# "Sight-unseen allergies" to works of fiction?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sight-unseen-allergies-to-works-of-fiction/670222
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [October 2, 2013, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sight-unseen-allergies-to-works-of-fiction/670222 "2013-10-02T23:11:56Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2013, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sight-unseen-allergies-to-works-of-fiction/670222/41 "2013-10-05T20:24:59Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#):
>
> My allergy is to books that are blurbed as a “triumph of the human spirit”. Also books where the prose is described as “lyrical” or “poetic”. It usually means the author owns a thesaurus.
>
> Searing, riveting, rollicking, stunning – usually aren’t.
I’d rather be [astonished](http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/21/books/review/Queenan.t.html).
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### Author:  [@eclectic\_wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eclectic_wench)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2013, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sight-unseen-allergies-to-works-of-fiction/670222/42 "2013-10-05T20:25:38Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#):
>
> Novels called “Title: A Novel”. Was the author afraid we’d think “Zombies Destroy Manhattan” is nonfiction?
The ‘A Novel’ thing has nothing to do with the author. Some publishers put it on some books, for reasons I’ve never worked out. They do it even if the author thinks it’s silly/pretentious/just plain weird.
For me, it’s books where names have inexplicable apostrophes. I read a few of Anne McCaffrey’s Pern books (the Menolly ones) when I was a teenager, and I liked them OK, but by the end the inexplicable apostrophes were bugging the shit out of me. F’nor and F’lar and K’thanx’bye and what are the apostrophes _for_? How am I supposed to pronounce them in my head while I’m reading? Like, in the name O’Malley, the apostrophe’s there to make it clear it’s not Omalley, so you know it’s pronounced O Malley rather than Ommaly - but what does it do in F’nor? Is it a pause? A click? A snort? How is F’nor different from Fnor?
Also, for some reason, I associate the pointless name apostrophe with books that contain WAY more world-building than I’m ever going to be interested in.
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