Bookish Quirks & Icks

[Anonymous]

I noticed in several post-2018 fiction books that the 2016 election and/or Covid HAVE to be mentioned, like it's some sort of law, even though they books have nothing to do with it. It's grating.

[Anonymous]

I bought a great non function book but I can read it because the font is tiny. I wish they had just made it too volumes or edited it down to a reasonable size in a reasonable font. It’s definitely a downside to purchasing online — had it seen it in a store I never would have bought it. They should have to list the font size.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I noticed in several post-2018 fiction books that the 2016 election and/or Covid HAVE to be mentioned, like it's some sort of law, even though they books have nothing to do with it. It's grating.

I was reading a book written in 2019/2020 that took place during an epidemic. In the author’s notes, the author wrote about how odd it was to be finishing the book as a new virus seemed to be spreading similarly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I bought a great non function book but I can read it because the font is tiny. I wish they had just made it too volumes or edited it down to a reasonable size in a reasonable font. It’s definitely a downside to purchasing online — had it seen it in a store I never would have bought it. They should have to list the font size.

Same! I'm working my way through a nonfiction book I'm really interested in. But the font is tiny and the paragraphs are super-long, as in many paragraphs are almost a page, so there's little white space. It's rough going.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Changing perspectives by chapter--that is, Chapter 1 is written in the "voice" of one character; Chapter 2 in the voice of another character, Chapter 3, etc. There are a lot of novels that employ this technique, and IMO, it's very hard to do well. Most don't succeed all the way, and you have chapters either sounding too similar to each other or one character gets the short end of the stick and is underdeveloped. So many fiction authors do this nowadays that it feels like a gimmick.

Same thing with jumps forward and backward in time. This is another technique that's really hard to do well without confusing the reader, and the past few books I've read lately that've done this have fallen short.

+1 I am generally okay with this if the book is a beach read. I agree that it is hard to do well.

I'm the PP who posted about this. I'm trying to think of a novel that does the differing perspectives well, and am coming up short. Lucy Foley's The Guest List did a decent job at giving each character a distinct voice... I didn't feel like I was reading a carbon copy of the character from the chapter before. The Mists of Avalon is another example, although Marion Zimmer Bradley uses third person instead of first person writing. But that's all I got... I can think of way more titles where this tactic annoyed me.

[Anonymous]

I have to say I have been packing my books for a house move and what really drives me nuts is opening a book to find the pages are all crispy and yellowed. And some of these books I've had 20+ years so its' not really that surprising but I held onto the ones I love, and want to be able to read them again, but if they're crispy and yellow, it makes it difficult

[Anonymous]

I have one: when a book is described as "____ meets ____" and both items are movies/shows.

Just tell me about the plot or setting, please.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Changing the cover after the movie or TV show comes out. Hate that.

+1000 I don't know anyone who would like it.

[Anonymous]

Books with no plot. I ordered a book recommended here, set on a college campus in the 90s, Straight Man by Richard Russo. Snooze…just inane back and forth dialogue so far...and it definitely feels dated.