15 of Your Biggest Book Pet Peeves

Hollie wrote: "Emily wrote: "Hollie wrote: "Emily wrote: "Stickers on books bugs the crap out of me as well"

Agreed!"

And then when you try to take it off it rips the book. "

They always use the stickiest of s..."

And because you know that, you spend half an eternity debating with yourself whether or not to try to get it of, afraid you'll destroy your new book.

Michael wrote: "When a bookstore decides they need to plaster some big sticker like "Heather's Pick" on the front cover. Or when a barcode or ownership sticker is placed in the middle of a map or pic on the insid..."

I had bought textbooks at my university bookstore ONCE. That's it. They had their college sticker placed smack in the middle of a page, covering text. Not just on one page, but multiple! I would have thought it a prank or something, but the books were new, cellophane wrapped. WTF UTEP?

CJ wrote: "This one I got over after a while (books should be read!) but... you let someone borrow a book and when you get it back it is in tatters or you find it on their floor in that state."

Had a coworker that I loaned a hard-to-get textbook to. She had it over four months *on the floor of her car*! I demanded it back, had to go through supervisors, and wound up with it in such a tattered state, my LT copied it, then put the original in a binder in page protectors. Now I have a "loaning" copy - kept at work, and my copy.

The thing that drives me crazy every single time:

A promotion page on the end of the SECOND book saying "Have you read the first book yet? Check it out and buy it here and here and here." NO SHIT, really?

When you get a library book that was last checked out by a smoker and the pages all smell like an old ashtray. I have to return it unread. If you smoke while you read a book, then buy your own books please.

when a translator makes so much changes that the book doesn't resemble the original one, it's so annoying ...
I always try to read the English version.

Bindings coming loose...
God, it's so annoying to turn the page and have entire sections falling off. I say that those who don't know how to bind a book properly should not come into the business.

jasmine wrote: "when a translator makes so much changes that the book doesn't resemble the original one, it's so annoying ...
I always try to read the English version."

In one of the very first German translations of the first Harry Potter book Blaise Zabini is a girl. "Zabini, Blaise was made a Slytherin" is neutral, but German doesn't work that way so the translator had to guess.

When I buy all the series in paperback, but the last is a new release, so it's in hard cover.

*cough cough* Mortal Instruments, Infernal Devices, Divergent,Mara Dyer, Throne of Glass

Those bent marks on the back and cover of a book. Makes me cry everytime...

Eileen wrote: "Karen Floyd wrote: "1. Misleading titles
2. Books are increasingly full of spelling and grammatical errors, misused words and sentences that don't make sense. Where was the proofreader/editor?! I..."

Yes I agree with this second one. Teachers would need to think twice before recommending reading to children if this is the state of editing.
I hope publishers are reading this.

Bad editing is the worst. Particularly when no one bothers to fix the editing mistakes in an old print edition and transfers them intact to the new ebook version. Which is then sold for the price of a new book.
On that note, I love the "report content error" feature on my Kindle, but only when publishers promptly (rarely) fix those typos.

Not adjusting the print color/tone for ebook readers is also infuriating. Such as when the ingredient list is in a different (very pale, almost illegible) color from the rest of the cookbook.

Books sold as "New" which are too dusty to read (a peril of online book shopping). Library books reeking of smoke, perfume or incense.

Formatting trouble. Have you ever finished reading a paragraph, then the next paragraph shifts to another narrator, other people, places, or jumps far into the future or past? Some authors do this well, some badly, but it is jarring when it looks like a regular next paragraph, instead of being spaced a couple lines further down to signify the shift in time, place or narrator.

Claudia the Night Owl wrote: "When all the books in a series aren't the same size or even worse when they switch from paperback to hardcover mid series D:"

Even worse, if they change the direction of the title - so to read part 1&2 you need to crack your head to the right and for part 3 you crack to the left. So annoying!

Nothing distracts me like poor editing. I've actually chucked books for that. Or bad translations.
I also dislike unnecessarily tiny fonts.

Emily wrote: "Stickers on books bugs the crap out of me as well"

Hate stickers on books! I also can't stand when a book is re-released and touted as a "new" release with a different cover.

The single spine crack is so annoying!!

Also, people who underline/mark in books with pen or sharpie, UGH--at least underlines in pencil can be erased!

8. "Highlighting! Who are these savages?"

If it's your book, I can't see where the problem is. I would call them savages if it was a library book though.

When I find constant editing errors in the text. Seriously, editor. Did you even give the book a passing glance before it went on to publish? It really ruins the ability to suspend reality while reading when I'm constantly fixing grammar and word usage in my head.

Claudia the Night Owl wrote: "When all the books in a series aren't the same size or even worse when they switch from paperback to hardcover mid series D:"

Yep. Or when publishers no longer offer Trade Paperbacks (which are larger) and only offer the smaller size. My series collections are all out of whack!

When pages get printed crooked or off center. I've run across this in both paperback and hardback books. Gah! Hardbacks are way too expensive to find that kind of careless mistake inside.

Aiyana wrote: "I don't lend (unless it's to someone I trust 100%). Someone wants to borrow a book, I point them to the nearest library. That's what their there for. :)"

agreed

My biggest pet peeve is when I borrow a book from the library and someone folds the corner pages as a bookmarker. Is using a bookmarker too hard ?

Allie wrote: "What's wrong with highlighting? If it's my own book and I know I'm going to keep the book for a long time and it's one of my favorites (i.e., Harry Potter), I don't see why it's bad to underline or..."

Ah, but people sometimes highlight library books… or worse, books they borrow from me! That and having trouble getting a book back are why I no longer loan out books. Sad… I'd like to share, but a few have ruined it for everyone. I don't trust others with my books anymore.

