Reading (bad) habits you dislike?

[BlueIris]

I can't stand people who deliberately bend the spines of books.

[Lost4words]

1. folding page corners!

[tabatha]

2. I'm getting a real kick out of audiobooks now.

[japple]

3. Highlighting or underlining. I bought some used books from the

library that were apparently used in course work. Every other sentence was underlined or highlighted. It made those books impossible to read.

[CherokeeDem]

4. All of the Above....

I hate broken, bent spines (in Democrats as well), turned down page corners, highlighters, and anyone who writes their name in a book and who isn't the author. Can't stand it when someone writes their name, this is my book, or writes when they give me a book...To You, From Me...disgusting.


Edited for word left out...not enough coffee this morning, apparently.

[RaleighNCDUer]

8. Agree with all but the last -

I love it when I find a used book from generations ago, with a handwritten note on the flyleaf "To my dearest May, on your 17th birthday, From Aunt Ethel" - and wondering who this "May" was and why "Aunt Ethel" gave her that particular book in 1919.

That's why I like books, and hate electronic books. Besides the book smell, the texture of the paper and binding, there is a history to them, and the person or persons, maybe dozens of persons, who read and enjoyed that same book.

[raccoon]

5. Returning a book to the library that smells of secondhand smoke. nt

[BlueIris]

6. Ew. nt

[AngryOldDem]

7. Paperbacks that have severe water damage.

I'm reading one right now that appears to have spent some time in a bathtub. Or an ocean.

As for turning down the corners of pages -- I have actually given bookmarks to people and instructed them on their use. And deliberately bending the spines of books -- nothing shortens a book's life faster than that. I've noticed that a lot of new books aren't bound that great to begin with, so that is one way to guarantee you'll have great chunks of pages coming out in your hands.

[pitohui]

11. mold and mildew are contagious, this is the one that gets to me

otherwise i'm quite hard on my books and i've never been able to break the habit of dog-earing a page or flipping it over to hold my place...even tho i have soooo many bookmarks

they were made to be read and used, although prob. not so energetically as i read and use them, i'm pretty forgiving of used books w. most of these defects but i won't accept water-damaged/moldy/mildewed books ...

[Broken_Hero]

9. when people eat cheeto's or other foods that will

stain the pages, like chocolate for example.

Also bent page corners, bent/broken spines(usually from people who fold the book constantly), that is about all I can think of.

[vixengrl]

13. Ew--I do not like when I have a used book and find food in it.

Old food cooties...ew, ew, ew. (I admit to being a spine-bender, sometimes, though-)

[Broken_Hero]

14. I had a hunk of chocolate on

one of the pages in Tommyknockers...at first didn't know if it was a "special" chocolate, but it was milk chocolate, had to use a knife to scrap it off....

[YankeyMCC]

10. Saving a place by

leaving the book open and faced down on a hard surface.

[hippywife]

12. I get all my reading material

from the library and it just amazes me how people treat things that aren't their own. :mad:


It doesn't really surprise me though. I see so many people every day who have absolutely no common sense and a greatest lack of consideration. :eyes:

[Orrex]

15. Aaaaagghh! That's the one!

I once loaned a paperback to a friend/coworker who sat opposite me in our four-person cubicle. Within about 30 seconds of receiving it, he opened it and folded the cover completely back upon itself!

I almost threw my chair at him.

[BlueIris]

16. I hate it when people leave books out in the sun.

Hate. It.

[hippywife]

17. The book I'm reading now is a mess!

Dirty black finger prints and some with Cheetos powder.

[BlueIris]

18. Ew. nt

[peacefreak]

19. The worst travesty I saw

was when I worked in a bookstore. A customer bought a travel guide to Europe & ripped out the section she was going to traveling in & handed the rest of the bookcorpse back to me. She didn't want the extra weight. Still makes me cringe.

[BlueIris]

20. Okay, I know I shouldn't laugh, but "bookcorpse." Is awesome.

Why can't I be funny?

[pitohui]

21. well she shouldn't have done that right in front of you

be that as it may, travel being what it is, you DO need to cut out only the sections you need and leave the rest, esp. for europe, where it's really expensive to go, and you need to travel light because sometimes you'll be staying at backpacker type places...


maybe leave the rest at home in your files for a future trip rather than trashing it at the bookstore and hurting the feelings of the booksellers...

[peacefreak]

22. What can I say?

I ~cared~. sigh:cry: I think I'm over it now.