What book feature turns you away from choosing a book?

prisailurophile · Post by **prisailurophile** » 20 Nov 2013, 21:43

Erotica and romance. Unless it's a thriller with a little bit of romance scenes, I'm fine with it

Mom2Grey · Post by **Mom2Grey** » 21 Nov 2013, 02:56

Anything much over a thousand pages.

-- 21 Nov 2013, 03:58 --

prisailurophile wrote:Erotica and romance. Unless it's a thriller with a little bit of romance scenes, I'm fine with it

Yeah, me too.
Except 'Scarlet Letter" was a type of romance.
Sort of. But that's not what made me want to read it.

Loveabull · Post by **Loveabull** » 21 Nov 2013, 08:41

The title sometimes...I always have a book or three with me at work. The predictable greeting from people is "What are ya reading?". One of Jon Stewart's books is "Naked Pictures of Famous People", then there are a whole bunch of David Sedaris books..."Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk", "Let's Talk About Diabetes with Owls"...for nonreaders with English as perhaps a third language... I get some funny looks sometimes

obiebookworm · Post by **obiebookworm** » 21 Nov 2013, 08:47

To Loveabull: Those are great titles! Love Jon Stewart and David Sedaris!!

cschaubfalls · Post by **cschaubfalls** » 21 Nov 2013, 08:58

I go by the description of the book. If it sounds interesting, I will read it ~ no matter how many pages, what genre, what cover art. That being said, the writing of some authors does not appeal to me and I will pass on those books.

FNAWrite · Post by **FNAWrite** » 21 Nov 2013, 14:29

A couple of things:

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)?

DATo says: "I hate to admit it but I am prejudiced against a few authors ... I just don't like the way they write"

Why would you "hate to admit" that you don't read authors whose writing you have sampled but don't like?

(You are pre-judging these author's unread works, but it is based on prior examples in your experience with read works by the author - that's fairly weak "prejudice" as you have had the opportunity to "judge" not "pre-judge" the author's writing.)

As a "police procedural" fan I read a few Patricia Cornwell books (3-4). I found I didn't like her writing, so I no longer read her books. Why should it bother me (or anyone else) to admit such a thing? (By the by, I did pick up a Cornwell book recently to give her another chance - I read around 1/3 to 1/2, I still don't like her writing, and tying to another topic here, no I don't feel guilty about having stopped reading the book without finishing .)

Somebody wrote they won't buy books with pink or lilac covers. I can't bring any lilac covers to mind, but I recall my copy of Tom Wolfe's "The Pump House Gang" had a pink cover and I'm pretty sure at least one book by Carl Hiassen and one by Tim Dorsey had pink covers and the books were every bit as enjoyable as their books shrouded in blue, white, yellow or orange covers.

Mom2Grey · Post by **Mom2Grey** » 21 Nov 2013, 20:10

The overpricing of (especially) hardcover books works like a charm on me...I will move on, usually, and wait for the thing to come out in paperback, etc. Or else borrow from the library.

obiebookworm · Post by **obiebookworm** » 21 Nov 2013, 20:13

To Mom2Grey: Oooh! Now here's something I'd not considered before: pricing. Very true!!!

DATo · Post by **DATo** » 21 Nov 2013, 20:16

FNAWrite wrote:DATo says: "I hate to admit it but I am prejudiced against a few authors ... I just don't like the way they write"

Why would you "hate to admit" that you don't read authors whose writing you have sampled but don't like?

(You are pre-judging these author's unread works, but it is based on prior examples in your experience with read works by the author - that's fairly weak "prejudice" as you have had the opportunity to "judge" not "pre-judge" the author's writing.)

I hate to admit it BECAUSE ... I then get "judged" for my "pre-judging" judgements which in reality are NOT "weak prejudice judgments" but strong prejudice judgements "based on prior examples". I "have had the opportunity to "judge"" in the past, exclusive to read works and not pre-read works, therefore making me ashamed to show my face in public because the pre-read-pre-judged judgements I have made of the works of several authors may have, by some miracle, produced a world class masterpiece which I would have judged absolutely-stinking-wonderful had I not pre-judged said works in advance and used them to form prejudicial pre-judgments.

I have given myself a headache ... I shall now take an Advil tablet and hope for the best. Had I known this was going to happen I would have taken a pre-Advil tablet.

Mom2Grey · Post by **Mom2Grey** » 21 Nov 2013, 20:25

obiebookworm wrote:To Mom2Grey: Oooh! Now here's something I'd not considered before: pricing. Very true!!!

When we Canadians see the American price and then what WE'RE expected to pay for exactly the same item, plenty of us get downright ornery. How many ways can you say "rip-off"?

obiebookworm · Post by **obiebookworm** » 21 Nov 2013, 20:36

To Mom2Grey: That's for sure! LOL!

muzzammila · Post by **muzzammila** » 23 Nov 2013, 04:10

Repetition makes me totally bored about a book it irritates me so much that i rarely complete such a book.

obiebookworm · Post by **obiebookworm** » 23 Nov 2013, 13:26

To muzzammila: I totally agree about repetition!

TrishaAnn92 · Post by **TrishaAnn92** » 23 Nov 2013, 14:53

I have tried really hard not to judge a book by it's cover and even the title and sometimes I find that it bites me in the rear! I just finished reading a really long book yesterday and I should have paid more attention to the symbolism in the title because the story was so long and dragged out it was crazy! Anyways, I usually like to read summary and maybe a random few pages out of the book before I read it. I usually read romance, thrillers, if it sounds interesting I will read it but if it is for example a Laura Leigh book, I will likely not read it because of how erotic and repetitive it is. When there is something about sex on every other page it begins to make the story line difficult to see and it is a huge turn off for me.