For me, books are food for soul, books are sacred. And I keep them high up on the pedestal. But there are certain things about books that make me cringe or groan or cry with frustration. Here are my bookish pet peeves that bother me as a reader.
1. Crappy Endings
This has got to be one of my BIGGEST pet peeves! After being invested in the story, you reach the last few pages only to find it ending terribly. Arghh! The disappointment is infinite! Lame plot twists, loose plot threads, hurried or abrupt endings leave you so dissatisfied that you wonder if it was an elaborate joke. I remember once looking at my book with disbelief and checking if some pages were missing. Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell was so rushed, it left me disappointed and confused.And Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn which had an addictive story, but had such an open ended climax that I actually wanted to bang my head against the wall!
2. Poor Editing
I’m not a Grammar Nazi nor am I an English Major and I do make blunders on my blog here. But when I am reading a book, I may forgive an occasional typo, but inconsistencies in names and spellings, misuse of tenses, inappropriate word endings, overused cliches make the red flags pop in my head. Instead of enjoying the story, the errors in the book, distract me!
3. Overly Long Descriptions
As readers, you follow the story and don’t mind even it is going in different directions as long there’s a point. I get that every character, location and event in a story needs to be introduced and explained. But what happens when there is over explanation or the text is extravagant, ornate, and flowery? All this not only breaks the flow and muddles the content but gets boring as well. There was a book in which half a page was devoted to a dress and what happened to it while the protagonist was running. Half a page to talk about a stupid dress that did not matter in the story at all!
4. Different Book Sizes or Cover Designs in a Series
This may sound a bit shallow but ask any bookworm, they will swear by their collection of books. Books are our pride and joy and we love showcasing them. So, imagine the pain of waiting for the third or fourth book in a series and then the grief of finding that not only the cover design is different but the height and size of the book is not the same as well. Why would you change the look and size of a book in a series? I have 7 books of the The Clifton Chronicles by Jeffrey Archer and they are of different sizes. Book series number 5 and 6 have 5 and 6 written on the crimp while it is simply missing from the other five books!
5. Pesky Stickers
I love beautiful covers. But I hate to see the promotional stickers of Now a Major Motion Picture or Netflix Series or Special Edition or Half Price on my books. They are a big eye sore. I think, putting stickers on books should be a crime. I tried to remove one from a book and seeing the mess that’s left behind fills me with rage, still.
6. Ugly Book Covers
A book cover is the face of the book and is the visual representation of the writing inside. They are meant to be eye-catching and pretty. But why would the author, publisher and their teams select a ridiculously ugly cover. I mean how could they all think that that looked good. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Bridget Jones’s Diary have truly weird covers!
These are my Bookish Pet Peeves that bother me as a reader. Can you relate to any? What ruins a book for you?
42 Responses
Another peeve of mine is the binding . If the book is too tightly bound and you have to break the spine to read it ( I hate doing that so I have to literally turn the book and read it ). And yet another is the font . If it is a difficult font to read or in children’s books sometimes the background is so dark and the black font is unreadable unless you are a young mom .
Oh I hate the stickers on the covers. They could atleast keep them in the inner pages! And long unnecessary descriptions have made me put down a book more than once. And I too judge a story by its ending. Totally with you on this list!
Lengthy unnecessary descriptions and poor editing are quite a disappointment for me too. You have jotted down all the points so well and am so with you on this.
I think I agree with every one of those, and as for differing sizes in books by one author, it drives me mad!
P is for …
Could relate so much.
Bad ending can spoil my mood for days.
Ditto on the stickers and long winding descriptions. I also hate it when there is a long gap between series. Exactly the reason why I prefer standalones.
Completely agree with you Shilpa! All the points you’ve mentioned get my goat too. But more than anything, bad writing is what I find myself most impatient with.
