by small publishing companies but it also happens with large publishers like Penguin.
A recent example: Martin Amis in his recent bestseller "The Pregnant Widow" talks about "Der Wirtschaftswunder". No, Mr. Amis, wrong gender, as any child of six could have told you it's "Das Wirtschaftswunder". As the whole novel is just one exercise in showing off intellectually glaring mistakes like this obviously spoil the effect. I don't even want to think about the botch job he has probably made with all his references to ancient Greek.
As German is spoken by more than 90 million native speakers a publisher should be able to spend 50 quid on having a couple of German terms proofread.

orlok · 06-05-2011, 02:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

Glaring sex fails - She's petite, he's a giant. I'm 5'3" and I once dated a guy who was 6'7" - I KNOW what works and what doesn't.

Mind officially boggled

odiakkoh · 06-05-2011, 03:27 PM

Over the top descriptions - I don't need 2 pages of what the apple looks like.

Unnecessary profanity - Chuck Palahniuk seems to be the exception for me but most of the time they just seem to be swearing just to swear (or to look like a bad a**)

Whiny PITA people in the main cast - One book, the fiance of the main character cheats on her with her sister, leaves her and actually marries her sister, ends up dying in a skiing accident and throughout the whole book the sister is mourning and rubs it in the main character's face that she doesn't know what it's like to lose a husband and how cold and insensitive she is towards her loss. Like dude, you're a b****. It wouldn't have been too bad if she contributed to the story but the author could've left her out and lost nothing. Or at least made her a background character. tl;dr - stupid people are stupid

Fbone · 06-05-2011, 03:28 PM

For me lots of things: vampires, zombies, wizards, magic spells, sex scenes, occult and supernatural entities.

I also like the dead to stay dead. Please, don't bring them back to life as in a case of mistaken identity and make them the murderer.

I also don't care for "improbability drives" in my stories.

Darqref · 06-06-2011, 12:21 AM

Many of the items described above at different times. Also:

1. A book so relentlessly demoralizing that if I were a character I would kill myself. Most obvious memory is "Solaris"by Stanislaw Lem. (I understand that this might be made worse by an inadequate translation, but still...)

2. The latest fad piled on higher and deeper. Almost any subject that has been done too many times, and this one does not have something new or particularly well done that calls to me. I'm tired of vampires and such, there are stories I still read but new ones have a high bar to jump.

3. Too obvious political message, without enough story to cover or support it. Much can be forgiven if the story is well written, but especially at the beginning of a story, don't hit me with too much unsupported politics.

rxmom03 · 06-06-2011, 02:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

Glaring sex fails - She's petite, he's a giant. I'm 5'3" and I once dated a guy who was 6'7" - I KNOW what works and what doesn't.

That's all I can think of right now.

Can I sit in the corner with you and laugh?

I am 5'4" and my late husband was 6'8".

Sweetpea · 06-06-2011, 02:20 AM

A book only gets killed, when it doesn't have at least a somewhat happy ending. People can die, but not all of them. Also, at least some good things must happen in a story. If it's only bad after bad after bad after bad, I'll lay it down and never look back.

(ever seen the movie Armageddon? Nothing worked as it should, and everything went wrong. Hated that movie)

Quote:

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

I'm put off by encountering a gratuitously disgusting or shocking scene or action. These needless images make me put down the book immediately and forever. Shock schlock is no substitute for good writing.

Don't read Wilbur Smith then

CWatkinsNash · 06-06-2011, 09:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rxmom03

Can I sit in the corner with you and laugh?

I am 5'4" and my late husband was 6'8".

Sure! Come over here to my corner!

hidari · 06-06-2011, 10:29 AM

[QUOTE=Sweetpea;1570070]A book only gets killed, when it doesn't have at least a somewhat happy ending. People can die, but not all of them. Also, at least some good things must happen in a story. If it's only bad after bad after bad after bad, I'll lay it down and never look back.

Sorry, have to disagree.....Happy contrite Hollywood endings bore me to tears. 90% of books are so predictable even Bambi would get bored and she can't read.

Gronk · 06-06-2011, 10:35 AM

With ebooks it's Kindle DRM because I can't put it on my Sony.

I know that's not what you're looking for but that's what jumped to mind.

VydorScope · 06-06-2011, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gronk

With ebooks it's Kindle DRM because I can't put it on my Sony.

I know that's not what you're looking for but that's what jumped to mind.

