Bookish Pet Peeves

We all have them… things that drive us crazy in the book world. It could be habits that people confess to having or it could be popular things people say. I have so many bookish pet peeves and I’m going to share with you my 5 biggest bookish pet peeves.

5. People Being Shocked By My Dislike of E-Books

This is a very personal one. I am all for e-books. I know that they are so much easier to transport and for people to read. And some people can only read e-books because of eye conditions and such. I think e-books are awesome for that reason. However, I don’t enjoy reading them. I just find myself not wanting to pick the book up when I’m reading an e-book. It’s personal preference. My big peeve is others reactions when I say this. I am always left with utter shock… being told I am weird for not liking e-books. Being told if I just keep going I’ll learn to love e-books. I don’t want to learn to love e-books. I’m happy with my physical copy books. Just leave me be!

4. “Listening to Audiobooks Isn’t Reading”

Let me just be frank here… this comment is bullshit! I see this in so many of my bookish groups. Some people being like if you’re listening to an audiobook you can’t could that for your reading challenge, because it’s not reading. If you think this… leave this blog now! Because I’m gonna tell you to shut up. This is utter nonsense. Some people can’t physically read because of vision problems or learning difficulties. Are you really gonna tell those people they’re not really reading just because they’re listening instead? It’s an unabridged version… it’s the full book! It counts as reading. If you think it doesn’t… you’re an asshole!

3. “YA Books Aren’t Proper Books”

I was seriously in two minds whether to even include this because it actually gets me quite angry. As someone who mainly reads YA books I have actually had ‘friends’ say this to me. I’ve often heard “we’ll get you reading proper books eventually”. This is one of the things that irritates me so much. Any book is a ‘proper’ book. You wanna only read YA? Awesome! They’re proper books! You wanna only read Adult? or Traditionally published books or self published books? Awesome! Guess what? They’re all proper books! Can we please stop putting people down for what they enjoy reading and just celebrate the fact that they’re enjoying reading? Whatever you want to read is perfect for you! Let’s leave it there and not try to force people to read the books that you think are ‘correct’.

2. “But There’s No Romance”

This is a super popular question I see when people are recommending books. And it is a valid one, don’t get me wrong. I love romance in my books so I am in no way hating on romance. My issue comes when people start acting like books can’t be good without romance. So many people write off books because romance isn’t the main storyline. As someone who can give or take romance it actually makes me pretty sad that people will miss out on such amazing books because of that.

1. “But Is There Smut Thought?”

This one is my biggest pet peeve! For more than one reason. The word ‘smut’ annoys me by itself. I hate it. It’s such a awful word. Can we not just be honest and say sex? Or say erotica or something? Why does it have to be called smut or smutty? The second thing is that lately I see comments on every recommendation asking if there’s smut. If there’s not asking people why should they bother reading it? The worst one for me is ‘I know it’s YA but is there smut?’ …. No! Because YA books are aimed at CHILDREN!!! I hate it! I hate that the quality of a book or a series seems to have come down to whether there is sex in it or not. As a book lover this frustrates me to no end! It should be about the story, the characters, the amazing world building or writing. It shouldn’t be about whether there is smut or not!

What are your bookish pet peeves?

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