#39336 - Fri Jun 08 2001 05:40 PM
Things that Make You Say "Ugh!"
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Forum Champion
Registered: Thu Feb 08 2001
Posts: 5985
Loc: Ottawa
Ontario Canada
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What kinds of things in or about books do you really not like to see? For me, I get really turned off a book when the characters are not well-defined. I find it tiresome indeed when every character speaks the same way. Also, I don't like to read books where such distinction is made between characters that are "good" and characters that are "evil". The reading of it, even if the book is of the sci-fi or fantasy genre, creates a sort of cognitive dissonance for me at this stretch of human nature.
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Chan fhiach cuirm gun a comhradh.
A feast is no use without good talk.
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#39337 - Fri Jun 08 2001 07:13 PM
Re: Things that Make You Say "Ugh!"
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Forum Champion
Registered: Tue Apr 17 2001
Posts: 7306
Loc: Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania USA
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I don't like books with excessive flash backs. Especially flashbacks with no apparent reason. I also don't like books that change directions 20 times with no apparent outcome. I also tend to avoid books where great pains are taken to draw a distinction between the "good" and "evil" characters. Books that pass off obvious "urban legends" as fact bother me a bit too, unless the book is a work of fiction and the characters are discussing the legend. Indie
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#39338 - Fri Jun 08 2001 08:53 PM
Re: Things that Make You Say "Ugh!"
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Forum Champion
Registered: Thu Feb 08 2001
Posts: 5985
Loc: Ottawa
Ontario Canada
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quote:
"Cake or Death?"
What kind of cake?
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Chan fhiach cuirm gun a comhradh.
A feast is no use without good talk.
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#39339 - Fri Jun 08 2001 09:17 PM
Re: Things that Make You Say "Ugh!"
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Mainstay
Registered: Tue Jan 18 2000
Posts: 759
Loc: Mini Soda
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I like some symbolism, but a story that is too difficult to interpret is annoying. I appreciate it when things are explained, at least to a degree. I can't stand a boring book. Also, being into science and science fiction, I hate it when stories have "bad science." This applies to movies as well. Misinterpreting data, jumping to conclusions--these are pet peeves of mine.
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#39340 - Sat Jun 09 2001 04:06 AM
Re: Things that Make You Say "Ugh!"
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Anonymous
No longer registered
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For me it's mainly translator foul-ups that turn me off. One example from the book I'm reading right now: Its 'Koko' by Peter Straub. The story is about some Vietnam veterans trying to find another one who has gone berzerk. In the beginning of the book 'Agent Orange' is mentioned, and there is a 'Translator's note' saying 'Agent Orange - a well known LSD product'...
I don't know much about LSD, but I know what Agent Orange is in the context of the Vietnam War.
That thing almost made me put the book away. Sci-fi books are often full of translator errors, especially when it comes to chemical compounds. A common error is to translate 'Silicon' as 'Silicone' ('Kisel' and 'Silikon' in Swedish). It looks very silly when you know what it should say. /Haxson
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#39341 - Sat Jun 09 2001 11:06 PM
Re: Things that Make You Say "Ugh!"
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Forum Champion
Registered: Tue Apr 17 2001
Posts: 7306
Loc: Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania USA
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quote:
Originally posted by LadyCaitriona:
What kind of cake?
What kind of cake do you want? It actually comes from a comedy bit by Eddie Izzard about the Church of England and how their inqusition would have been more like a choice between cake or death.
Indie
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[color:"purple"] "One of the best features of Forums is that they allow people to parade their monumental stupidity, their hang-ups, their little prejudices in public."
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#39342 - Sat Jun 09 2001 08:27 PM
Re: Things that Make You Say "Ugh!"
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Participant
Registered: Sun May 20 2001
Posts: 14
Loc: Four Winds
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The worst thing to come across is a book, it will stop me cold every time, is a wrong homonym. Example: "It didn't phase him at all" I could tear out my hair and run screaming through the streets. ~~Sword of "it's just a faze I'm going through" Ainsley~~
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Sarcasm should not be like a saw, but a sword; it should cut, and not mangle. -- Lord Francis Jeffrey
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#39343 - Sun Jun 10 2001 02:44 AM
Re: Things that Make You Say "Ugh!"