Number 2, definitely... Both different covers and different sizes. How they no understanding for us poor anal retentive book-lovers?

Rachael wrote: "Zara wrote: "Rachael wrote: "I hate when an author continues a series years after they "finish" it, even when it had a absolute ending. It's like they can't come up with any other ideas so they jus..."

Rachel, perhaps you weren't aware, but Harper Lee wrote Go Set a Watchman several years BEFORE she revised it into To Kill a Mockingbird. There's been quite a bit of controversy about this latest book being "discovered" in a filing cabinet and now published when Lee had resisted publishing it for over 50 years.

I agree with allllll of them

I'm one of these savages who highlights things in books!!! But I don't plan on reselling these books and I do it for future references

Many of the peeves annoy me, no questions, but I suppose the two worst are dog eared pages… come on people, how hard is it to stick a receipt or even piece of grass between pages?

I have a collection of bookmarks… some are antique or beautiful travel post cards. I also buy laminated theme postage stamps [a great souvenir when I see them while traveling… I have one from Bermuda, one from Venice, one from Paris] I make some bookmarks myself to match up with a book. My favorite bookmark of all time is a 60 year old grade school library card which lists the books the kid took out. You can turn almost any piece of paper or picture into a book mark with an inexpensive laminating kit sold at most office and hobby stores.

My second worst pet peeve is finding a book that has been extensively highlighted and marked up. Often, far too often, the highlights are just wrong, as for thematic points, or importance. I won't buy or accept a used book with markings, and library books belong to a community and should never be marked up. I found one in the library that some self important reader had "edited' and annotated, trying to show how erudite he was, only he wasn't. He was the worst sort of arrogant boor who didn't have real understanding or perspective for what he was reading. On top of it all, he couldn't spell. ARGH. May I add… one should feel free to mark up one's own book. I'm talking about the damage done to books in the public sharing realm.

Ok, stepping down from my soap box. Most things on the longer list may annoy, but are tolerable.

Luckily wrote: "When someone borrows a book in perfect condition and returns it looking like it survived seven years as a prescribed text in a high school."

Someone did that to my copy of "How to Win Friends & Influence People". The pages were a little stained, and were a the pages were a darker shade than when I had loaned it. I almost didn't get my book back from the person either. I don't let people borrow my books; my books stay within the four walls of my home.

Price stickers on the cover of books that will not come off easily. It drives me nuts. I want all my books to have like new covers without stickers.

one of my book pet peeves is when people stack there books and a tiny book is stacked on top of a big book I GO CRAZY!

Kaitlyn wrote: "15. "Movie edition book covers…shudder." (Hollie Ruthless)
I absolutely refuse to buy books with movie covers on them. If I want the movie cover, I buy the movie. I want the original cover the boo..."

Word. I do not buy books with movie tie in covers. I once ordered a book and when it arrived, it had the movie cover! That was not what I ordered. I was not very happy about that!

Addie wrote: "I have refused to lend books to anyone anymore because there have been too many times that I haven't gotten them back. Also I hate dog eared pages, broken spines,and movie edition book covers, my h..."

I feel like the only people who enjoy movie tie in covers, are people who did not read the book first. The people they choose for movies never match up to what I see in my head.

Allie wrote: "What's wrong with highlighting? If it's my own book and I know I'm going to keep the book for a long time and it's one of my favorites (i.e., Harry Potter), I don't see why it's bad to underline or..."

I underline passages in my books all of the time. After all, they are mine!

Tiffiny wrote: "Allie wrote: "What's wrong with highlighting? If it's my own book and I know I'm going to keep the book for a long time and it's one of my favorites (i.e., Harry Potter), I don't see why it's bad t..."

There's nothing wrong with marking up your own books Tiffiny. I think most people decrying the practice are talking about library or other loaned books. I certainly wouldn't want anyone to mark up one of my books… but I do make margin notes in my own.

Will I am one of the saveges who highlight there book! !
The worst is 5 and 6

Karen Floyd wrote: "1. Misleading titles
2. Books are increasingly full of spelling and grammatical errors, misused words and sentences that don't make sense. Where was the proofreader/editor?! It's distracting and ..."

I've heard that the writer has to hire their own proofreader nowadays, it doesn't come from the publisher!

In my humble opinion, I don't consider writing or highlighting one's book a terrible thing. You don't own the book until you have marked it up somehow. That's what I have learned over the years.

Getting startled during an intense thriller...ultimately dropping the book in the bath.

When someone tells you what happens at the end! (without you asking them to)

Don't like to see where people have turned the top of a page down for their place, use a bookmark....
I also like the larger print books that are easier to read.

See all of above

The dogs ears a big pet peeve for me. When I borrow a library book and am reading through it when I come across a dog ear and I literally stare at it for five minutes, cursing the person who last borrowed the book before me.

Too many literary reviews to have room for a nice synopsis of the book. I could care less what USA Weekly thought of the book if I can't read what the book is about! Don't brag to me that all these places thought your book was "great" - give me a brief summation so I can decide for myself if I want to read it. All the space taken up with these literary "giants" just affirms my reasons for not buying and putting it right back on the shelf.

When there's no smell of book at all...

I hate when the cover has those already printed on sticker things it ruins the cover for me. Like "yeah great you got all these awards for your book, but thanks for destroying the cover art for me"

Definitely #15...biggest turn off in selecting books!

It unnerves me to no end to turn the page of a library book to find a dead insect.

Leaving a book open and turning it upside down so that the pages touch the table or whatever it's on. That hurts the spine and drives me crazy.
I've never heard of books dropped in the toilet but besides that, all of the above bother me.

When there are missing pages from a book!