What book feature turns you away from choosing a book?

krisihome · Post by **krisihome** » 08 Dec 2013, 16:13

As we are very visual beings, book covers should be just as important as the story it contains, for it is, after all, the first thing we see when searching for a good book to read!

Mom_of_3_pups · Post by **Mom_of_3_pups** » 08 Dec 2013, 23:58

I hate reading the synopsis of a book that involves a cop/lawyer family dynamic. I feel like its always the same song and dance and it makes me instantly put a book down.

Craigable · Post by **Craigable** » 09 Dec 2013, 04:05

FNAWrite wrote:re: Michael Crichton testifying on global warming. As noted, he does have a doctorate, so he is not an ignorant man. I guess he is a surprisingly good bluffer, since he has made a career of writing on subjects outside his doctoral field of medicine. It is noted that he has no "education or training" about global warming. I'd ask how do you know this? You feel qualified to pass on alleged facts about Michael Crichton - would you reveal your education or training on this subject (Crichton)?

The text of Crichton's hearing statement is freely available online to read. In his opening paragraph he explicitly states his scientific background. He does not mention any climate-sciences-related education/training. Presumably he would not purposely conceal relevant information about himself at the hearing since doing so would in fact make him appear less qualified. He did write a novel about global warming, however, which makes him an expert in how to write a novel about global warming.

Plenty of authors do enormous amounts of research prior to writing a book, but that doesn't transform them into PhD-level experts on the subject. For example, Crichton gives information about jungle flora in Congo, but that's a far cry from, say, publishing scholarly articles in juried research journals. Intelligence plus possession of a doctorate hardly qualifies one to be an expert in a completely separate field of science. Of course, one is always welcome to hire a cosmologist to repair one's septic system, a geologist to analyze one's brain cancer, or an economist to assess household asbestos contamination purely on the basis that they've each "read up" on the subject in question. But that would be foolhardy indeed. Put simply, there is no logic in having a popular novelist testify before congress in the place of an actual trained, experienced climate scientist. If one desires expert testimony then one needs actual experts, not well intentioned dilettantes. If you thought your well water contaminated, you wouldn't consult with two chemistry experts and a poet. If your town library needed earthquake-related retrofitting, you wouldn't employ two engineers and a dramatist. Likewise, if the Earth is possibly threatened with a slow-motion man-made catastrophe, you don't solicit advice from two climate scientists and a novelist.

Crichton, it should be clarified, didn't actually address global warming proper but rather the methodology of climate science research. Nevertheless, more suitable candidates ought to have been summoned to testify in his place.

bubbleburd86 · Post by **bubbleburd86** » 10 Dec 2013, 11:38

Anything that has half naked men and women on the front definintely a turn off lol

muzzammila · Post by **muzzammila** » 22 Dec 2013, 23:29

Well topic matters first. politics and wars bore but the style i think above all matters for me. Repetition bores me so much that i can't stand it even if the book is a light romantic. so I think style of writing attracts and distract me above all.

Njkinny · Post by **Njkinny** » 23 Dec 2013, 15:03

I usually shy away from too lengthy novels..

Dream Catcher · Post by **Dream Catcher** » 19 Jan 2014, 14:29

When publishing a book they should takes into account that the cover will be judged. I prefer more unique covers that convey the best part of the story

cnorwood72 · Post by **cnorwood72** » 23 Jan 2014, 10:20

I love with a book puts you in the perspective of the character--like you are actually there. However, it gets tedious when the author is overly-descriptive and goes on for four pages about the wallpaper, the drapes, the furniture, etc.

Loveabull · Post by **Loveabull** » 23 Jan 2014, 11:58

I don't know what you call it technically...the font size maybe? When you peek in a book and the text is all squished and small with tons of boring footnotes. Foot notes can be interesting if they contain reference to something you didn't know or lead you to further reading. But on every page and leading nowhere is distracting.The squished text is just more tiring for senior eyes to read.

Jolijt · Post by **Jolijt** » 23 Jan 2014, 12:07

"Oprah's Book Club"

If that's on the cover I need a lot of reviews to convince me that it's really a good book. And even than I'm still hesitant to buy it.

Lovely_Ink · Post by **Lovely_Ink** » 23 Jan 2014, 12:17

I usually avoid the latest trend and prefer to let the excitement die down so that I have time to form my own opinion. I'm also majorly turned off when I skim a book and there are spelling/grammatical errors.

KatsReviews · Post by **KatsReviews** » 23 Jan 2014, 13:28

I agree about the romance books, I hardly ever read a book that is completely romance with no other genres mixed in. The covers sometimes put me off if the blurb and it doesn't match eg blurb says magical adventure cover has two people making out etc. When buying books obviously the price.

Hedgehog · Post by **Hedgehog** » 25 Jan 2014, 08:23

I'm put off by long run-on sentences. I find myself getting lost. I keep trying to go back to Henry James but he's terrible for this!

Also, I get frustrated if the author seems to be getting sanctimonious and screaming through the page, "look how much research I did for this!". But maybe that's just me...

Hearty Guy · Post by **Hearty Guy** » 25 Jan 2014, 19:12

Online books – the Description. If it doesn't grab me at all, I'm out of there. Paper books – if it looks too fat, right off the bat I don't want to read 400 pages lol. Even if it's a great book, I'll probably be able to find a summary somewhere that boils it down to its essence — of course, that won't work with a novel, but I don't think I could dedicate that much time to a novel, although I did so in my younger days.

Aussie-reader · Post by **Aussie-reader** » 25 Jan 2014, 19:35

I agree with being put off by covers with embracing couples - usually because they are tacky romances and that isn't the sort of genre I like reading.

One thing nobody has mentioned is when there are huge tracts of writing unbroken by any gaps - I really like being able to read a bit and then have a place to stop.

this is something I always check out with hard copy books - is a problem with ebooks that I cant pre check for this.