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Prolific
Registered: Tue May 09 2000
Posts: 1740
Loc: St. Paul
Minnesota USA
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Things that make me say "ugh" Thomas Hardy. I'm more than willing to get into an in-depth conversation on why Hardy sucks, or more specifically, why "Jude the Obscure" is the worst "great" book I've ever read. But I shall not vent my spleen right now. Thomas Hardy makes me go "ugh", almost constantly.
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There comes a time when every man feels the urge to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and start slitting throats.
-- H.L. Mencken
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#39344 - Sun Jun 10 2001 05:04 AM
Re: Things that Make You Say "Ugh!"
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Mainstay
Registered: Tue Dec 19 2000
Posts: 834
Loc: Sydney
NSW Australia
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i have a 'one-chapter' rule. a book has one chapter to get me in. life is too short to read boring books.
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#39345 - Sun Jun 10 2001 08:16 AM
Re: Things that Make You Say "Ugh!"
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Multiloquent
Registered: Sat Feb 12 2000
Posts: 4894
Loc: Seattle
Washington USA
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I say "ugh" when science fiction books treat science like magic. You know what I'm talking about -- they're in a terrible, terrible situation, but suddenly they're saved because someone pulls a completely new and unhinted-at piece of amazing technology out of their sleeve. I hate that. I also hate when writers are horrendously verbose for no reason. There's a line from Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" that I still remember from English a year and a half ago. The not-so-good doctor is trying to describe a path that winds up the side of a mountain. He asserts that it "enabled one to surmount the perpendicularity of the mountain." That's just wrong.
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#39346 - Sun Jun 10 2001 10:23 AM
Re: Things that Make You Say "Ugh!"
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Mainstay
Registered: Tue Jan 18 2000
Posts: 759
Loc: Mini Soda
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"enabled one to surmount the perpendicularity of the mountain." LOL CellarDoor!
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#39348 - Sun Jun 10 2001 10:25 PM
Re: Things that Make You Say "Ugh!"
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Multiloquent
Registered: Mon Jun 04 2001
Posts: 3313
Loc: Los Angeles
California USA
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Here's my pet peeve: if an author addresses the audience, stepping out of the novel context as though he is suddenly having a conversation with the reader. Prime example being Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'Scarlet Letter'. I count my blessings that I don't remember the lines that bother me (LOL CD), but I distinctly remember at least a few instances in the novel when Hawthorne felt the need to 'interpret' what was going on in the story. As though the reader is too stupid to comprehend the greatness of Hawthorne! Ugh!
I also really dislike long novels when I feel as though there is no progression and the chapters are interchangeable. Example: 'Cold Mountain' (I don't even remember the author of this one). The novel is 450 pages or so, and the chapters of the first 400 could have been slapped together in any order, and I would have been none the wiser. Aagh! Why'd I have to read all that? (Other than the class discussions, of course, which were markedly unenlightening). Oh well, such is life.
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#39349 - Mon Jun 11 2001 12:08 PM
Re: Things that Make You Say "Ugh!"
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Participant
Registered: Thu May 31 2001
Posts: 40
Loc: down the rabbit hole
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I hate books that go way too much into detail. I have had to read a lot of books like that for school and that is one of the worst things that an author can do, in my opinion. Some authors are just too wordy and it tends to make me dislike the book and get bored with it. I think that it would be better if some authors just got straight to the point and write about what's actually going on in the book's storyline. And tomije, by the way, I gotta agree with you on the Hardy thing. I hate anything and everything written by Thomas Hardy.
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#39350 - Sat Jun 16 2001 12:48 AM
Re: Things that Make You Say "Ugh!"
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Anonymous
No longer registered
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Milton's "Paradise Lost" (and "Regained", for that matter.) I've tried and tried and it definitely makes me say UGH.
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#39351 - Thu Jun 21 2001 01:10 AM
Re: Things that Make You Say "Ugh!"
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Anonymous
No longer registered
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the worst thing an author can do in my oppinion is spend forever on the setting like <ahem> thomas hardy's return of the native... the entire first chapter is on how the green grass rolls in the wind and other completely useless information...
and mad props to tomije... thomas hardy sucks the big one... i hated "a man of his word" and for the longest time i thought i was the only one who didn't like that book
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#39352 - Tue Jun 26 2001 01:08 PM
Re: Things that Make You Say "Ugh!"
