A place to discuss pet peeves of the book persuasion (or, what people do to books, how they treat books, read books, etc--not peeves on writing/writers, but on reading/readers). My book peeves are: 1. Placing a book face down so that the spine gets all creased and ugly. 2. Dog-earing constantly. Once, I can deal with. All the time? ARR! 3. Hey, it's okay to eat and read, but KEEP YOUR CRUMBS OUT OF THE BOOK... gross... that's 100 times worse than when someone kills a fruit fly by snapping the book shut getting it all on the pages... ewww... I have more... Anyway, what are your book peeves?
I mentioned in the other thread about materials how I just can't write in books or dog-ear them. That was strictly a no-no when I was a child. My daughter can't abide books lying on a shelf or table with the page side turned to everyone's view. She says it's indecent, like showing underwear. I go crazy arranging my bookshelves because the spines of my English books have the titles written from the top going to the bottom, but the Turkish books are written with the titles going from the bottom to the top. (Hope you get what I mean!) I can't stand books just shoved in anyhow, and it really annoys me when people don't put books back properly in the library.
See, i'd have to completely disagree with both of you. There is nothing I love to see more than a dog-eared, spine-creased, yellow paged book. A book in this state doesn't necessarily mean it's been abused, just enjoyed. To me that says, 'I have read that book 1,000 times, and I could read it 1,000 times again'. One of my lecturers said something cool when we were studying Dracula. It was something along the lines of - 'Guys, your books are not sacred texts; they are built to be read. Break their spines.' Couldn't agree more! Edit: Actually, there is one occasion when I can't stand an abused book, and that's from the library. Here at uni, I took out a Mark Ravenhill play and a couple of Harold Pinter's in one collection....the state of them was abominabal! Pages wripped, torn out, written all over with notes in pencil, creased covers, dog eared, spills on pages, whole chunks come unglued...Jesus, how inconsiderate must you be to wreck a library book, one that is used by everyone?! And to write notes in it too! Jesus, people, you do not own the damn thing just because you went to "all that effort" of walking to the library and signing up for a card. So: If it's your own book then hell, love it to death!
I dont mind creased spines, but I cant stand broken ones that are falling apart. It means it's definitely been enjoyed, but perhaps it's been treated a little too roughly. I cant stand when people throw their books. It rips pages, turns them up and over and damages the cover (of paperbacks, at least, which is most of what I own; too poor to spring for the hardcovers. lol...). I like to see a worn book, but not a beaten one. That book just seems sad and uncared for. I like to highlight in my books, but I dont like dog-earing them. It goes back to the "damaged" pages thing I've got going, I guess. There are cleaner ways of treating your books. Like highlighting!
Beaten? Well dog-eared is one thing but ripped, torn, and thrown across the room? Anyone who does that can't possibly love books, or even be a casual reader for that matter =/
I had a few terrible experiences with people who treat books too roughly for my taste. It's one thing if it's worn; that happens. It's another if I lend you a book (that I've read only once or twice, so the spine is fine) for a week or two and you bring it back with the spine falling apart and pages falling out. I turn into Gollum from Lord of the Rings. What have you done to my precious?! (I dont lend books out anymore. )
Pages falling out!? They deserve to die. All of them. How disrespectful....I mean atleast the slimey gits at the library have the decency to disappear into the shadows like the crooks they are when they return an abused book, but to give it back to you right to your face? They might aswell have spat on your shoe or something, because there'd be no difference in the respect they'd show! Rude =/
I can't stand books with creased or broken spines. When I read, I hold the book open the minimal possible amount, like no more than 90 degrees. It just irks me so much. I guess maybe its from working in a bookstore and seeing how savagely most people seem to read. Besides which, books have a decorative aspect, and just like I wouldn't hang a torn painting or creased photograph, I don't like showing worn books.
I sometimes see food and drink stains on books when I get them from the library. Something like this is just plain rude and disrespectful.
I've been there, Merc. We had a really nice copy of Little Women when I was in high school, and I loaned it to a friend. When I got it back, there were squished bugs in the pages (shudder) and chunks of the books were falling out. What the hell??? I guess that's my big pet peeve, with books and anything else, is people borrowing something and not taking care of it. As for dog-eared pages, writing in books, etc...I don't dog ear pages or anything, but I write in my books if I find something really impactful. I also went through a phase where I would white-out swear words in my books (early high school, I think) and replace them with other words. Now when I read those books, I get irritated at my earlier self for doing that.
I can't stand dog-eared pages. I just feel like it is unnecessary, and that it can't be THAT hard to find SOMETHING to bookmark it with. There's only one other thing that I have issues with, someone who borrows one of my books, and then writes in it or underlines things, especially in pen. It's just fine to do when the book belongs to you. It's your book and you can do what you want with it, but if it's MINE, you don't need to be writing in it. Period. My sister destroyed one of my books with water, writing all throughout (she drew HEARTS in it. She doodled.), underlining to the point where the text was unreadable, and and bending tons of pages. I was so sad.
This is why I usually get two copies of my favourite books- one for display, and one to read. Sometimes I'll buy books used just so I won't worry about creasing the spine or bending the pages when I'm reading.
