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| [basically, I got tired of looking for a funny someecard; source] |
1. Smokers 2. Humorless personalities 3. Stupidity 4.Passive aggressiveness 5.- Oh wait, it's supposed to be about books. Visit The Broke and the Bookish for this week's Top Ten Tuesday.
1. Books that don't start on page 1- It's so misleading (and a pain when trying to assign work to students with different versions).
2. Books with incredibly long chapters- I'm talking about more than 40 pages. Chapters are important when trying to decide when to take breaks to refill my wine glass.
3. Books bought by the masses- Let's be super-duper honest right now. I consider myself to be a tad more literary than the average person, therefore if someone who threw themselves a victory party because they finished Gone Girl is recommending something I'm going to be skeptical. Exceptions exist.
4. Mass market paperbacks- Most of them look so.... cheap. And uninspired. And while in a different context, there's that word "mass" again....
5. Unrealistic dialogue- Believe me, I know that dialogue can be tough to write, but that still doesn't mean I'm forgiving of it.
6. Books with movie covers- Tacky, tacky, tacky.
7. Books with poorly written sex scenes- If an author can't authentically write about knockin' boots they need to either get out in the field and do some more research, or find some way other around it.
8. Historical fiction- This is pure and complete preference. I know that there are some great novels out there that are historical, they're just 80% of the time not my thing.
9. Books written by celebrities- First of all, they're generally note even actually written by the celebrity, but instead a ghost writer. Secondly, go use your fame to sell something else... like perfume.
10. Excessive blurbing- Fine, I get it, people like you're book. But 8 pages of blurbs? Inferiority complex much?
I love long chapters, though I follow/prefer the old-fashioned style of having chapters within chapters, designated by numbers. Historical is also my passion, and I read and write almost nothing else.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with your dislike of books bought by the masses. My last experience with a book the masses have been squeeing all over only confirmed my commitment to staying far away from books surrounded by massive hype. The fact that said book is being made into a movie only makes me hate it even more.
I'm not a fan of very long chapters either. I find it takes me longer to read a book, even if it's not a huge book if the chapters are too long. Great list.
ReplyDeletei reallly dont like tacky movie covers
ReplyDeleteheres mine http://caitstruelife.wordpress.com/2013/09/30/top-ten-tuesday-top-ten-book-turn-offs/
MOVIE COVERS! Hate that. And badly written sex... always hilarious :D
ReplyDeleteNice list!
My TTT
Love your list. I agree. Hate Movie covers.
ReplyDeleteLong chapters--yes. I need a bio break now and again. Also yes to tacky movie covers--I have gone out of my way to find copies of books that don't have movie tie-in covers. And also yes to books written by celebrities (Ethan Hawke and James Franco, I am looking at you). Really, just YES to the whole list.
ReplyDeleteOh my, you touched on things I hadn't even thought about but realize now I can't stand! Long chapters, mass market paperbacks, unrealistic dialogue, movie poster book covers, and books written by celebrities -- yes!
ReplyDeleteI never thought about including books written by celebs on my list! What a great idea. Most celebs are so busy making movies, acting, or singing to put in the time necessary for a good book. There's a reason that authors become discovered after writing a book and not before.
ReplyDeleteCheck out my TTT list: http://booksavvyblog.blogspot.com/
See, this is why I didn't write a list - because you already wrote what would be mine.
ReplyDeleteSo, to put it simply, I agree with all of the above.
I hate movie covers, and they're usually cheaper which suggests people generally don't like them.
ReplyDelete