That seems to be more of a non-starter, as opposed to "I started it and will never finish" but are there really that many books that are ONLY on Kindle?

Assassin · 06-06-2011, 11:40 AM

Wow!! Am I different. About the only thing that will cause me to stop reading a book is if it is just plain terrible; poor editing, unpredictable characters who constantly change emotions, unbelievable plot, too much or too little detail to convey an image of the scene. I wouldn't even start a horror, sci fic, or fantasy story because I don't like those subjects.
I'm not turned off by profanity, detailed sex, or abuse IF it is important to the story itself; ie as in a character study, to drive home exactly what type of personality the character has. Or if it is necessary to show changes over time in the character's behavior. Limiting a writer to no sex, no profanity, no explicit violence, no animal deaths, no, no, no is like tying his hands and feet and telling him to swim.
However, I do agree it is the readers absolute right to avoid issues that turn them off. I quit reading John Sandford's novels because of his injection of his liberal political views. When I want political commentary I'll buy non-fiction dealing with that issue.
And the story doesn't need to have a happy ending for me to enjoy it. Some works should end badly, that can be the whole point of the story. Those simply aren't good reads for people who need positive endings.

taustin · 06-06-2011, 12:20 PM

The Eight Deadly Words.

The only book I didn't finish for any other reason was one in which the opening paragraph was, literally, a graphic description of homosexual oral sex. I'm pretty sure I'd have liked to see every character in that book die horribly, but I never made it to the second paragraph, so I don't know for sure.

Shimarenda · 06-06-2011, 01:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hidari

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

A book only gets killed, when it doesn't have at least a somewhat happy ending. People can die, but not all of them. Also, at least some good things must happen in a story. If it's only bad after bad after bad after bad, I'll lay it down and never look back.

Sorry, have to disagree.....Happy contrite Hollywood endings bore me to tears. 90% of books are so predictable even Bambi would get bored and she can't read.

I think there is some middle ground between trite and the relentless misery that pervades the worldview of some authors.

Ea · 06-06-2011, 01:44 PM

- badly edited
- badly proofread
- incorrect foreign language words/sentences
- badly written prose (Dan Brown)
- stilted, unnatural sounding dialogue (e.g. Stieg Larsson)

And I think that's it. If the author know her (or his) craft and writes well, I'm not so picky about subject-matter. When done well, I love heavily descriptive prose - but only when done well, and that's a rarity.

06-06-2011, 11:40 AM	#42
Assassin Connoisseur Posts: 54 Karma: 40000 Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Midwest Device: kindle	Wow!! Am I different. About the only thing that will cause me to stop reading a book is if it is just plain terrible; poor editing, unpredictable characters who constantly change emotions, unbelievable plot, too much or too little detail to convey an image of the scene. I wouldn't even start a horror, sci fic, or fantasy story because I don't like those subjects. I'm not turned off by profanity, detailed sex, or abuse IF it is important to the story itself; ie as in a character study, to drive home exactly what type of personality the character has. Or if it is necessary to show changes over time in the character's behavior. Limiting a writer to no sex, no profanity, no explicit violence, no animal deaths, no, no, no is like tying his hands and feet and telling him to swim. However, I do agree it is the readers absolute right to avoid issues that turn them off. I quit reading John Sandford's novels because of his injection of his liberal political views. When I want political commentary I'll buy non-fiction dealing with that issue. And the story doesn't need to have a happy ending for me to enjoy it. Some works should end badly, that can be the whole point of the story. Those simply aren't good reads for people who need positive endings. Last edited by Assassin; 06-06-2011 at 11:45 AM. Reason: Forgot something

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06-05-2011, 02:22 PM	#31
CommonReader Fanatic Posts: 528 Karma: 2530000 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: Sony PRS-T3, PRS-650, Vaio Tap 11, iPad Mini	- The killing of pets. Yes, it is sentimental but I don't like it when the pet dog or cat gets killed. It does seem to get ever more popular as part of the plot. Almost no current thriller seems to be without a pet killing. - The incompetent treatment of the German language in English books. Many authors like to insert some German expression or a German sentence to either show off their erudite education or to create an authentic atmosphere, e.g. in war time thrillers. Well, you can take it for granted that at least 50% of these attempts contain a glaring spelling or grammatical mistake. This might still be acceptable if it only happened with low volume editions published by small publishing companies but it also happens with large publishers like Penguin. A recent example: Martin Amis in his recent bestseller "The Pregnant Widow" talks about "Der Wirtschaftswunder". No, Mr. Amis, wrong gender, as any child of six could have told you it's "Das Wirtschaftswunder". As the whole novel is just one exercise in showing off intellectually glaring mistakes like this obviously spoil the effect. I don't even want to think about the botch job he has probably made with all his references to ancient Greek. As German is spoken by more than 90 million native speakers a publisher should be able to spend 50 quid on having a couple of German terms proofread.

