Monday, May 3, 2010

Listful Monday: Book Pet Peeves

Today's list task, as suggested by Julie at A Small Accomplishment, is to list:

Book Pet Peeves

1. I hate it when I get a book from the library that has crusted food on it! Ewww.
2. I cringe when I see a book, open and laying face down on it's pages.
3. I'm bugged when I see someone, while reading a paperback book, folding it's front and wrapping it around to the back.
4. Dog ears... very very bad.
5. Do not throw books!!!
6. Or step on them!
7. Or read them with sticky fingers.
8. I really really hate blurbs that give away a main plot point.
9. And if you plan on taking the dust jacket off, please please put it in a safe place somewhere. I hate it when books and dust jackets lose each other.
10. ... and for all my other pet peeves you can read Julie's list, because I pretty much agree with everything she said.

What are YOUR book pet peeves?

18 comments:

  1. 2 more:

    I hate when Certain People (i.e., my husband) thinks he should use a book AS A COASTER.

    I hate when the book has a forward or intro that gives away everything! Can't they at least put it in an AFTERward?!!!

    I also have especial agreement with Julie over the sticky gooey price tags, and library numbers right over important information on the cover.

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  2. Writing or highlighting in a book drives me crazy, as well as the food thing you mentioned, ew!

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  3. Great list! I hate the price tags on backs of books that leave that sticky mark on them. Yuck!

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  4. I have a book open and laying face down on the page on my coffee table right now. I'm sorry! :)

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  5. I have yelled at my mom, my friends and total strangers for bending the front cover around to the back. WTH people?! I don't get that at all. When I loaned a book to one of my friends she remarked on how nice the condition was, and I thought it was strange until I noticed that she was a book folder. It makes me cringe with horror.

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  6. Totally guilty of folding the cover back on paperbacks but I'm very careful to do it rarely.

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  7. I hate when I lend my well cared for book to someone and it comes back to me in less than perfect condition. It makes me grrrrrr.

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  8. You know how new hardcover books have that nice little cracky-creaky noise when you open the cover? Well, I hate it when someone puts all their weight on that front cover, opening it wide like they wanted to move furniture in!

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  9. Rhapsody: Exactly on the Afterward. I never ever read those intro things.

    Amanda: I can't stand to write in them myself, but sometimes I find it interesting to see what someone else has written.

    Amused: Agreed!

    Kim: Opps... well, actually, I do it sometimes too, but only for a second if I have to run... answer the phone or something! :)

    Kate T: I know... it freaks me out too.

    Lisa: LOL!

    Amy: Me too me too.

    Bybee: So true. Open that thing with caution!

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  10. Awesome! I didn't even think of many of yours and I should have. Kids can be merciless! And I didn't think of folding the cover thing because I must have dismissed that from my consciousness. Why would you DO that! Ack!

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  11. I agree with so many of these! Making my own list- for one, I hate it when stickers or name plates obscure maps on the endpapers, or when the first chapter (or more!) are taken up with backstory.

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  12. LOL. I am guilty of at least 2 of those....

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  13. I got a library book the other day that had pen scribbled inside and gasp- cigarette buns... yes burns on the pages. One poor page had a hole burned through it. Then in the binding there were ashes. It was such a good book, and library's only copy, so I made due. I was shocked though.

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  14. My pet peeve is weird, but I think it comes from me being an English teacher.

    If I see a book that doesn't have highlighted/underlined passages and notes written in the margins, I don't think that book was very well liked. I think those kind of annotations make a book more complete, especially library books and used texts. I //want// to know what other people's thoughts were, and I hope they want to know mine. I want to be able to go back into a book years down the road and see what I thought was important, funny, or poignant.

    When I have a student who refuses to write in a book or note a story, I say they're halfway to illiteracy because they are missing half of the joy of reading: the interaction with the ideas.

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  15. I'm guilty of removing the loose dust jackets. They are my pet peeve, but I use them as my bookmark!

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  16. I don't mind dust jackets on my books, but putting them on kids picture books is OBNOXIOUS!
    I have a whole pile of dust jackets we've removed....

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  17. Sharon: I use them as bookmarks too, but I leave them on!

    Professor: Love your comments! I have a hard time writing in my books, but I enjoy seeing what someone else has written. And I often think about how if I were to get over my qualms about it and write my thoughts in the books, what a cool thing for my kids/grandkids/whoever to see years from now. As a student, I wrote all over in them! And now, when I look back at those school-days books, I love seeing what I was thinking at the time. Pretty interesting it is.

    Kathy: Ew, ick!

    Britt: LOL! Now I'm wondering which ones!

    Jeane: The list could go on and on I'm thinking!

    Julie: ACK is right! :)

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  18. Ummmm. 2, 4, 9.... 5 but only rarely and it's generally a gentle toss.... 6 when my kids cover the floor completely....

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