Each week we will post a new Top Ten list that one of our bloggers here at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers lists! If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Have fun with it! It's a fun way to get to know your fellow bloggers.
This week the LOVELY Ginger from GReads is doing a guest post Top Ten Tuesday about her top ten bookish pet peeves because we ran into a jam here on the blog this week with Top Ten Tuesday and Ginger volunteered to step up so I could have this for you all in a timely manner :)
Next week-- Top Ten Authors That Deserve More Recognition
1. Happy Endings. Wait, before you think I am some depressed person I am referring to the overly cheesy cliche happy endings. I like to read books that are real & guess what's not real? Happy endings. Ok so maybe I do sound a bit depressed lol.
2. Whiny Characters. Nothing annoys me more when the MC goes off on tangents, whining about off topic subject matters. Stick with the story people! & quit your griping!
3. Too Much Detail. I tend to lose interest in a story when an author describes a shirt for 3 pages. I'd like to know what the shirt looks like, but I don't necessarily need to understand the shirt's feelings.
4. Grammatical Errors. Yes, I understand we are all human & mistakes can be made. But it bugs me when I find words misspelled, or the wrong use of punctuation while I am reading. And before anyone starts to critique this blog post, I never claimed to be a published author :-)
5. Plot Holes. I find it frustrating when I am reading & just when I start to immerse myself in a story, the plot shifts to something else & I am left completely hanging on what just happened. Finish one thought before jumping to the next.
6. Smelly Books. I purchase all my books & sometimes I go the cheap way & buy from used bookstores, which there is nothing wrong with. When the book arrives smelling like stale cigarette smoke & garlic, then there's all kinds of things wrong with it.
7. 10,000 Books Series. Ok so I have never heard of a series being that long, but one of my pet peeves is when a story gets dragged on forever & ever. I feel compelled to read it though because I want to know how it ends. But do I really have to go through all 847 books first?
8. Unidentifiable Genres. Yes, this has happened to me before. I thought I was reading a contemporary piece & then all of a sudden there were talks of vampires. I'm sorry, what? That just ruined the whole story for me & I was completely lost after that.
9. Hyped-Up Books. I love twitter & I love my bookish friends. But when a new book gets SO much hype, it tends to make me want to wait awhile before I read it. It's like the shiny new toy that everyone wants, but I'll just hang out in the background with the used beat up toys for a bit ;-)
10. Readers/Reviewers Who Love Every Book. No you don't. Don't be afraid to have a negative opinion about a book. Isn't that what we're here for? to be honest? You can be respectful & tasteful & still not like a book.
A very well-thought out list, Ginger, and I especially agree with numbers 3, 9, and 10. Too much detail won't pull the readers in, too much talk will sometimes make a book seem old-hat before I get to read it, and there is no way a person can love every book they read. It's just impossible. Great list! :)
ReplyDeleteI did my own TTT, but in french :)
ReplyDeleteI love yours, Ginger, especially the 10, so true ! I did use to write a lot about books I have not liked, but with years I also think it's a waste of time, because you have to explain carefully what precisely you don't like, it's much more easier to concentrate only on books you liked, even if that's mean a few less activity on your blog :) So, now, when I don't appreciate a novel, I simply don't speak of it. With exceptions :)
Love the inclusion of hype and reviewers who love EVERY book! Surely it isn't possible to do that? I have to admit I stopped reading one review blog because everything scored 4/5 or better and after trying a few of the books that had been raved about, I found them really unenjoyable!
ReplyDeleteExcellent list!
I have no idea why it did me twice! Sorry :]
ReplyDeleteIt will probably take me a decade or so to get around to reading the Twilight series. I almost started it, but after the first movie was released and people started walking around with these huge books and yammering on about Jacob and Edward, I got spooked off. Waaay too much hype for me.
ReplyDeleteUgh, the dreaded cigarette smell that lingers on used books and library books. It really is awful! Nice list.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this. Especially the smelly book thing. Gross! And the one about too many books in a series.
ReplyDeleteI totally understand about the hype thing. I haven't read Hunger Games for that very reason. I keep thinking that once I read it I'll be disappointed since I have been expecting great things.
ReplyDeletehttp://frosybookreviews.blogspot.com/2011/03/top-ten-tuesday-4-top-10-bookish-pet.html
Grammatical errors are huge on my list too. They have editors and agents for a reason and there is no excuse for having a glaring error on every other page.
ReplyDeletePlot holes are on my list to, but as too many issues that don't get resolved, the author just keeps adding plot twists and suddenly five twists in they're resolving the first twist in the last five pages of the book.
And I have to agree with you on the book series too. There are many books I'd love to go on, but know that they shouldn't. And there are even more I wish would just kill themselves because I can't just give up on a series either, even if i'm dreading it.
Love love love your list. :)
Excellent list! We have a few items in common.
ReplyDeleteHyped books is a great one- it's hard not to be disappointed after reading all the hype. Also, totally agree about the 10,000 book series! LOL
Grammatical errors are very distracting too.
This was a fun list this week! Thanks for sharing.
