Bookish Pet Peeves

I love to read more than just about anything else. Reading takes me to another place and lets me escape the doldrums of life. But… there are things about books that also drive me up the wall. Some of these things are relatively silly but they quite often spoil the enjoyment I get over reading books.

Here are a few of my bookish pet peeves:

1. Remembering a book cover but not the author/title

This is a real annoyance for me. I seem to have a really great visual memory. I can remember books from my childhood by checking out the covers. This is all well and good but when you think of how often covers get changed on books this isn’t very useful at all.

Names and titles do not seem to stick in my head which really annoys me. I spent a bit of time last year cataloguing all the books I could remember reading in childhood/teen years. There are so many books that I would remember reading if I saw a picture of the cover but that is of very limited use when you are searching online!

2. When a book isn’t bound properly and the pages fall out

This bugs the crap out of me! Anytime it has happened I feel like I must immediately buy a new copy.

3. When a book I lend out comes back damaged

Creased spines, dog-eared pages – nothing annoys me more. I have OCD and I like keeping my books in pristine condition. Books I have had for years look brand new and I like it that way. I maybe don’t like it when people treat their books badly but that is their prerogative.

I do however, wish people would respect the fact that I like my books in good condition. I very rarely loan any books out and only to people I trust with them.

4. When they change the covers of books part way through the series

This really annoys me – I like my books to match dammit! My OCD just can’t handle it (I’m not saying this lightly – I do have diagnosed OCD and I would never just throw that around or use it as a descriptor).

5. How love triangles are nearly always about a girl and two boys

Why not two girls and one boy (or a boy caught between a girl and a boy or vice versa)? Anything except the same old boring love triangle that plays out in so many books…

6. Insta-love

I don’t think I need to elaborate much on this one. It works on occasion but is far too common a trope especially in YA.

7. Poor world-building

I read a lot of fantasy and science fiction (with heavy emphasis on dystopians/post apocalyptic settings). If I cannot get a good sense of the world it pulls me out of the story.

8. Waiting for a sequel

I hate it when a book ends on a massive cliffhanger and I have at least a year to wait until the next one (a lot longer if you are a George R. R. Martin fan!).

9. Terrible covers on fantasy novels

Why oh why do some fantasy novels have covers that make them look likes like low-grade porn?? I mean really, look at some of these…

10. Bitchy best friends in YA books

This drives me up the wall – girls are allowed to have friends that are supportive ya know!! This is way too prevalent in the young adult genre…

11. Controlling, abusive love interests who are portrayed as being romantic for their behaviour

This really drives me loopy. If someone acted like that to me in real-life I would be getting a retraining order!!

12. Ebooks that are more expensive than the print copy

WTH is up with that? I get that some eBooks are self-published and physical copies are always possible (the costs involved etc.) but I really don’t understand when traditionally published books have astronomical prices for the e-copies.

13. Mary Sues/Marty Stu’s

When you can essentially tell a book hero/heroine is a stand-in for the author. Urgh!! Especially in romance novels – that just gets a tad borderline creepy…

14. When people try and talk to me while I’m obviously reading

Enough said.

What are your bookish pet peeves?

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