Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.
This week’s topic is Bookish Pet Peeves.
Here are a few of mine, in no particular order…
- Reading a Series Out of Order. This is pretty self-explanatory, but last year I saw someone on Bookstagram reading Christmas Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella, and freely admitting it was their first in the series, which has over eight books. I don’t think my eye has stopped twitching since.
- Cracking the Spine. I hate the way cracked spines look on a bookshelf, especially when they are so worn that you can’t even see the title or author anymore.
- Folding Back the Cover. This trend for photographing books always has me wondering what the covers must look like afterward, all bent and flipped up? *Shudders*
- No Synopsis. Sometimes I’ll pick up a book by a well-known author, turn it over to read the synopsis, and find only quotes from reviewers. Where am I supposed to find what the book is about?
- Careless Handling. As some of you know, I work at a library. At one of the branches I used to work at, we had a drive-up window where people could pick up their holds without getting out of the car. I saw many people collect their books and then toss them on the floor of their vehicle before driving off. It was jarring to say the least.
- Sloppy Reviews. I see this a lot on Goodreads and Bookstagram. When people write a review saying they didn’t like the book and offer no reasons or examples for why, I tend to not take those reviews seriously.
- Pretending to Have Read a Book. It’s pretty easy to tell when someone is posting about a book they have actually read, versus posting about a book to jump on the bandwagon with everyone else who is doing the same thing
- Series Covers Not Matching. This is minor for me, but when publishers change covers midway through the series, it does bother me slightly. I don’t need all of my books to match up, but I prefer it when possible.
- Pride in Not Reading. When people declare, proudly, that they don’t read because they don’t have time, it’s incredibly annoying.
- Only Classics Being Taught in Schools. Just because this is the last item on my list doesn’t mean it is the least important. I wish more school curriculums chose to teach contemporary literature to students rather than books that are hundreds of years old and have no context in their lives. There is a place for classic literature, but I don’t think it has been successful in encouraging students to love reading
Something I’ve noticed that bothers a lot of readers but doesn’t bother me is stickers on book covers.
Hannah's Library 
Oh, these are good too. Mine are along similar lines.And there’s nothing worse than the person who says, ‘I don’t read books.’ Like, wtf?
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Thank you! I totally agree, it’s not something to be proud of.
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I often wonder if they actually realise what they’re saying?
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I don’t think they do! I’ll never understand it.
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I have the same reaction to sloppy reviews!
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It’s pretty frustrating!
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LOL I love it when somebody gives a book a 1-star rating and their whole review is something like ‘bad book. would not recommend.’ or ‘awful. waste of time.’ Why even bother reviewing something if you’re going to be that half-assed about it?
Here’s my post: https://sarahscorner82914520.wordpress.com/2021/10/05/top-ten-tuesday-bookish-pet-peeves/
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Exactly my thoughts!!
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I hate mismatching covers too! I also wish schools taught more contemporary literature as well, or at least found ways to make the “classics” more accessible for students if they’re so completely set against teaching anything from this century!
My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2021/10/05/top-ten-tuesday-336/
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Hopefully one day it happens, I genuinely feel sorry for the kids who are stuck reading things like Animal Farm in seventh grade. What twelve-year-old is going to be able to actually comprehend that?!
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Me too! Especially as we study the same books now that my parents did whilst they were in school, I mean if the fact that the syllabus hasn’t changed in decades isn’t a sign that maybe things need rethinking a little, I don’t know what is!
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That’s such a good point!
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I never understood why only “classics” are taught in school. Who decided those books were “classics” and worthy of teaching in school? I think more people would enjoy reading if their prior experience wasn’t the force-fed classics of high school.
Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
https://readbakecreate.com/going-to-the-dogs-12-books-with-dogs-on-the-cover/
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I completely agree! If you can’t see yourself in what you’re reading, you won’t be able to fully engage in it. There are ways to teach the same concepts, themes, whatever else through contemporary literature.
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I agree as much as I enjoy the classics there are still really good books that a relevant to today and I think it’s great to experience different stories and styles of writing!!
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