# Has a book ever annoyed you?



## CarlBullock (Dec 28, 2010)

I just finished reading the first book in the Morganville Vampire series by Rachel Caine on the recommendation of a friend after I mentioned that I actually quite liked parts of the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. After reading the first few pages I realised that the book is obviously meant for a young audience but I carried on just in case it picked up and the entire ending of the book just left me totally non-pulsed it completely ruined it.

So has this ever happened you? are there any books which you think the ending ruined?

[Edit 1]
Corrected some spelling errors


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

I'm not sure the ending has actually ruined a book for me, but there have been times I really enjoyed a book, but then it ended so ubruptly I felt like the author had a deadline or got tired of the story.  So that's very disappointing...

Betsy


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## susie (Mar 4, 2011)

Yes.  'Misery', by Stephen King, annoyed the hell out of me.  I firmy believe it was written as some sort of contractual obligation excercise...probably in less that 24 hours.


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## Will Granger (Apr 12, 2011)

I really enjoy most of King's books, but several of his endings bother me. I never got the spider/alien thing in _It_, but I loved the rest of the book. I enjoyed both _Cell _ and _Under the Dome_, but it seemed like he got tired of the stories and just slapped on a weak ending to both books.


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## Jon Olson (Dec 10, 2010)

Tom Wolfe's BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES, David Halberstam's BEST AND THE BRIGHTEST, Jane Hamilton's MAP OF THE WORLD. I could go on. I think it's one of two things: 

The author is just riffing (Halberstam), or
The author doesn't have the courage of their convictions (the other two). Take us there! If the protagonist should go down, bring him/her down.


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## jherrick (Apr 1, 2011)

Generally, if I get annoyed if I finish a chapter and wonder why the chapter is in the book, and still wonder after the book is finished.


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## valleycat1 (Mar 15, 2011)

The final/third Stieg Larssen - kept reiterating the complete backstory, adding one detail at a time.
Most recently, Albert Brooks' new novel.


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## theraven (Dec 30, 2009)

I've read a few books where the ending took the book from a potential best book this year category to worst book read ever. For some reason, Jodi Picoult endings always give me that feeling ... and the Horse Whisperer. I thought that was one of the lamest and made-no-sense endings ever.


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## barbara elsborg (Oct 13, 2010)

Yes, loads of books really annoy me and I send them to the charity shop so they can annoy someone else, or I delete them from my PC. I wouldn't name them because it might come back to bite me! But I don't like books that cheat - ie use a ploy that wasn't even around at that time (like text messaging) or books where the HEA ending is forced, or books that are supposed to be ordinary romances and yet have so much sex it detracts from the plot (and I write erotic romance so I hope I know what that balance is) or books where the characters are trite or flat or plain boring. Oh I could go on......


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## Guest (May 19, 2011)

It happens a LOT to me.  More often than not it's:

1. People recommend something they think I'll LOVE... and it's completely not my thing, or
2. What somebody thinks is funny, only it's actually cutesy and silly, or
3.  A book with a ton of "buzz" that's absolute crap.


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## Mel Comley (Oct 13, 2010)

I thought Angels and Demons was a really daft ending. Loved the book but the ending just spoilt it for me.


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## aaronpolson (Apr 4, 2010)

Has a book every annoyed you?  

All of the time.  That's why I keep reading.  

(but then there's annoyed because of plot holes, unbelievable characters, etc.--I don't finish reading those books)


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## Patrick Skelton (Jan 7, 2011)

A lot of books annoy me...mostly when the author fills the pages with left-wing political worldviews.  Sorry to bring up politics, but you asked.


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## balaspa (Dec 27, 2009)

Yes.  As a Stephen King fan, I love all of his work, except for Madder Rose.  I found the characters annoying and could not finish the book.  It is the only work of his that that has happened.  I recently had a book recommended to me via the Kindle Facebook page.  I downloaded ait and started to read it and found the writing so bad, I could not finish it.  I had to delete it.  I don't want to embarrass anyone by stating the book, however, as they may be a Kindleboards member.


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## EliRey (Sep 8, 2010)

I just posted a rant about Nicholas Sparks somewhere else. I cannot believe how often he changes POV's. I find this very annoying and distracting. It'll take me twice the time to read one of his books than any others because I keep having to re-read passages to be sure who was thinking that or who's head we're in now. uuggh  

Sorry Sparks fans don't stone me!


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## KJ Kron (Mar 24, 2011)

The Left Behind series annoyed me, amongst other books.


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## Gana (May 19, 2011)

Gawd Yes!  A book by one of my favorite authors, Elizabeth George! A Traitor To Memory went on and on 
ad nauseum! It's been several years since I've read it and I still feel annoyed when I think about the book.  So, I'll probably have to read it again!


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## KRCox (Feb 18, 2011)

Yes. Consequently I lobbed it across the room and it smacked into the wall and I grinned. I left it there for half a day until I finally decided to pick it up and through it in the firepit. I don't remember the title, but it was the worst book I'd ever read.


