As bookworms, we love to read and can stay in our little bookish worlds all day. But loving reading comes with some annoyances as well, so here are some of the biggest bookish pet peeves that readers experience!
From interruptions, to others’ treatment of books, to specific tropes that always annoy, these book pet peeves are sure to sound familiar. Can you relate to some or all of these?
1. When Someone Tries to Talk to You While You Are Reading
One of my biggest book-related pet peeves is being interrupted while reading, or someone trying to talk to me while I’m reading. At least wait until I finish my chapter, please!
2. Stickers on Front Book Covers
Another huge bookish pet peeve is stickers on book covers. If I’m buying a book, I want it to be in good condition, you know? Not having a price or sale sticker cover part of the front cover design!
3. Stickers Covering the Book Synopsis
Similar to stickers on the front cover, another huge bookworm pet peeve is finding out that someone has covered part of the book synopsis with a sticker! Of course, you could look it up online I guess…but still, ANNOYING!
4. When a Book Isn’t Edited Well
A typo or mistake here or there is okay, but when there are typos and grammar mistakes EVERYWHERE…well, that’s one of the biggest reading pet peeves! It’s like, why didn’t you get a decent editor to take a look at your book??
5. When a Book Starts Out Well…and Then Ends Terribly
Another pet peeve for readers is when a book starts out and seems amazing, and then the end is disappointing. There’s nothing worse than being lured into thinking a book is going to be really good, only to find out it steadily goes downhill!
6. When Books Use Overused Phrases and Cliches
Ever read a book where a character “lets out a breath they didn’t know they were holding”? (Do people really do that?) Or do you ever get fed up with books having “The Chosen One” or love triangles? If so, then this is probably one of your bookish pet peeves!
7. When People Try to Read Your Book Over Your Shoulder
Hello?! Reading here!! Get your own book and don’t try to read mine over my shoulder…
8. When Someone Tells You They Don’t Read
Um, are you bragging about that? Why do you sound so proud that you don’t read? Don’t you know that smart people read lots of books…and that reading is also fun?
9. When Someone Says They Like the Movie Better Than the Book
One of the universal pet peeves of book lovers is DEFINITELY when people like the movie better than the book, or when they’ve only seen the movie and not read the book. It’s annoying, but also…their loss!
10. When a Movie Adaption Changes the Plot
If you know anything about book lovers, it should be this: we want our movies faithful to the books! So when a movie goes off script…we get a little upset.
11. Having to Wait for Library Books to Become Available
I love free books…but the waiting to check them out of the library can be soooo long! What are people even doing keeping books out for so long? You mean it takes you longer than a day to read a book? PLEASE JUST RETURN THE BOOK ALREADY SO I CAN READ IT! 😂
12. When a Friend Doesn’t Like Your Favorite Book
It’s like, if you don’t like my favorite book…do you also…not…like…me? Can we even be friends anymore?
13. When Your Purse is Too Small to Fit a Book Inside
Why are there even purses that don’t fit books? That should be illegal.
14. Books that Have Movie Covers
Why would you ruin a perfectly good book by putting a poster from the movie on the front of it? Who wants to look at their books and see the actors on the front?—actors, I might add, that often do not even match up with the description of the characters in the book?
15. When People Dog-Ear Pages
This one is one of the biggest pet peeves for many bookish people, but others don’t care. Which camp do you fall into?
16. When People Write in Books
Next to dog-earing pages, writing in books is the next biggest pet peeve that ticks bookworms off. But there are plenty of people who do write in books and don’t mind it…so which one are you?
17. When Someone Judges a Book But Hasn’t Read It
If you haven’t read it, you don’t really know anything about it…haven’t you ever heard that you can’t judge a book by its cover? Well, you can’t really judge a book on hearsay either. If you don’t want to read it, fine. But don’t claim it’s terrible if you haven’t tried it!
18. When Someone Spoils Something in the Book For You
Spoilers are a HUGE pet peeve for bookworms, so please don’t tell us about what happens next before we get to read it for ourselves! It’s absolutely awful when someone spoils the ending or an important plot point…or really anything about the book. I only get one chance to read the book for the first time, so no spoilers please!
19. When Books in the Same Series/Set Are Different Sizes
What’s the point of a matched set if the books aren’t uniform in size? It looks ugly on the shelf and is just going to annoy you every time you see it…so please, publishers, no more series with different sizes!
20. When People Aren’t Careful With Borrowed Books
Another of the biggest book pet peeves is lending someone a book only to have it be returned in a bedraggled state. If I lend you my precious books, they’d better be returned in the condition I gave them to you!
21. When a Book’s Release is Delayed
There are very few things as sad and pet-peeve worthy as looking forward to a book’s release, only to find it’s been delayed and now you have to wait even longer! Of course, things happen and we understand that (at least in our minds)…but in our hearts we’re still secretly sad and a little annoyed.
What are your biggest bookish pet peeves?
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