Crappy endings are the worst. Fortunately, it hasn’t happened to me a lot in my reading but when it has it is so annoying. Weekends In Maine
A good and catchy cover page is definitely very important. Along with this, proper editing, short paragraphs, easy and relatable language are a few points which I look for in a book. Not just books but even in blogs, I like them to be properly edited. Wrong tense makes me very upset.
I’m not so much of a book lover…but these are all fair reasons to get upset. I mean, book lovers invest time, money and room space for books after all.
Cheers,
CRD
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Seriously, the crappy ending is such a put-off. Also finding different sizes and book covers in a series…so now I wait and when I see a series edition, I quickly jump to buy it altogether.
Number one is my biggest pet peeve. Even if the book is great, if the ending is sloppy, it just ruins the experience for me.
I don’t like overly long descriptions. I then lose interest.
I think a lot of people will agree with #1. I wouldn’t really call myself a reader as it is a new hobby for me, but I guess a crappy ending goes straight up the list. Haha. Well written post as usual Shilpa
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Crappy endings and bad editing are big turnoffs for me.
Too many convoluted sub-plots put me off.
Small type fonts also put me off, but with e-books, that’s not a problem now.
One of the things that irritate me is when someone marks the book with pen or scribbles on the pages, especially when the book is from the library.
Another thing that I find downright disgusting is dog ears. How can someone be so insensitive towards the book, I wonder.
The Long description of a dress that never mattered is something irritating and the endings are important… I read book because it gives me pleasure and am choosy about books that I read and to feel lost and abrupt ending is disturbing. Well written Shilpa !
We have a lot of bookish peeves in common!
Hahahah! Amusing read, Shilpa! My pet peeves are #2 and #5 definitely. The others… well I can be tolerant. When books are a major part of our lives, we definitely tend to be invested in them because they stay on our minds long after we’ve finished the last page!
And stickers on a children’s book is just asking for it. The children do not know how to leave them alone and you can’t blame them. They drive me crazy too! lol
Hah! This list put a smile on my face. Frustration with overly long descriptions can be solved with an audio book–when I am on long drive and am listening to a long novel, I can just zone out in the long descriptions, or boring digressions. That got me through long George Eliot novels in which she spends pages on end getting into German philosophy or something, when I only want to know what happens next!
Some of the other pet peeves are book design features that the author has little or no control over. That doesn’t make them any less annoying, though!
I agree with all your points, except for the one about stickers. I have been dreaming of having either “Amazon Bestseller” or “Soon to be a motion picture” on some of my books :p But I will make sure the sticker isn’t too big as to spoil the cover. Do you think that might work?
As for crappy endings, have read some of those and wanted to scream at the author. As for poor editing, I have come across some really bad ones published by Rupa – Ravi Subramanian’s book and a couple of others.
Ah! These all are great turn offs, takes off the charm of reading. Absolutely agree with you!!!
That got me through long George Eliot novels in which she spends pages on end getting into German philosophy or something.Cheap Dog Dresses
when I am on long drive and am listening to a long novel, I can just zone out in the long descriptions, or boring digressions. That got me through long George Eliot novels in which she spends pages on end getting into German philosophy or something, when I only want to know what happens next!Bengal cats & kittens
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All the points you’ve mentioned get my goat too. But more than anything, bad writing is what I find myself most impatient with.PET ANXIETY
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I read book because it gives me pleasure and am choosy about books that I read and to feel lost and abrupt ending is disturbing. Well written Shilpa. smart travel pet insurance
When books are a major part of our lives, we definitely tend to be invested in them because they stay on our minds long after we’ve finished the last page. smart travel pet insurance
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I read book because it gives me pleasure and am choosy about books that I read and to feel lost and abrupt ending is disturbing.mini french bulldog
you’ve mentioned getting my goat too. But more than anything, bad writing is what I find myself most impatient with.Dog Breeds
They could at least keep them in the inner pages! And long unnecessary descriptions have made me put down a book more than once. And I too judge a story by its ending.
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