Top Ten Tuesday Rewind: Bookish Pet Peeves


We all have pet peeves. Maybe it bothers you when people leave dirty socks on the floor (you know who you are!). Or maybe you grind your teeth when people correct your grammar. Or maybe it irks you when people grind their teeth. Well, I have some bookish pet peeves. Here are the bookish things that make me cringe:

1. Dog-earring pages: This is a no-no! Gah! Just find a piece of paper and stick it between the pages. There is no need to wound the book! (The one exception to the rule is textbooks. I show no such love for them.)

2. Writing in books: See peeve #1.

3. Not returning a book you’ve borrowed from me: If I’ve let you borrow one of my books I am showing an extreme amount of trust in you. Don’t make me regret it by returning it months later. If I let you babysit my hypothetical child and you kept said child for months on end, that’s kidnapping. Now replace “child” with “book.” The sentence is no different to me.

4. Returning a book with stains, rips, or other markings that were not there pre-borrow: see peeve #3 and change kidnapping to returning said child with broken limbs. Seeing a theme? This is why I rarely lend books to anyone! (And possibly an indication of my future mothering behaviour.)

5. Folding the cover over: Unless the book is spiral bound and allows for the cover to be flipped around, don’t do this! Oh, the poor broken spine… Ouch!

6. When a book promises a sequel and then for whatever reason there isn’t one: The same goes for movies. I need to know what happens after! Tell me what happens after!

7. When main characters are killed off for no apparent reason: If you’ve invested hundreds of pages in a character, their death better be crucial to the storyline or to the development of the other characters. If not, why were they in the story in the first place?

8. When the narrator talks to me directly… but only once in the whole book: Why can you suddenly see me narrator?

9. When there are no chapters in a novel: I like having an end-point when I sit down to read, especially before bed. Usually that end-point is the end of a chapter. But where do I stop when there are no chapters? I end up hoping for a page break, or else I leave off in the middle, with the story just dangling onto the…….

10. Do I really even need to say no tearing out pages? If I have to tell you this, you should not be allowed to own books.

Do you have bookish pet peeves? Share them in the comments.


3 thoughts on “Top Ten Tuesday Rewind: Bookish Pet Peeves

  1. This is the first pet peeve list that I would have to agree with all. The dog ears or returning in an inappropriate manner omg completely irritating.

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