Readers' Pet Peeves

As readers, we all have that thing or things that annoy us about other readers or annoy us when we read. We asked our friends on Facebook to share some of their reading pet peeves.

What have you done to this book!?!

Several people were annoyed by those who damage a book in lieu of finding a bookmark by either dog-earring page corners (Adam and Mindy reported this one) or leaving a book open face down (Amanda and I commented). Bookmarks are everywhere - a grocery store receipt, a post-it note or a super nice magnet bookmark from the Booktique! Let's all start attaching bookmarks to gift packages to help avoid these issues.

Cindy is bothered (rightfully so) when she discovers someone has written in a book. I was once reading a nonfiction book and found that someone had corrected the author's historical error in pen. While the self-appointed editor was correct, I didn't appreciate the damage to the book.

Others on Facebook talked about pet peeves involving food and drink. Charles and Linda mentioned Cheetos fingerprints and Cindy mentioned other food stains on pages. I often have a book with me at lunch, but I am very careful to keep my food and book separate.

One of the worst offenses, according to Meg, is a book that smells like cigarettes.

Why can't I just read it?

Our Facebook friends have pet peeves beyond the book itself.

Vicki said she's annoyed when a book she wants to read isn't available. While I totally understand that feeling, that's a great reason to have a nice long to be read (TBR) list. Put the first book on hold and find another one on your list. I recently realized my TBR list was entirely too long (326 books). Now I'm working to keep it under 125 so all the books on my list are books I really really want to read. Laura Sackton's Book Riot article taught me how to keep my TBR list manageable, although her goal of 100 was a little too small for me.

Melissa doesn't like it when she's reading a really good book and she has to put it down to do a menial and mundane task. I totally agree. If I could just get my dogs to clean my house or at least do laundry, I could read a lot more often.

Finally, the biggest pet peeve of them all is the one Marie mentioned - when a really good book comes to an end. This is when I search for other books by the author. Although, sometimes I discover it's a debut novel and I must wait and hope for a second book. This happened to me with Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. I'm not alone in my love of this book as our hold lists are pretty long. I still recommend you add your name to the list. It will be totally worth it when your name comes up.