Reading/Book Pet Peeves

[Twik]

Okay, just finished a book and was looking for something else to read in the next week as I wait for a new book to be released.  So I remembered that the Anne of Green Gables books are free on Amazon and looked it up and found this cover. 

Granted it's not a blonde coed but wow, talk about not reading the book.  This one's a few centuries before Anne.

http://www.amazon.com/Uplifting-Classics-Formatted-Specifically-ebook/dp/B00322OOI2/ref=sr_1_4?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1366307052&sr=1-4&keywords=anne+of+green+gables+kindle+free

Guess they figured: "Anne of Something-or-Other... Anne of Cleves will do, right?"

Perhaps they were googling, and didn't realize one of these things is not like the other:

Anne Boleyn
Anne of Burgundy
Anne of Cleves
Anne of Denmark
Anne of Green Gables

[SheltieMom]

The cover of the paperback of Heinlein's The Star Beast has a picture that gives away a major plot point.

[Twik]

I recall reading about Tolkien's query about the cover to the first authorized US edition of Lord of the Rings - "Why does it feature ostriches?"

[Luci45]

I was looking at a table of books and noticed something that really annoys me. Book cover after book cover that reads "Bookname: A Novel".

Really?  You need to tell us that this book is "A Novel"?  I couldn't have guessed!

I can understand "Bookname: A Novel of Seriesname", but "A Novel"? 

Absolutely, it is helpful. I don't like memoirs, am iffy on biographies "as told to......". Many of those have titles that could be questionalable. I always look at the blurbs and a page or two to see the style of writing and if it is sloppily written, but I'd really like to know the generals before I waste my time. If it is science fiction, fantasy, or historical I can usually firgure out, but non-fiction or fiction may be not so clear.

[Snowy Owl]

One peeve I have is when I loved something as a young impressionable teen and then I re-read it and see all of the gaping holes, inappropriate behaviour and wonder what teenage me was thinking.  I read an old Victoria Holt romantic novel recently and I can't believe I used to devour those.  The protagonist was ridiculously wet, the "hero" made me uncomfortable with the fact he was lusting after her when she was 14 and the whole approach made me feel deeply uneasy.  I know people got married younger in the Victorian era but there was something about the way that book handled it was very offputting. 

Yet I know when I was a teenager they were my favourite book and I thought them the zenith of romance. Oddly I still like other historical romances but there's something about the style of the VH ones that makes me uncomfortable. 

It's funny what adulthood brings to one in terms of changing approaches. 

[paintpots]

Oof. Just finished a Patricia Cornwell book, and there were some real howlers.

First of all she talked about 'bacterias'.

Then later on, there was a slightly throwaway comment about a colleague having died a few years back from smallpox. In case you're wondering when the book was set...1999.

The bizarre thing was that the forensics stuff had clearly been researched. The references to all things microbial came across as something she'd been told by a drunk in a bar.

[Twik]

Oof. Just finished a Patricia Cornwell book, and there were some real howlers.

First of all she talked about 'bacterias'.

Then later on, there was a slightly throwaway comment about a colleague having died a few years back from smallpox. In case you're wondering when the book was set...1999.

The bizarre thing was that the forensics stuff had clearly been researched. The references to all things microbial came across as something she'd been told by a drunk in a bar.

One bacterium, two bacterias, right? 

I suppose a death by smallpox could be reasonable - IF it were some sort of bizarre research-related accident (or murder plot). But as a throwaway cause of death, nope, not happening (despite the prognistication of H.L. Mencken, who believed smallpox would always be with us, despite that newfangled vaccination stuff).

[paintpots]

Well I suppose technically the last case of smallpox was from a lab accident..

But nope - no indication that it was anything other than a hey ho every day case of smallpox.

[Giggity]

One peeve I have is when I loved something as a young impressionable teen and then I re-read it and see all of the gaping holes, inappropriate behaviour and wonder what teenage me was thinking.  I read an old Victoria Holt romantic novel recently and I can't believe I used to devour those.  The protagonist was ridiculously wet, the "hero" made me uncomfortable with the fact he was lusting after her when she was 14 and the whole approach made me feel deeply uneasy.  I know people got married younger in the Victorian era but there was something about the way that book handled it was very offputting. 

Yet I know when I was a teenager they were my favourite book and I thought them the zenith of romance. Oddly I still like other historical romances but there's something about the style of the VH ones that makes me uncomfortable. 

It's funny what adulthood brings to one in terms of changing approaches.

PREACH IT! Victoria Holt is just pure awful now that I'm in my 40s. Back when I was a teenager, though, I could not get enough of 'em.

[Betelnut]

Just finished reading the most recent Pitt novel by Anne Perry.  As usual, she has the climax/solution to the mystery happen almost literally on the last page.  No denouement, no "what happened to the guy that was actually accused of the crime," no "what happened to the guy that killed the bad guy" no "Whew, that was close."  Just, the climax and that's it.

I like her books, meandering as they are, but I wish she would have a bit of "down time" after the resolution so I can feel all cozy about the good guys and gloat over the bad ones.

[Lynn2000]

I always wondered about the "Bookname: A Novel" thing as well. It kind of assumes most books are non-fiction, doesn't it, so when one IS fiction, it's helpful to specify. Except I kind of feel like the majority of books most people encounter ARE novels, so it just seems redundant, and often pretentious, to mention it on the cover. Like "Bookname: My Novel That I Finally Wrote, Ha Ha Mom, I Told You I'd Finish It."

Of course, if it doesn't say "a novel" in the title, and even by looking at the book/reading the description of it, I still can't tell whether it's fiction or not--that's yet another peeve.

[Twik]

I always figure that "X - a Novel" indicates that first there was "X - The Movie".

[Thipu1]

I read several articles recently that said modern teens have no patience with 'Catcher in the Rye'. 

When I was a teen, this was THE novel of our generation.   I recently started reading it again. 

The modern teens are right.  Holden Caulfield is the sort of person you want to hit upside the head with a large salmon.   

[carol1412]

I read several articles recently that said modern teens have no patience with 'Catcher in the Rye'. 

When I was a teen, this was THE novel of our generation.   I recently started reading it again. 

The modern teens are right.  Holden Caulfield is the sort of person you want to hit upside the head with a large salmon.   

And that's how the fish-slapping dance begins...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCwLirQS2-o

[rose red]

This issue has been raised before.  I went to the library today and saw a book with an interesting description on the back cover.  Flipped through it, noticed there were no quotation marks, and put it right back on the shelf.  No thanks.  It's not creative, it's just annoying and pretentious.