I wear my books in, like a pair of boots. Write in 'em, dog-ear 'em, underline, circle, whatever. Not out of disrespect, but love. It's a bonding process. On occasion I love them to death and have to buy new copies (though I always keep the old ones- Don't think I could ever pitch a book in the trash). I NEVER tear out pages or use books as fly-swatters though. Half the library books here look like they've been used as handkerchiefs for people with pneumonia. Or dinner plates. That's what aggravates me the most- intentionally disrespecting a book. I know it's only paper, but still. And the margins aren't a place for you to write "_____ was here."
I'd say the thing that I really, really hate is when people fold back the spine on thick paperbacks so that the cover and first few pages perpetually stick up. It drives me nuts. I don't mind cracked spines, I mean, my copy of Fahrenheit 451 is bent on almost every page, but then it's a small book so it doesn't stay open because of that. I like hardback books better. They are much easier to read and hold onto. Really lengthy paperbacks are so hard to read, with the small letters and the fact that you have to wrestle them to keep them open. I don't mind dog ears, but highlighting/underlining DRIVE ME NUTS. It is so distracting. If I want to make notes, I do so on a seperate sheet of paper and just list the page number.
I'm probably alone in this, but I hate books that are in that stage between new and much-loved. I'll admit to enjoying picking up second-hand books, partly because they're cheap, partly because if they're a certain age you know people have read and enjoyed them. I do like them to be in good condition, but it's impossible to keep a book in great condition for more than a few readings (just ask my copy of The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy). What annoys me is when a book that's a few years old is showing signs of becoming that much-loved book, with a battered old cover and bent spine, but it is still identifiably fairly new. It took me a while to getting round to saying that.
If I own the book I am very bad about folding down the page corners and bending them back until the book lays flat. It's just habit. But if it's a library book I don't do those things. My biggest peeve is seeing food stains or writing in books. I'm about to read the Great Gatsby and while thumbing thru it I could see someones notes and paragraph notes. Apprently they thought no one else would care to read it! Ugh, that bugs me.
^Pretty much just this as a pet peeve. I never loan books to people anymore as they're not treated anywhere near as well as I treat them - assuming I even get them back, a very expensive complete works of Shakespeare and a much-loved, hard to find un-abridged version of Journey to the West by Wu Cheng En lost to "friends". That being said, the only books I treat with any sense of "sacred-ness" are Comic Book Tattoo (a massive graphic novel by various artists/writers interpeting Tori Amos songs) which was sent to me by a dear friend in the US, and my Sandman/The Maxx comic collections, which are - appropriately - boarded and in plastic sleeves.
I hate my books being anywhere but my room. Then again, even in my room they aren't exactly safe either.
I will brave the digital waters and say.... I dislike the laws and rules and chants and rituals and arcane mazes ones must crawl through in order to deal with ebooks. Format X works with this reader and this device, but not that one or that one, or that one, except on Tuesdays if your birthday is on the Wednesday prior. Oh, and if you happen to live outside the country that is selling the ebook, be prepared to give over one of your kidneys in exchange for some magic beans which will grow into a vine that feeds the mythical strawberry cow who will whisper into your ear the magic code that lets you download the ebook.
Same here. I rarely lend out my books, and if I do I tell them to treat my book like a small child, and if they don't, they owe me a new one. I prefer the over sized paperback for the simple fact that they are affordable and easy to read with out breaking the spine. Lucky for me this seems to be becoming the standard size.
For starters let me say, I never lend out my books, never. My experiences have been bad. I am picky about my dust jackets and my pages being dog eared or creased in any way. I am almost anal about it. I understand that dust jackets protect the book, however, my dust jackets get removed while I am reading, I have book markers for saving my place in the story. I have several First Editions that I have read many times and they look just as they did the day I bought them.
I am the exact same way. I refuse to lend out books, because too many times before my books are never returned or are dog-eared or damaged in some way.
I have to crack the spines of new books in the middle before I start reading them because I like to read books flat open and I can't deal with the whole pages bent three quarters of the way across them. I also tend to dog ear my books. I can't help it - bookmarks fall out :| I was even given a bookmark with a clip which isn't supposed to fall out, and it still does. I can't write in books though. It seems disrespectful or something. When we had to write notes in To Kill A Mockingbird for my English exam I felt like a criminal.
Personally, I'm a crazy neat-freak when it comes to my books. My place can be trashed, but my books have to be pristine. No dog-earring that's what bookmarks are for. I actually collect all kinds of bookmarks so no book will feel awkward with a bookmark that doesn't match. I have your basics, bookthongs, bookrugs, bookbracelets, metal bookmarks, magnetic bookmarks... always looking for something new! (don't have a bookmark... use a folded napkin) Don't get me started on spine bending!!! I let a friend borrow a paperback book I'd only read maybe twice... when I got it back the spine was so bent I couldn't read the title or the author for the white line running through it! Library books... annoying when they're "much-loved" but I can handle it. The food and bug issue should be a legal crime no matter whose book it is.
Americanisation of books from other countries annoys me no end. A couple of years back I realised that somehow My copy of Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone had gone missing so being a stickler for owning a complete series I picked up a the American version from a local second hand bookshop. If the altered title and cover weren't bad enough, much to my annoyance I discovered that the spelling of certain words had been changed to their US versions. English people do not say Mom! I know it sounds nit-picky, it is nit-picky, but that's what grinds my gears.