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## CarlBullock (Dec 28, 2010)

EliRey said:


> I just posted a rant about Nicholas Sparks somewhere else. I cannot believe how often he changes POV's. I find this very annoying and distracting. It'll take me twice the time to read one of his books than any others because I keep having to re-read passages to be sure who was thinking that or who's head we're in now. uuggh
> 
> Sorry Sparks fans don't stone me!


Oh that's one of my all time pet hates! I find it so tedious to have to read the same thing from another characters perspective or the other thing which I dislike is books which switch between characters and plots which eventually meet up, especially if some of the characters or story lines are a bit boring as I just find I'm rushing ahead to get to the good parts


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## Mike Cooley (Mar 12, 2011)

Any book that is just a thinly disguised excuse for the Author's own personal agenda. 

Whether it's Ayn Rand or Orson Scott Card -- into the wood chipper it goes.

Also any book that is mysogynistic. Life is too short for me to read that C R A P.


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## patrickt (Aug 28, 2010)

I just quit reading a book today. I was in the first ten percent and the protagonist and a friend of his started a political pity party about isn't so-and-so a total idiot and can you believe those guys, oh, they're all so stupid. I tossed the book. He can write all that crap he wants but I won't read it.


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## brianrowe (Mar 10, 2011)

A book with a bad ending is never good. The first installment of a series with a bad ending is even worse! The ending of Girl Who Played With Fire didn't exactly leave me salivating for the third book, but I suppose I'll get to it one of these days. It think it's really important, especially when you're writing a series of books, to come up with an ending that not only satisfies but makes the reader want to pick up the next installment!


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## navythriller (Mar 11, 2011)

I tossed one in the recycling bin a few months ago because the only gestures described in the book were variations on people looking at one another. He gazed at her. She glared at him. They stared at each other. He gave the room an appraising _glance_.

I kept waiting for someone to sneeze, scratch an itch, check their watch, or adjust their clothing, or _anything_ besides looking. Never happened.

Let's just say that I won't be _looking_ for any other books by that particular author.


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## EliRey (Sep 8, 2010)

CarlBullock said:


> Oh that's one of my all time pet hates! I find it so tedious to have to read the same thing from another characters perspective or the other thing which I dislike is books which switch between characters and plots which eventually meet up, especially if some of the characters or story lines are a bit boring as I just find I'm rushing ahead to get to the good parts


Don't get me wrong I don't mind POV changes as long as they are per chapter or even scene. I clearly mark mine with a * so the reader knows we have now changed POV's. But to have dialogue that changes POV's per line is so confusing!


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## MarionSipe (May 13, 2011)

I get annoyed by elements of books, but I generally find something worth reading for.  I tend to finish books whether I like them or not (unless they bore me).  The only exception to this--and the only time I've thrown a book across a room--was Here There Be Dragons by Mary Brown.


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## CJArcher (Jan 22, 2011)

I usually only get annoyed with bad endings.  Like the last of the Libba Bray "Jemmy Doyle" trilogy.  I was mad at it for days afterwards, more so because I loved the rest of the series and I really wanted to recommend it to people.  With an it ending the way it did, I don't feel I can rec to anyone.  The ending of The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak also really annoyed me.  Not so much with what happened to the characters, although that was depressing enough, but more to do with what the author DIDN't tell us.


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## ginaf20697 (Jan 31, 2009)

I have never hated a book as much as I hate The Historian. That book annoyed the snot out of me


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## Mike Cooley (Mar 12, 2011)

MarionSipe said:


> I get annoyed by elements of books, but I generally find something worth reading for. I tend to finish books whether I like them or not (unless they bore me). The only exception to this--and the only time I've thrown a book across a room--was Here There Be Dragons by Mary Brown.


I went for distance when I threw Gravity's Rainbow. What a boring load of dreck! (and heavy too)

Mike


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## StephenLivingston (May 10, 2011)

Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen.  I found the characters to be a loathsome lot.


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## balaspa (Dec 27, 2009)

Reading about someone throwing a book across the room reminded me of something that happened in college.  I was taking a class by a professor who majored in 18th century literature (snore).  He was making us read this really long novel that I found preposterous and painfully dull.  I told him how I was struggling and he told me...Bryan, if it is that painful, just stop reading it.  

So, I dropped it down the elevator shaft of the college dorm building I lived in at the time.  It was one of those old elevators with the door you had to close yourself.  It has enough space to fit the book...and I dropped it...and never felt better!


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## India Drummond (Nov 1, 2010)

I read a fantasy romance triology that I just loved.... until I got to the end of the last book, and the heroine dumped a perfectly nice guy who was totally in love with her (and ridiculously appealing) and decided to make her life with a man who had TORTURED HER and ENJOYED IT in previous books. Cuz, yanno, he was reformed or some nonsense.

