Book Pet Peeves

Ringgold, Virginia
May 9, 2017 8:33am CST
If you follow my posts, then by now you know I love reading. I've also noticed there's lot of readers on MyLot and I love discussing books with them. For this post, I decided to talk about book pet peeves. As readers, we have something that bothers us when we read a book. My biggest pet peeve with books is the pacing of the story. I don't like a story that drags on forever making me bored, yet I also don't want it to fly by quickly and I'm left wondering what happened. Another pet peeve would be the characters. I like to read about characters that I can relate to, someone I can root for. Yet there have been times where I can't connect with a character and I get frustrated by their actions. As for grammar, that's a little bit of another pet peeve of mine. As a writer, I've made a few grammar errors myself, I understand how easy it is to miss a typo when editing. Yet, when a book's filled with multiple errors on page after page, then that can be a problem. What are some of your book pet peeves?
12 people like this
12 responses
@JohnRoberts (109857)
• Los Angeles, California
9 May 17
I don't like reading mysteries that trail away from the mystery itself and gets into marital issues, romance and problems with a cop's kids. Is it a mystery or soap opera?
2 people like this
• Ringgold, Virginia
9 May 17
@JohnRoberts A lot of books are like that. I think the writers do that to add more drama/romance elements to the story, by doing it they think readers will enjoy it.
2 people like this
• India
9 May 17
@dramagirl26 I don't mind a bit of romance in the mystery...And in the series mysteries like in Sayers, PD James,Marsh...The detective himself acquired a love interest
2 people like this
@LadyDuck (457822)
• Switzerland
9 May 17
I do not like too many details that bring you away from the real story. Even too many characters, I get confused who is who and who did what.
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (457822)
• Switzerland
10 May 17
@dramagirl26 I fully agree, we can well imagine the scene without all the details.
@LadyDuck (457822)
• Switzerland
15 May 17
@LoriAMoore I get confused when there are dozens of characters and with similar names. It's the nightmare.
• Ringgold, Virginia
10 May 17
@LadyDuck A lot of authors tend to go into too much detail throughout the stories, especially with describing the scenery.
1 person likes this
@JustBhem (70555)
• Davao, Philippines
16 May 17
Mine is the book cover or the details that will drag you down.
1 person likes this
@JustBhem (70555)
• Davao, Philippines
16 May 17
@dramagirl26 Yes, too many details sometimes will make you bore. Who are your favorite authors?
• Ringgold, Virginia
16 May 17
@JustBhem Many authors tend to put too many details in their stories.
1 person likes this
@YesWay (3674)
9 May 17
I hate forgettable characters when you end up having to keep flicking back to remember who everyone is
1 person likes this
@YesWay (3674)
16 May 17
@dramagirl26 The last book I read, the two lead characters had really similar names. It was so stupid!
1 person likes this
• Ringgold, Virginia
10 May 17
@YesWay I've had to do that plenty of times with books I've read. I keep getting the characters jumbled up.
• Agra, India
9 May 17
That's good. I like your approach
1 person likes this
• Ringgold, Virginia
9 May 17
@amitkokiladitya Do you have any book pet peeves?
1 person likes this
• Agra, India
9 May 17
@dramagirl26 no dear
1 person likes this
@Kandae11 (53679)
9 May 17
I don't like over detailing. Some writers spend a lot of time describing something - could be the scenery etc. I get the impression they are trying to add more pages to the book.
1 person likes this
• Ringgold, Virginia
9 May 17
@Kandae11 I know what you mean. I've read plenty of books where the author spends about 5 pages talking about the scenery.
1 person likes this
@Kandae11 (53679)
9 May 17
1 person likes this
@Nawsheen (28644)
• Mauritius
13 May 17
A story which starts up well and grabs my attention but reaching the middle of the book it starts to get boring and thus disappoint me. When the characters displayed do not attract my attention or there are too many characters which turns it confusing
1 person likes this
• Ringgold, Virginia
15 May 17
@Nawsheen The characters are an essential part of the story and I feel that readers need to connect to them in order to get into the story.
1 person likes this
@marlina (154166)
• Canada
9 May 17
One thing that I hate in a book is when there is too many dialogues.
1 person likes this
• Ringgold, Virginia
10 May 17
@marlina Too much dialogue can be a bit overwhelming.
1 person likes this
@kevinakash (2084)
• Sri Lanka
15 May 17
when the story becomes boring by bringing long descriptions i would terminate reading the book
@DianneN (246525)
• United States
13 May 17
I must have picked up a sequel to a series. There was no mention of the characters' relationships. Also, a big peeve of mine is a book that has too many characters. I get so confused of who is who. I don't care how long a book is if it's a good one. Sometimes I wish the story would continue forever.
@CRK109 (14558)
• United States
10 May 17
I love to read and I really want to love each book that I pick up. And with most, I can tell within a chapter or two if I'll make it to the end. If I find I really don't care about the characters, the book gets closed pretty quickly. And when I find a series I really love, I hate when I finish the final book because, by that point, I've come to care very much for all the characters and what they've endured in those pages!
1 person likes this
• Ringgold, Virginia
10 May 17
@CRK109 You make a great point about a book series. Eventually it has to end, yet you don't want it to because you've become attached to the characters.
@responsiveme (22926)
• India
9 May 17
I wouldn't read a book with lots of grammatical errors. The length of the book doesn't matter if the writer can hold my interest. And too.much of 'adult stuff's he he just for the sake of trying to make it steamy is a no for me though if it is a part of the story , I don't mind.
1 person likes this
• Ringgold, Virginia
9 May 17
@responsiveme Those are good points. I agree with the last part. I don't mind a romance story with a steamy scene if it helps add to the book, however many authors tend to overdue it. The tend to focus more on the steamy scenes instead of developing the relationship with the characters.
1 person likes this