My Bookish Pet Peeves

I love reading. It’s my favourite hobby. But every hobby has its inconveniences and reading is no different. So here’s a list of the little annoyances that niggle away at me when I’m trying to enjoy a book.

When People Talk to You While You’re Trying to Read

Is there actually anything more annoying than when you’re engrossed in a book and someone sits down beside you and starts talking to you? Can they not see the book in your hand? Do they not understand that you’re not here for a conversation? In my experience it’s always people who aren’t that big into reading that do this. They just don’t understand how irritating it is.

When a Book Doesn’t Live up to the Hype

This happened to me with The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. I didn’t read it until after the film came out so I’d heard all the amazing things people said about it. I had the highest of expectations, but when I actually read it it was overwhelmingly ‘meh’. The problem was that I’m sure I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn’t heard the hype. It’s a good story, but I was just expecting so much from it that there was no way it was ever going to live up to it. So yeah, don’t over-hype books, because no matter how good they are people are bound to be disappointed.

When a Movie Cuts Out a Big Part of a Book

Okay, I understand that a movie adaptation of a book has to get rid of some stuff or else the movie would be hours long. But sometimes the stuff that gets cut is important to the story and the movie ends up not being as good as it could be if it had included it.

Neville Longbottom comes to mind when I think of this. The movies massacred his story. In the books Harry, Ron and Hermione meet his parents in St Mungo’s and the reader finds out how much Neville lost because of Voldemort. It’s also revealed that the prophecy that caused Voldemort to kill Harry’s parents could have been about Neville. It makes the ending, when Neville stands up to Voldemort and ends up killing Nagini, even more relevant. But the movie cut all of that out so Neville’s ending didn’t have the same impact that it should have.

(As promised, whenever I mention Harry Potter I link to an organisation that promotes trans awareness and trans rights. Here’s a link for All About Trans, an organisation that works to change how trans people are portrayed in the media. The website has a lot of great resources for journalists to use when writing about transgender people.)

When a Book has the Movie Poster as the Cover

I can’t explain why this annoys me so much, but when I can only get a book with the movie poster as the cover I get so annoyed. There’s no need to change the book cover just because there’s a movie out. I’d love to know why publishers do this? Does it actually make more people buy the book? I get that they want to capitalise on the success of a movie, but I don’t know any reader who doesn’t dislike movie poster book covers. Who are they for??

When Someone Doesn’t Like a Book That You Love

Is there anything more heartbreaking than when you share a book you loved with someone but they don’t like it? It’s like giving someone a piece of your soul and they wipe their ass with it. Gone Girl is one of my favourite books. I recommended it to my Mam, but she couldn’t even finish it she disliked it so much. I refuse to recommend books to her any more. I can’t take that kind of pain again.

When a Book you Really Want to Read has a Waiting List in the Library

This is a recent pet peeve of mine because I just got the BorrowBox app that lets me borrow books from the library on my phone. It seems like every book is out on loan already, which is fine because the wait is normally only a few weeks. But every now and again I come across a book that has an insane waiting list! Eight Detectives by Alex Pavesi is on loan until May 2023! That’s over three years! Absolute madness. (Yes, I realise I could just buy the books I want to read, but I’m not rich and books are expensive, especially newly published ones. This is why libraries are great).

Dust Covers on Hardbacks

I think this one might just be me, but I hate the dust covers on hardback books. They always end up riding up until half the cover is sitting higher than the book itself so you have to readjust it. I don’t want to have to stop reading every ten minutes to readjust the dust cover! It puts me off buying hardbacks at all.

Locations on Kindle

This is more of a confusion than a pet peeve, but what in the hell are the Location numbers on a Kindle book? What do those numbers mean? Why would you want to know that you’re at location 4250 instead of page 25? Who is that useful for? Please someone tell me!

No Blurb on the Back of the Book

This is another issue I have with hardback books. A lot of them don’t have the blurb on the back of the book. Instead they just have quotes about how great the book is and you have to go to the inside cover for the blurb. Now, maybe it’s just me, but I don’t buy a book based on a random quote from another author, I buy a book based on what it’s about. So having to go searching for the blurb when it should just be right there on the back is annoying.

When the Price Sticker Leaves a Mark on the Book Cover

Last, but not least, it’s one of the most annoying things that comes with enjoying books. Trying to take the price sticker off the front of the book and being left with half the sticker that just won’t come off! How, in 2020, when we have the technology to de-age Robert DeNiro and 3D print a guitar, has no one been able to figure out how to stop price stickers from leaving half the sticker behind when you try to peel it off a book cover? It’s infuriating. You either have to leave the sticker on and deal with a giant price covering half the title, or look at those white strips left from the sticker as they taunt you.

Let me know if you agree or disagree with any of my bookish pet peeves. And let me know yours in the comments as well.