Bookish Pet Peeves

I saw this blog post floating around some of the book blogs that I follow and I really enjoyed reading about other people’s bookish pet peeves. Some things that seem to bother almost everyone really don’t bother me- like folding down pages or leaving a book face down with the spine cracked. I typically use a bookmark, but if I’m really in a pinch I’ve folded pages and left it spine cracked face down. Ha! But there are some things in the book world that really bother me….here are a few….

1. When someone asks me how a book is after I have read only 1-2 pages. I DON’T KNOW YET. In fact, I usually have to finish the entire book before I will say “how it is”. Because there could be a plot twist that completely ruins it for me. So, no, please don’t ask me how the book is while I’m reading it.
2. When books adapt the movie for the cover. I personally prefer to read the book before the movie, but when we had a pre-teen foster daughter we actually found that it helped her to watch the movie first- then she would be interested in the book because she already knew the characters and had a visual of what was happening in the book. So, I’m not a book before movie purist. BUT! I hate when the book comes out with the cover of the movie, or the actors from the movie on it. NOOOO!
3. When people buy dozens and dozens of books but never get any from the library for FREE. In fact, this is such a pet peeve that I basically do the opposite. I do not purchase a book unless I have read it from the library and loved it so much I needed to re-read it (happens maybe 1-3x a year). And, honestly, with our library system, if the book isn’t in that library, I can either request that they purchase it (never been denied!) or request it from any library in Ohio!
4. When I read a book that is so unappealing that I don’t want to pick up any more books. Ah, the book slump. Brought on by reading a terrible book. Or going through several unappealing books in a row. I’m there right now. Sigh.
5. When someone tells me they don’t have time to read and imply that I am wasting my time on books. Ok, maybe I do stay up way too late reading. And maybe my house isn’t spotless. But we all have 24 hours in a day, and I choose to spend some of those hours reading. And you can choose that, too! Or you can choose to do something else. But I really don’t think it’s as much of a time issue as it is a priority issue.
6. When a book is highly recommend by everyone with connections to that person, but I wonder if they actually read/enjoyed it, or are just doing a favor for a friend. This seems to happen especially in the Christian book community. One author will publish a book and then will be on all her friend’s podcasts, all over their social media and hyped and promoted by one another. A few months later they seem to exchange the favor. I think that it is great to have hype friends, but I usually disregard the reviews if they consider themselves friends because a friend is never going to give their true and honest opinion about a book if they dislike it. So I wait to hear reviews from “nobody’s”.
7. When a book has so many characters with similar names that I have a hard time keeping track. Why? There are so many names in the world! Why do multiple characters need to have the same name! I do notice this most often in historical fiction or just historical books in general, so I suppose that it is a sign of the times. But it’s the thing that most confuses me in books!
8. The New York Times Bestseller List. There. I said it. This list continuously baffles me. I find that it has a couple good ones, and a LOT of not so great books and it always leaves me wondering how in the world they pick a book to make the list. It seems like perhaps it’s a sign of the author’s clout, not necessarily good writing. And that bugs me a little. Ok, it bugs me a lot.
9. Short story collections. I automatically skip a book if it is a short story collection or a collection from different authors. This doesn’t necessarily bother me, I just know it is not for me and I don’t ever pick up books like that

Ok! That is enough whining about things I don’t love about books. You all know that I LOVE books and will continue to read them, often despite some of these pet peeves. So what about you? What are some of your bookish pet peeves? Anything on my list that bothers you? Or anything I didn’t include?