Reading/Book Pet Peeves

[cabbageweevil]

I've enjoyed a good many of Philippa Gregory's novels, and consider that she writes well; but have started to eschew her in recent years. She seems to produce exclusively nowadays, an endless torrent of novels about British royal women from a fairly limited period. I would seem to have a more restricted appetite for queens, than many have -- I've just got sick of 'em.

She just seems to mechanistically go on and on, milking this seemingly unceasing cash-cow. I find myself wanting to shout, "For pity's sake, Philippa, make a change !  Write about something totally else, even if you make a hash of it !  How about medieval Russia, with Kievan Rus' and the Mongol threat; or the Incas; or China or Japan, very long ago -- anything, so long as it's different..."

[Redsoil]

When an established author, describing how she gets ideas for her books notes that the process is something like "a rolling stone gathering moss".

Really???

Nevertheless, I'm somewhat peeved that her latest book doesn't seem to be available on Kindle.  Hardcover is on Amazon for pre-order at present.

[Seraphia]

I've enjoyed a good many of Philippa Gregory's novels, and consider that she writes well; but have started to eschew her in recent years. She seems to produce exclusively nowadays, an endless torrent of novels about British royal women from a fairly limited period. I would seem to have a more restricted appetite for queens, than many have -- I've just got sick of 'em.

She just seems to mechanistically go on and on, milking this seemingly unceasing cash-cow. I find myself wanting to shout, "For pity's sake, Philippa, make a change !  Write about something totally else, even if you make a hash of it !  How about medieval Russia, with Kievan Rus' and the Mongol threat; or the Incas; or China or Japan, very long ago -- anything, so long as it's different..."

You know, I feel the same way. I love me some Tudors, I really do. But I think I've had my fill of overly-tragic queens/princesses/noblewomen with intimate scenes on boats. And while I appreciate the difficulty of researching a new history or culture, if I'm going to read a story that borrows a bunch of stuff from her other books, I'd really like a new setting.

[Outdoor Girl]

A pet peeve for me is some electronic book prices.  You want me to pay more for an electronic book than what I would pay if I went to the book store and bought the paperback?  I don't think so.

[BabyMama]

I've enjoyed a good many of Philippa Gregory's novels, and consider that she writes well; but have started to eschew her in recent years. She seems to produce exclusively nowadays, an endless torrent of novels about British royal women from a fairly limited period. I would seem to have a more restricted appetite for queens, than many have -- I've just got sick of 'em.

She just seems to mechanistically go on and on, milking this seemingly unceasing cash-cow. I find myself wanting to shout, "For pity's sake, Philippa, make a change !  Write about something totally else, even if you make a hash of it !  How about medieval Russia, with Kievan Rus' and the Mongol threat; or the Incas; or China or Japan, very long ago -- anything, so long as it's different..."

You know, I feel the same way. I love me some Tudors, I really do. But I think I've had my fill of overly-tragic queens/princesses/noblewomen with intimate scenes on boats. And while I appreciate the difficulty of researching a new history or culture, if I'm going to read a story that borrows a bunch of stuff from her other books, I'd really like a new setting.

They've become pretty formulaic, too. When the character meets a dashing man, I no longer wonder if it's going to work out between them, because it totally is. Beginning of book: Young, naive character describes the court setting around them. Middle of book: That character becomes embroiled in that court setting, usually part of a plot hatched by family members. Character also meets man, true love ensues, usually marriage is impossible for some reason or another. Sometimes they do get to marry but most of their love is described as passionate physical love. End: Not good for the main character.

[MariaE]

A pet peeve for me is some electronic book prices.  You want me to pay more for an electronic book than what I would pay if I went to the book store and bought the paperback?  I don't think so.

YES! It's ridiculous!

[cabbageweevil]

You know, I feel the same way. I love me some Tudors, I really do. But I think I've had my fill of overly-tragic queens/princesses/noblewomen with intimate scenes on boats. And while I appreciate the difficulty of researching a new history or culture, if I'm going to read a story that borrows a bunch of stuff from her other books, I'd really like a new setting.

Tudors, and “intimate scenes on boats” – I can’t resist doing a “commercial” for a novel series which I  love.  The Matthew Shardlake thrillers by C.J. Sansom, set in the later years of Henry VIII’s reign. I’m male, but not – I’d like to think – a misogynist; but with something of a liking for, from time to time, straightforward “shoot-‘em-up-and-torture-‘em” thrillers, as a change from romance / psychological / character-development deep stuff.

Sansom’s novel  “Sovereign”, has the hero on a sea voyage from Hull in Yorkshire, to London. Everyone on the ship, is male – “intimate scenes”, but not on the lines of same-sex scrabble-playing.  An (involuntary) traveller on the ship, is a Catholic rebel against the king, being conveyed to London, because the bumpkins up north have no idea about how to effectively torture people:  he’s being taken to the experts in the Tower of London, where they’ll be able to get out of him, all possible information about his insurgent movement.  While the ship wallows around lengthily, trying to get intact to its destination;  the rebel manages, with the aid of a confederate on board, to end his life, before he can be made to spill his guts to the authorities.  This means that when the ship gets where it’s going, “the fertilizer hits the ventilating apparatus” for everyone on board...  I find this series splendid, and hope for many more in it  – “just me”, I see it as not everyone’s cup of tea.

