I posted this topic about two years ago when I was newbie at Blogger. Of course, I’ve added to the list of pet peeves. What? You don’t like it? Too bad. Do you recognize yourself like I do? These are just some of the things we do as readers that often, well, annoy the hell outta me. Here, take a look at the list:
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Reader Validation as defined by me: readers who don’t understand why they don’t “get it” when other readers seem to enjoy something that they don’t. It’s almost every reader’s lament online these days that starts with “I wonder why she just doesn’t work for me as I’ve tried reading two of her books” or “she just doesn’t work for me and I wonder why.” Don’t wonder anymore. It’s a gene defect. Just get over it. There are literally thousands of other books out there to read. Find one.
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Leaving Long Ass Posts as defined by me are those posts that are left by online people that are more than a mile long that makes other readers cross their eyes and hit the back button. Do you honestly think that people are reading every word?
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 Long Ass Analysis about Books as defined by me are those books that are analyzed to the core by a bunch of readers. This reader will add their thoughts or perceptions about the author’s intent, character motivations and behaviors and explain other things that are missed or hidden from ordinary readers. These types of books are usually prime examples of books that should be banned as they impress upon society behaviors/thoughts/actions that are harmful and disturbing.
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Readers who Disagree with Grades are those readers who take offense that a book that they loved has received a low grade on a review site. Often they are upset and leave angry messages on message boards that a few readers will respond to politely remind them that the grade is just a reader’s  ”opinion.” Usually this doesn’t pacify them but it’s the truth.
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Hurry Up and Review This Book are messages left by readers who expect review sites to review the books that they themselves are planning to purchase. Often these messages are provocative and often rude because the reader is forced to decide for themselves to purchase the book without any body’s opinion to fall back on. It’s a reader’s worst nightmare.
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Rehashing the same content/topic/argument(s) aka beating the dead horse.
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Rabid fan behavior(s) that are annoying and often disturbing
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Loving a book just because other readers loved it, too. Yes, it happens. Hey, nobody likes to be apart from the crowd. I could care less if my tastes match yours. I just can’t believe that almost everybody just loved Dark Lover by J.R. Ward. Even with some of the books that I’ve loved there were some dissenters. With JR Ward’s book, you can’t find too many bad reviews or none at all. Wussies.
Note: I lied. I’m still reading Meljean’s book, so no review today.
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
Didn’t read Dark Lover, but gave Lover Eternal a “C” grade. My conscience is clear! LOL
Guilty, especially of the long-ass everything. *blushes*. Does it help that I now have a rule to chop out at least half of what I write before I hit submit? And I really don’t mind if people can’t be arsed to read them because they look like War&Peace.
Problem is that most of the time I’m too damn lazy to post anything (I lurk way more than I post), so the short stuff never gets on the page. It’s only when things are bursting to get out that it’s worth the effort of fighting a strange keyboard… (stops)
My pet peeve is reviewers who are too easy on sloppy writing. If a professionally published book is written badly or is full of spelling, grammatical, and even historical errors (I don’t mean one or two; I mean many), it should not receive a good grade no matter how good the plot or the characterizations are. Poor plotting or characterization doesn’t lead to the dumbing down of society like poor writing does.
Long ass posts…Hate them…don’t read them beyond 3 or 4 sentences. It’s a freaking dissertation after that. Not interested…don’t care. xina
My pet peeve is readers, or even reviewers who expect too much realism from their romance novels. I like my romances to be as “true to life” as possible, but it doesn’t have to correspond to real life 100% in every way. I’ve read comments like this one- “there were too many coincidences going- no way would something like that happen in real life (for Public Displays of Affection- Susan Donovan, for example). Guess what? It is not real life. It is FICTION. Besides, don’t they say life is stranger than fiction and all sorts of weird coincidences do so happen. This is just one example.
Long Ass Posts….check!
The others? I am probably guilty of most of them at one point or another!
One of the things I do wonder though is about how others perceptions vary from our own. For example, I don’t know whether other people roll their eyes when I post about some things and wonder whether people would say somethign or just keep on clicking to the next blog?
I admit to being a poster of long entries on my blog, as well as requiring the occasional validation as a reader. They say that admitting you have a problem is the first step…so here I am
I like Ward’s voice, but I would be the first to admit that there are flaws in her Brotherhood books, not the least of which are those awful names. And don’t get me started on the two series books I’ve read by her.
Grades, over analysis, hurry ups? Not me, generally.
I’ve probably been guilty of the long ass post but usually it’s because I’m complaining about the shrew I work for or something. If I’m reviewing a book or something they’re short.
I would have been happy to be one of the dissenters in regard to JR Ward but I couldn’t even get through the first book in the series. I read about 75-80 pages, hated it and put it down. And I certainly don’t sit around lamenting about why everyone else loves her. I just wanted to chuck the book at the wall (I didn’t - only because I have more respect for my books).
Hmm, I’m definitely guilty of long-windedness (word?). I just have a hard time keeping things brief most of the time. But I DID enjoy Dark Lover! LOL. :-P
You didn’t like Dark Lover? Are you on crack? (g) *whistling*
Reader Validation - I’m not sure if this applies to me or not, probably.
Leaving Long Ass Posts - I’m a lazy assed poster so this isn’t me. I know what you mean though, I never read long-assed posts either.
Long Ass Analysis about Books Guilty, when I can be arsed to write the reviews.
Readers who Disagree with Grades - Not guilty, life’s too short for that shit.
Hurry Up and Review This Book - Not guilty, because I’m a lazy commenter, and writing those lines would take too much time out of my life. (g)
Rehashing - Guilty.
Rabid fan I- ‘d like to think this isn’t me, but I can never be sure.
Loving a book cuz others did - Not effing guilty. (g)
Ah, that’s why you should read my blog. Because I write the shortest reviews on the planet. *g* But
I’m a convert to your side of the fence regarding Ward, by the way.
That’s why I said “we” and not “you”. I don’t leave long ass posts because I could care less to make my point understood to people who just don’t “get it.” Another reason why I don’t visit AAR much because most of those readers there analyze the hell outta everything.
Geez. I think I am guilty of all of those at one time or another! LOL!
Uh, yeah. Guilty of long ass posts, letting myself get dragged into (means I started typing) another debate that has no end and uh, oh, I used to be guilty of reader validation 10 years ago but not anymore.
First getting on the net and even getting to discuss romance books was so new to me because I have no ‘real’ people in my life who read like I do. So it was weird to discover that there were books I loved that others didn’t and that others loved that I thought were crap. I’m over that now cause like you say, it’s all up to me whether a book works for me or not.
That last one though - you think? I would definitely be shocked but then I haven’t really been vocal about books that I stopped reading. I decided I’m going to open up about that this year. Hey, even if I give up 60 pages in, I damn well tried and maybe others did too and wondered WTF? Still, I did like Dark Lover
CindyS and her long ass posts