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Multiloquent
Registered: Mon Jun 25 2001
Posts: 2542
Loc: Los Angeles
California USA
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hmm...the possiblity of the peeps here liking Robert Jordan is very low...I hate the never ending series...which is why I don't like Jordan anymore...I gave up after book five...can you believe he is on nine? you can't even remember what happened in book one. what is this?
A pathetic way to make money.
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#39353 - Tue Jun 26 2001 01:23 PM
Re: Things that Make You Say "Ugh!"
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Star Poster
Registered: Thu Sep 30 1999
Posts: 11250
Loc: Munchkinland
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I love to read, so I've come across a variety of different kinds of books. I have several pet peeves, but there's one in a book that I'm reading right now that I thought I'd put in here to start with. This thread is very timely, as I was just thinking about this just last night! Right now, I'm reading a light romance novel. Yeah, I know it's not "real" literature, but I occasionally like to just lose myself in a romantic tale! This author is taking FOREVER to get to the main plot of the story. She's spent over half the book setting up the characters and the intro to the plot. There's not going to be time to resolve everything that's supposed to be happening in this story by the end of the book. I hate authors who take forever to get to what the story's about and then try to wrap up all the loose ends in a couple of pages. A good novel should build up fairly quickly, level off and let you "ride" the story a while and then taper off (unless it's a mystery or something where you need an abrupt ending, of course). But, in general, a book should have a certain "flow" about it. And, this one doesn't. I haven't had a chance to go to the library lately, or I'd have an alternative and would put this one away. But, alas, it's all I have at the moment that I haven't read before. Oh, I thought of another "romance" pet peeve. I hate romances that give everything away for the reader. I want the subtle touches on the hand. I want the tender murmurs that the reader realizes show the love developing between the characters. I want the gentle sweetness in a romance. An excellent example of a great novel that does this is Jane Eyre. That scene when he holds her hand after the fire just melts my heart. You know he's falling in love with her, but Bronte didn't feel the need to spell it out for the reader. I liked that. Oh! And, that proposal! Perfect!
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#39354 - Tue Jun 26 2001 11:15 PM
Re: Things that Make You Say "Ugh!"
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Anonymous
No longer registered
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Speaking of romance novels, I have serious issues when the girl gets raped by the man and then falls in love with him. Uh, no. Like Linda said, romance novels are fluff, but a good distraction.
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#39355 - Tue Jun 26 2001 11:43 PM
Re: Things that Make You Say "Ugh!"
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Star Poster
Registered: Thu Sep 30 1999
Posts: 11250
Loc: Munchkinland
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Exactly, OC. Rape is not romantic. EVER. And, having her fall in love with him after that is horrible.
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Cats know what we feel. They don't care, but they know.
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#39356 - Wed Jun 27 2001 08:51 AM
Re: Things that Make You Say "Ugh!"
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Mainstay
Registered: Sat Mar 03 2001
Posts: 571
Loc: Sykesville
Maryland USA
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Overlong descriptions make me go UGH! You have to love an author that can say alot by writing very little.
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#39357 - Fri Jul 13 2001 03:25 PM
Re: Things that Make You Say "Ugh!"
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Enthusiast
Registered: Tue Jan 11 2000
Posts: 393
Loc: Lost in the bread.
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Boooks with stupid grammer mistakes. I was reading one the other day that said "Steel" insead of "Steal". Grr...they pay all that money for what? Also books that are really predicable o have really predicable endings. Or books with such incredibly picture perfert endings. Or....
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#39358 - Tue Jul 17 2001 06:47 PM
Re: Things that Make You Say "Ugh!"
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Prolific
Registered: Sat Jan 20 2001
Posts: 1104
Loc: Nashville
Tennessee USA ...
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I enjoyed everyone's comments. Thomas Hardy is tedious to me also. But a lot of people complain about Thomas Wolfe being the same way, too wordy, too many diversions, even though his characters I feel are well defined. I am not a Hardy fan but as you can love Thomas Wolfe. Don't count out all wordy authors. I really hate ill defined characters and too many subplots that you cannot keep up with the story. Too much ill explained or ill defined symbolism makes it tedious for me also.
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Music is a sense of communication, it is a way to express the best of yourself to others, especially when you don't come across like a Hallmark card.-Lyle Mays
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