So many you've listed and I didn't get to include! There's just too many pet peeves, especially the never-ending series (bleurgh), plot holes, and too much detail. I stopped reading a book recently because the author was so verbose in his descriptions it gave me a headache.
ReplyDeleteI'm also not a fan of happy endings either. I go out of my way to find unhappy, mundane, non-endings, and try to spread the love with those. It's nice to have a happy one sometimes, but not all the time.
Thanks for sharing!
I agree on some level with all of those, except # 1. There are times when a happy ending is the perfect one for a book, and times when I want to read about happy endings.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing. So far I haven't encountered whiny characters and I hope I don't in the future. :)
ReplyDeleteAn excellent list. Agree, agree, agree!
ReplyDeleteHi- Just popped up my first Top Ten Tuesday post
ReplyDeleteLoved this Top 10 question!
ReplyDeleteI agree with all of that! 3 and 4 made my list.
ReplyDeleteMy biggest pet peeve is the spelling/grammatical issue, too. I really think books aren't being edited line-by-line anymore. It seems like there are almost no (and most times never) spelling/grammatical errors in the old books I read, but I find them all the time in newer books. Are authors not using editors anymore, or are editors using a quicker process now that "saves" them from having to actually read the book, page by page and line by line? Because I know from experience writing college papers and such that an author becomes so familiar with their work that they sometimes aren't going to catch errors that a second or third reader will catch.
ReplyDeleteWhatever the case, I'm a very critical reader and it annoys me to no end when I'm reading a book and come across a bunch of (or even a few) spelling/grammatical errors. They tend to be pretty obvious errors, too, which makes it even worse.
I take it from your #3 that you are not a fan of Henry James... :-)
ReplyDelete-Jay
Whiny characters drive me nuts too...
ReplyDeleteI'm a series lover...but I've become a little weary of a couple that I'm reading bc the characters don't seem to make any progress...it's just the same ole, same ole every. single. book. :(
Thank you Jamie for allowing me to guest post here at Broke and Bookish today :-) I had fun coming up with that list. I hope I don't come across as a bitter reader though, haha. My list of things I love about books far out weight my pet peeves. Promise! hehe
ReplyDeleteTypos made my list as well, they drive me up the walls. Hype can be a major turn-off for me too. I still think the first Harry Potter is just a mediocre read. ;)
ReplyDeleteMy Top Ten Post
I'm totally with you on the reviewers that love everything they read. It's one thing to try to point out the positives in a book, even if you didn't like it. It's another to gush over everything that's put in front of you.
ReplyDeleteWow! Pretty much all those things bug me too and they're different than the ten I have...
ReplyDeleteLOL! I have a problem with number 10... I'll work on it! :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with the "too much hype" gripe. S'why I haven't read the Steig Larson books.
ReplyDeleteI agree with most of your pet peeves. As far as always having a positive opionion, I don't think that is necessarily wrong. I focus on books (for my blog) that I like so my readers can seek out the good ones. If I overall like a book and there are a couple red flags, I will note that.
ReplyDeleteI so agree about the happy ending. All too often, a book will have me all the way up to the overly sappy ending and then the whole thing is ruined.
ReplyDeleteI also hate when reviewers gush and gush about every single book. You've got to dislike something!
ReplyDeleteWhiny characters--YES. And lol to the 10,000-book series.
ReplyDeleteLiked all the peeves on your list, especially the last one. I've wondered the same. ALL books can't be wonderful!
ReplyDeleteI wholeheartedly agree with the comments above about bloggers who praise every book they review. How can one trust the judgment of someone who apparently likes everything? And it's not so difficult to offer a gentle critique while also noting a book's (perhaps scant) merits. Another path I take when dealing with the few books that I find decidedly flawed is to consider the larger trends to which those flaws might relate, and then write about the trend rather than the book (and post a rating for the book in my booklist so that a purposeful reader might infer the spark that fanned the post...). I've found creating those posts quite instructive for my own thinking and readers seem to benefit too because they can apply the ideas to whatever they've read recently.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ginger, for opening up this conversation with your list!
I am in complete agreement about whiny characters. I don't want to listen to people whine in real life, so why would I want it in a book? :-)
ReplyDeleteI could add all of those to mine--I guess I'm feeling a bit peevish this morning. I found it all too easy to come up with 10. I like what you said about not being afraid to say you didn't like a book. But I have found even if I didn't like it someone else did. I was pretty negative in a review once and was reprimanded by several of my readers. Ever since I've tried to be a bit more careful.
ReplyDeleteGreat list! I say that because my list looks very similar. ;)
ReplyDeleteI hate series of books that go on forever, they tend to get repetitive or I'll lose track or something and then the ones which were great from the beginning lose a little something.
ReplyDeleteGreat list Ginger!
Too much detail! I hate it! I feel like I could skip chapters or pages and not miss a thing!
ReplyDeleteIt was way too easy to come up with ten today, without looking at anyone else's posts yet. Does that mean we are extremely negative? Or is it just indicative of the one-year-old-with-a-cold's sleepless night (yawn)?
