Bookish Pet Peeves

       Reading makes me happy, but sometimes the publishing company doesn’t take my personal taste into account and does something dumb when designing the book. I am aware some things that bother me, other people love. Just because I don’t like an aspect of a book doesn’t mean I don’t like a person who does like it. We all have our own opinions. If everyone thought the same way this world would be very boring. 

1.    Mass Marketed Paperbacks

     Mass marketed paperbacks give me horrible wrist aches and eye aches every time I try to read one. I run a risk turning the page as it will snap itself shut the moment I remove my other hand and not only will I have to search for my place, but I’ll have to pry the book opened again. 

2.    First Person-Present Tense

     The natural tense to tell a story is in the past tense as most narrations are about something that has already come to past. However, I have read many a YA dystopias in my day, and I must admit the majority of them were in first person-present tense. The two biggest offenders that come to mind are Red Queen and Matched series that I was obsessed with. However, I realized just how jarring present tense narration is. It doesn’t feel organic to the narrator and often I’ve noticed most people who write in first person-present are trying to give the book a sense of urgency, but this is simply not how it works. 

3.    Shiny Paper

      When I was in middle school, one of my favorite series was The American Girl Historical Fiction Adventures. I could read those books in an hour as they weren’t long. Although many of my friends thought they could’ve had a little more meat to them, the length wasn’t what bothered me about them. The paper used in those books were very shiny so if you wanted to read outside, which I do frequently during the summer, you might want to wear some shades. I just feel books shouldn’t be printed on solar panels.