What am I reading? and Top Ten Tuesday

Tortall and Other Lands by Tamora Pierce

I am only 2.5 stories in, but so far I'm enjoying it.

The Foundling by D.M. Cornish

been reading this one for a while. I've read it before and love it... but I'm taking my time because I'm waiting to borrow the third book in the series from friends, and they aren't done with it yet.

The Magicians by Lev Grossman

Just finished this one this morning... still processing my opinions on what I've read. Review to come shortly.

Top Ten Bookish Pet Peeves

(to join in, go to THIS BLOG)

1. Series, there... I said it. I am so sick of reading a book, getting to the end, and finding out it's part of a series. Whatever happened to books that could wrap it up in one go? Not to mention that half the series out there are YA books that *really* should have had their story wrapped up in the first book, but that are being dragged out... often painfully... so as to make more profit in book sales.

2. Bad Editing. I swear, I am finding more and more spelling errors, grammar errors and just plain typos in books these days. Is it because I'm reading more? Am I more sensitive to these things now? Or are publishers just trying to push out too much too fast? I have no idea, but they detract from the story... because they pull me out of the story and remind me I'm reading a book.

3. Crowd Mentality: I read so many blogs that hype books that are coming out, all of them proclaiming, "OMG BEST BOOK EVER!"... and then I read the book and think, best case, it's mediocre. Worst case, it's pure drivel. I have a hard time believing so many people really think it's so awesome... I am more prone to believe that they are afraid to go against the grain and say they thought it sucked... because I've seen what happens to people who do that. They get flamed for disliking something. I read a review of a reader who hated The Hunger Games... and while I disagreed, I thought their review made some really valid points and could absolutely see where they came from, and thanked them for their thoughts, because they forced me to look at the book from a new perspective. Sometimes it's ok to be a hater. :P

4. Mary Sue: I hate characters that can do everything, have everything and it's obvious ten pages into the book that they're going to win, because they're pretty much Superman without Kryptonite.

5. Weak Endings: I hate reading a good, action packed book, getting to the end and having it be a let down. Two examples? Jaws (I much prefer the movie ending over the book ending) and Wicked (I really felt like, after building such an interesting, deep character, the author shoved the Wicked Witch into her movie role... kind of like cramming your foot into a too small shoe, based on the character he built, I really thought he needed to work harder to turn her into the Wicked Witch Dorothy fought)

6. Authors who insist on writing series, and then don't work on them: George R. R. Martin and Clive Barker... I'm looking at YOU.

7. Love Triangles: Do I need to say more? Ok, I'm really sick of book plots being usurped by love triangles. Yes, teenagers are horny... but no, when the world is ending, or monsters are trying to eat you... I don't think even teenagers would only think about how dreamy one boy is is... but how warm and reliable another boy is.

8. Plot Holes: Sometimes, things really DO need to be explained.

9. Introducing a major plot device/character at the end of a book or series: Ok, Rowling, I'm looking at you. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Harry Potter... but it really irks me that Rowling waits until the last book to mention the Deathly Hallows... I mean... that's a major series plot issue... you would have thought something like that could have been mentioned before hand. Heck, in the first book it's said that Invisibility cloaks are rare... what isn't mentioned is that there's only one, ever. That's beyond rare. It's one of a kind... you'd think that would have been something that wizarding born and raised kids would have picked up on. I also hate it when the character that saves the day shows up at the end of a book and hasn't been at all hinted to earlier in the book/series. Convenient, anyone?

10. Discrediting Graphic Novels because they're Graphic Novels: Often times people think that because it's a comic, it's not literature. All a graphic novel really does is cut down on the telling by involving more showing. There's no need to describe a setting when you can see it. That does not make what is written there worthy of less recognition than a novel. Case in point? Maus.