Literary pet peeves

[Pastel]

I thought there might be other people out there who get irrationally annoyed by books/authors/publishers.

I've been looking for things to add to my to-read list lately, and it bugs me how so many publishers have decided to use the blurb for reviews and maybe a short, vague summary instead of like... using the space to tell us what the book is about. I'm not asking for spoilers or a full plot summary, but a review doesn't really tell me if I'll find the plot interesting at all.

Also I'll never stop bitching about movie covers - especially when the movie and the book are very different.

[nina84]

Well if I can talk a bit more about the content, I guess i really hate when a main character gets pregnant.. the child tends to ruin it for me idk why. I also tend to dislike the characters that are introduced in the middle of a novel, and even more when the focus shifts to them. Brave New World is a good example.

[yellowcookiemonster]

I hate when the transition of teenage characters to adults characters is written poorly. This is in so many of my books and I have trouble re-reading them. I hate when characters who are supposed to be adults speak the same way that the teenage characters do. I also hate when the main character is a girl who thinks they aren't attractive yet they have guys hitting on them left, right and centre. (It's just so overused, I'm sick of reading it)

I'm struggling to find something new to read at the moment because I'm 15 but an advanced reader who likes to read romance, mythology and fantasy but hates trashy novels like Twilight, isn't into books with copious amounts of sex in them and isn't a massive fan of books set during war.

[GetYouTubesTied]

I also hate when the main character is a girl who thinks they aren't attractive yet they have guys hitting on them left, right and centre. (It's just so overused, I'm sick of reading it)

SAME HERE it's so boring.

I'm struggling to find something new to read at the moment because I'm 15 but an advanced reader who likes to read romance, mythology and fantasy but hates trashy novels like Twilight, isn't into books with copious amounts of sex in them and isn't a massive fan of books set during war.

Newer lit I so often find to be a crapshoot. Classics are always a good place to begin (or return to).

[nina84]

Newer lit I so often find to be a crapshoot. Classics are always a good place to begin (or return to).

True, def. start with the classics.. There's sometimes romance and fantasy in them... Well maybe fantasy is harder to find but you can read the SF kinda stuff.. Dystopian novels and so on. Bradbury, Phillip K. Dick, Kafka maybe.

[yellowcookiemonster]

Thanks for your suggestions! I want to read the novel Wicked but it's lost in my garage somewhere and we just moved house. I'll check the local library for some classics, I've read Oliver Twist before and I enjoyed that so I'll probably enjoy some other classics.

[Pastel]

I agree that there are too many "I'm so ugly but everyone fancies me!!!" Mary Sues. It's so annoying to read, and I think it comes from a place of misogyny, which doesn't make it any better.

Also, I'm a little tired of novels with purple prose and characters with really inflated vocabularies. I'm thinking Twilight, The Fault In Our Stars (sue me), Fifty Shades of Grey... those are the ones that spring to mind. Why does everyone have to speak like an English professor all the time?

[nina84]

I agree that there are too many "I'm so ugly but everyone fancies me!!!" Mary Sues. It's so annoying to read, and I think it comes from a place of misogyny, which doesn't make it any better.

Also, I'm a little tired of novels with purple prose and characters with really inflated vocabularies. I'm thinking Twilight, The Fault In Our Stars (sue me), Fifty Shades of Grey... those are the ones that spring to mind. Why does everyone have to speak like an English professor all the time?

Yes. I just wanna roll my eyes when characters speak like that when they're teenagers, even adults don't talk like that irl. Idk why that is so common among YA novels.. it makes no sense.

[kayleeee]

In YA fiction where the parents seem to be pretty useless/incompetent in raising and caring for their kid, or just complete idiots most of the time. It was just something that hit me while reading the series I am now, and I really don't know why realizing this made me so mad lol

[achlys]

The only things that really annoy me aside from bad writing are typographical errors and huge plot holes/contradictions.

[proinsiascassidy]

My biggest problem with books (YA, mostly, though a certain new adult author comes to mind) are stories that romanticize or outright portray abuse as good. Shit like emotional abuse is apparently okay, and even sexy. Like, this big muscley pretty boy gets the right to force me into a relationship or sex because of course he does, and I have to comply because I'm the plain-yet-beautiful main character who can't say no because have you SEEN the size of his biceps? Ugh. This is why I barely read romance anymore, even though my romantic-ass needs love stories at all times.