It made me so mad that I nearly threw my Kindle across the room. (And that's saying something, because I heart my kindle.   ) I think part of the frustration was that I had invested my time and money in three books, not just the one.


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## ginaf20697 (Jan 31, 2009)

Please share so I know to avoid it though it's possible I might have read it already


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

theraven said:


> I've read a few books where the ending took the book from a potential best book this year category to worst book read ever. For some reason, Jodi Picoult endings always give me that feeling ... and the Horse Whisperer. I thought that was one of the lamest and made-no-sense endings ever.


I can't even tell you how much the ending of My Sister's Keeper annoyed me.


Spoiler



An accident meant the whole plot hadn't mattered.


 Why thanks for wasting my time!


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## Guest (May 21, 2011)

I'll tell you what makes me insane...

Author I Love suddenly takes a massive nose-dive, and it's so bad I can't read it.  Like... before I opened the cover of this piece of crap, I was worshipping Author and now, he/she has put out a product SO BAD I can't force myself to endure it.

This  is when I get really, really mad at publishers.  One of my all time favorite authors came out with a book a few years ago that was so godawful I swear I thought it was some kind of clever joke, a print mistake, or other massive error.  Nope.  It was just her "exciting new title."

I have seen a trend over the years of success putting massive pressure on good writers, and destorying them.  I feel bad for the writers, but if nobody will say "this is crap" and send it back?  I have to blame the editors, agents, and publishers, too.


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## Guest (May 21, 2011)

Factual inaccuracies in non-fiction can drive me up the wall, particularly glaringly obvious ones that could have been corrected by any research at all. The worst example was a PDF ebook which credited Marc Brunel - Isambard Kingdom Brunel's father - with building the Great Eastern (and it wasn't a case of a swapped name).  

They say you can't go wrong with something free. I've always taken that ebook as proof you can.


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## SylvieB1984 (May 16, 2011)

I absolutely love Jodi Picoult novels, but Tales of a Humpback Whale annoyed me. I started it and was never able to finish it cause I was totally uninterested in the story. What annoys me is that I could not finish it, I hate it when that happens cause I want to finish it so bad, but I have other books waiting that look so much more interesting so I want to read those instead... oh the decisions  but yeah I have come to the conclusion that I will never finish this book! If anyone finished it, let me know if it was good!


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## nmg222 (Sep 14, 2010)

'The Gate House' by Nelson Demille.  What annoyed me the most was why this book was written.  As a long awaited sequel to one of my favorite books, The Gold Coast, this was 700+ pages of absolutely nothing.  No plot, no character development, nothing.  Chapter after chapter of why the main character hated his inlaws.

Of course I finished it, but that's another issue.


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## Nebula7 (Apr 21, 2011)

One of my major problems with some books (thankfully, not many) is the constant he said... she said.. he said - back and forth when there are only two characters in the scene. Why di some authors think the readers can't figure out who's talking? Drives me nuts.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Nebula7 said:


> One of my major problems with some books (thankfully, not many) is the constant he said... she said.. he said - back and forth when there are only two characters in the scene. Why di some authors think the readers can't figure out who's talking? Drives me nuts.


Well. . . . . .sometimes, if the conversation goes on long enough, especially if it's more than just short sentences, it can get confusing. . . .I'd advocate putting something in every few sentences to clarify. But, no, you don't need a 'he said' after every sentence.


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## QuantumIguana (Dec 29, 2010)

The Alphabet Versus the Goddess. 
Worst book I ever finished.


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## Alex Sinclair (May 5, 2011)

It was a novel written after the movie, but that is no excuse, as the book contained four novels written after the movies and the other three books were amazing. So the book that is the worst book I have ever read is... E.T! The first ten pages pure writing magic, the final ten pages are amazing, but the middle two hundred were awful and was just mind numbingly rubbish. I loved the movie, but the book sucked more than anything has ever sucked before.


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## 41419 (Apr 4, 2011)

I Am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe.

Please don't call it a "mons pubis".


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## Bigal-sa (Mar 27, 2010)

Patrick Skelton said:


> A lot of books annoy me...mostly when the author fills the pages with left-wing political worldviews. Sorry to bring up politics, but you asked.


+1

Depths of Deception by Ian Fraser: the hero is a murderer and a wonderman; plus the book is filled with major inaccuracies...


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## Marie August (May 16, 2011)

Whenever I find a fantastic book with a bad ending, I'll pretend that the ending didn't happen in my version of the book world. Or something else happened afterwards to make the bad ending better.


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## Tamara Rose Blodgett (Apr 1, 2011)

Every book that seems well-received by the masses and I can't get through! I wonder what I'm missing? I want badly to like what everyone says is great.*sighs* One series that may perk you up is the shifter series by Patricia Briggs: it's more mature, not gratuitous and has great plots throughout. "Moon Called" is the first book...


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