06-05-2011, 03:27 PM	#33
odiakkoh Guru Posts: 823 Karma: 1818344 Join Date: Apr 2011 Device: iPhone 5s	Over the top descriptions - I don't need 2 pages of what the apple looks like. Unnecessary profanity - Chuck Palahniuk seems to be the exception for me but most of the time they just seem to be swearing just to swear (or to look like a bad a) Whiny PITA people in the main cast - One book, the fiance of the main character cheats on her with her sister, leaves her and actually marries her sister, ends up dying in a skiing accident and throughout the whole book the sister is mourning and rubs it in the main character's face that she doesn't know what it's like to lose a husband and how cold and insensitive she is towards her loss. Like dude, you're a b. It wouldn't have been too bad if she contributed to the story but the author could've left her out and lost nothing. Or at least made her a background character. tl;dr - stupid people are stupid**

06-05-2011, 03:28 PM	#34
Fbone Is that a sandwich? Posts: 8,282 Karma: 101696762 Join Date: Jun 2010 Device: Nook Glowlight Plus	For me lots of things: vampires, zombies, wizards, magic spells, sex scenes, occult and supernatural entities. I also like the dead to stay dead. Please, don't bring them back to life as in a case of mistaken identity and make them the murderer. I also don't care for "improbability drives" in my stories.

06-06-2011, 12:21 AM	#35
Darqref space cadet Posts: 333 Karma: 2999999 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Seattle area Device: Rocket PRO, gen3, Pocketbook360	Many of the items described above at different times. Also: 1. A book so relentlessly demoralizing that if I were a character I would kill myself. Most obvious memory is "Solaris"by Stanislaw Lem. (I understand that this might be made worse by an inadequate translation, but still...) 2. The latest fad piled on higher and deeper. Almost any subject that has been done too many times, and this one does not have something new or particularly well done that calls to me. I'm tired of vampires and such, there are stories I still read but new ones have a high bar to jump. 3. Too obvious political message, without enough story to cover or support it. Much can be forgiven if the story is well written, but especially at the beginning of a story, don't hit me with too much unsupported politics.

06-06-2011, 10:29 AM	#39
hidari MR Drone Posts: 1,613 Karma: 15612282 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: DRONEZONE Device: PB360+, Huawei MP5, Libra H20	[QUOTE=Sweetpea;1570070]A book only gets killed, when it doesn't have at least a somewhat happy ending. People can die, but not all of them. Also, at least some good things must happen in a story. If it's only bad after bad after bad after bad, I'll lay it down and never look back. Sorry, have to disagree.....Happy contrite Hollywood endings bore me to tears. 90% of books are so predictable even Bambi would get bored and she can't read.

06-06-2011, 10:35 AM	#40
Gronk Zealot Posts: 106 Karma: 500356 Join Date: Apr 2011 Device: Oasis, Voyage, PW2, Sony PRS 950, 350	With ebooks it's Kindle DRM because I can't put it on my Sony. I know that's not what you're looking for but that's what jumped to mind.

06-06-2011, 12:20 PM	#43
taustin Wizard Posts: 1,358 Karma: 5766642 Join Date: Aug 2010 Device: Nook	The Eight Deadly Words. The only book I didn't finish for any other reason was one in which the opening paragraph was, literally, a graphic description of homosexual oral sex. I'm pretty sure I'd have liked to see every character in that book die horribly, but I never made it to the second paragraph, so I don't know for sure.

06-06-2011, 01:44 PM	#45
Ea Wizard Posts: 3,490 Karma: 5239563 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Denmark Device: Kindle 3\|iPad air\|iPhone 4S	- badly edited - badly proofread - incorrect foreign language words/sentences - badly written prose (Dan Brown) - stilted, unnatural sounding dialogue (e.g. Stieg Larsson) And I think that's it. If the author know her (or his) craft and writes well, I'm not so picky about subject-matter. When done well, I love heavily descriptive prose - but only when done well, and that's a rarity.

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