ReplyDeleteI agree with smelly books, except I would LOVE it if a book smelled like garlic. I love garlic. I know, I'm a weirdo.
ReplyDeleteYou've got a great list here! Plot holes really irritate me too, as do many spelling/grammatical errors and whiny characters.
ReplyDeleteHa ha! I love the explanations for your pet peeves. I laughed pretty hard at some of them.
ReplyDeleteI agree with #9. The hype kind of takes a little of the fun out of it. Fortunately for most of the over-hyped ones I've given in and read, I haven't been too terribly disappointed :)
ReplyDeleteWe have some peeves in common.
ReplyDeleteGreat list!
Oh man . . . was this ever timely! I was beginning to think that perhaps I was the only one with book peeves ;)
ReplyDeleteGreat answers, stop and see mine.
ReplyDeleteWow, I sound peevish. . . lol!
ReplyDeleteTotally agree about the book reviewers that love every book. If I don't know what it is you don't like, how can I ever really understand your reviews? You can't like everything! You have to have range.
ReplyDeleteSimilar list!
ReplyDeleteYara @ Once Upon a Twilight!
Here is my Top Ten Tues
And check out my eReader Blogoversary Giveaway Ends 3/30
Great list! I agree with so many on here!
ReplyDeleteOh, good list! I just did my fist Top Ten Tuesday! Thank you so much ofr hosting this meme. I love it :)
ReplyDeleteThis is my frist official blog hop! Very happy to be on board! Thanks for hosting...love it!
ReplyDeleteExcited!!!
I have to agree with the hyped-up one, just a little. I was originally so irritated by all the Harry Potter hype, that I didn't read the series until this year(and loved it)! But sometimes I get sick of hearing about something before I actually even read it.
ReplyDeleteI love this topic and have really enjoyed reading all the lists. It's kind of funny/ironic that for people who are as book addicted as us, we sure have a lot to complain about! LOL But maybe that just shows our dedication to our "craft" of reading! :)
ReplyDeleteI read your pet peeves and I think they could be mine... Whoa... I have a lot of bookish pet peeves lol :p
ReplyDeleteWonderful TTT!
ReplyDeleteThank goodness I haven't encountered a smelly book. I have seen some with horrible looking stuff smeared on the front.Like grape jelly or something..yuck.
ReplyDeleteWith you on two and seven. And I love the used book store smells--but like you I don't want cigar/cigarette smells or anything else icky.
ReplyDeleteHa! I said Smelly books too! I always make my list then come back to read and I laughed when I saw you list that as well!!
ReplyDeleteOh! You have ones on here that bug me as well but I didn't think of for my list.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I understand when reviewers love every book. Lately if I'm half way through a book and I don't like it, I stop reading it. I'll only finish the ones I love.
This was SO made for TV Tropes!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the guest post!! I agree with most of these things. Just the Happy Endings one... I sometimes read books to escape, and that is when I pick up my romance novels :)
ReplyDeleteWhiny Characters omg yes
Too much detail almost turned me away from LotR. You can only describe rocks so many ways, Tolkien.
Errors! Urg! Also historical errors. If I can tell it is wrong that is bad.
lol I dont want to go through the whole list, but I agre with most of it! Thanks again!
Your first one made me laugh. I usually am disappointed by the endings of books.
ReplyDeleteGreat list! #4 is #1 on mine! LoL! Hyped up books is a really good one as well!
ReplyDelete(Added my name to the list! :))
I've had an issue with #8 as well. I think books that are not set in our world as we know it, it should have a warning sticker on it. "Warning: This book contains references to creatures with no scientific evidence of existence."
ReplyDeleteAw man, I love happy endings! Okay, not the super cheesy ones (Disney, anyone), but the whole reason for reading a story is to experience something wonderful--and I consider "wonderful" to involve a happy ending. :)
ReplyDeleteIf you don't like long book series, definitely don't check out Piers Anthony's Xanth "trilogy." 30-some books and counting!
I love this meme! Great post and great meme idea! :)
ReplyDeleteI probably won't do this list because I don't think I'll be able to think of ten pet peeves, but I definitely agree with numbers 4 and 9. Grammatical errors KILL me, because I am an editor myself and also a perfectionist. And I'm the same way about books that get too much hype. I think it's because I'm a little bit of a snob sometimes, and I don't want to just jump on the bandwagon when everyone else does. :)
ReplyDeleteJust added my link. I had a hard time keeping it to 10, and in fact, I let it slip to 11. I could have probably gone on and on, but that's because I'm such a grump.
ReplyDeleteAgh! I'm really sorry but I accidently clicked tab and pasted my link down here rather than for this week's Top Ten Tuesday... I added it up there but thought I'd let you know... sorry!!
ReplyDeleteI love this! I also hate when people interrupt me while I am reading and then get mad when I give them the bitch face.
ReplyDeletePS. I wish I looked that good when I can't sleep in the middle of the night. If I tried to make a vlog then, people would probably mistake me for a hobbit haha.
I love this topic! My problem was limiting myself to ten... which I didn't!
ReplyDeleteI love this topic! My difficulty was in stopping ;-)
ReplyDelete