[Diane AKA Traska]

A pet peeve for me is some electronic book prices.  You want me to pay more for an electronic book than what I would pay if I went to the book store and bought the paperback?  I don't think so.

YES! It's ridiculous!

The reasoning is the same reason why blank cassettes had a tax on them.  It's them saying "since it's electronic, we *KNOW* you'll be pirating it, so here's a fee built-in to help us recover our losses."

[kglory]

I've enjoyed a good many of Philippa Gregory's novels, and consider that she writes well; but have started to eschew her in recent years. She seems to produce exclusively nowadays, an endless torrent of novels about British royal women from a fairly limited period. I would seem to have a more restricted appetite for queens, than many have -- I've just got sick of 'em.

She just seems to mechanistically go on and on, milking this seemingly unceasing cash-cow. I find myself wanting to shout, "For pity's sake, Philippa, make a change !  Write about something totally else, even if you make a hash of it !  How about medieval Russia, with Kievan Rus' and the Mongol threat; or the Incas; or China or Japan, very long ago -- anything, so long as it's different..."

You know, I feel the same way. I love me some Tudors, I really do. But I think I've had my fill of overly-tragic queens/princesses/noblewomen with intimate scenes on boats. And while I appreciate the difficulty of researching a new history or culture, if I'm going to read a story that borrows a bunch of stuff from her other books, I'd really like a new setting.

They've become pretty formulaic, too. When the character meets a dashing man, I no longer wonder if it's going to work out between them, because it totally is. Beginning of book: Young, naive character describes the court setting around them. Middle of book: That character becomes embroiled in that court setting, usually part of a plot hatched by family members. Character also meets man, true love ensues, usually marriage is impossible for some reason or another. Sometimes they do get to marry but most of their love is described as passionate physical love. End: Not good for the main character.

Yup, I do agree with all of you.  Especially because now it seems her books all overlap the exact same time period -- so you are learning NOTHING NEW.

When "The White Queen" came out, I loved it, because it was a time in history I'd never learned about.  I didn't know what was going to happen to the characters and so it made for an fascinating story.  But she has followed it up with 3 other books about the exact same time period, each one getting more and more boring because it is literally rehashing the same material from another character's point of view.

I know, why do I keep reading, right?  The clear solution would be to stop reading,  but somehow I can't....it's like I've started a project and feel compelled to finish.

[stitchygreyanonymouse]

I know, why do I keep reading, right?  The clear solution would be to stop reading,  but somehow I can't....it's like I've started a project and feel compelled to finish.

You’ve just described my entire current reading list, pretty much. Even for series that I’ve had the ending spoiled for me, I can’t seem to not finish them by reading the rest of the books. There are very, very few ones that hit a point where I can give up the series and not be compelled to go back to it.

[MariaE]

A pet peeve for me is some electronic book prices.  You want me to pay more for an electronic book than what I would pay if I went to the book store and bought the paperback?  I don't think so.

YES! It's ridiculous!

The reasoning is the same reason why blank cassettes had a tax on them.  It's them saying "since it's electronic, we *KNOW* you'll be pirating it, so here's a fee built-in to help us recover our losses."

That would make sense if ALL ebooks were more expensive than their physical counterparts. But it (fortunately) is the exception rather than the rule. Usually the ebook is cheaper or at least costs the same. It's fortunately rare that it's more expensive.

[Ereine]

I haven't bought any Finnish e-books but I've heard that they're horribly expensive here, comparable to a hardback book. I thought it was just the greediness of publishers but apparently it's mostly because of tax, paper books have a tax of 8 % but I guess that he law doesn't count e-books as books as they're taxed at 24 % so what they save on not printing doesn't really matter on the price.

[atirial]

In the UK paperbacks are sold with VAT at 0% while ebooks are at 17.5%. However most ebooks are still cheaper.

[Diane AKA Traska]

A pet peeve for me is some electronic book prices.  You want me to pay more for an electronic book than what I would pay if I went to the book store and bought the paperback?  I don't think so.

YES! It's ridiculous!

The reasoning is the same reason why blank cassettes had a tax on them.  It's them saying "since it's electronic, we *KNOW* you'll be pirating it, so here's a fee built-in to help us recover our losses."

That would make sense if ALL ebooks were more expensive than their physical counterparts. But it (fortunately) is the exception rather than the rule. Usually the ebook is cheaper or at least costs the same. It's fortunately rare that it's more expensive.

Then I really don't know.  It was worth a guess, and it fit the pattern I've observed in how publishers treat consumers of electronic media.

[Piratelvr1121]

I read two books of a Philippa Gregory series a few years ago and couldn't bring myself to read a third.  It was the Wideacre series and it read like V.C. Andrews doing historical fiction.

I've noticed her books are kind of hit or miss.  I liked "The Other Boleyn Girl" (hated the movie) and "The Queen's Fool" but there was another one I almost gave up on...I think it was "The Wise Woman".

That one, by the time it ended, had me hating every single character. 

I can believe it, and it made me feel like I needed to take a shower with all the incest within.    Every single character was despicable