Book pet hates

doctor evil

*mini-rant*

Just got a book back from a mate(gone for so long I forget I owned it!), and the spine is absolutely f*ck*d!. I don`t now what happenned to it but I think the two covers were brought back together which wrecks the spine!, ggrrrrr. Don`t get me started on books used as coasters. :mad:

dudara

My dad owns a garage, and his hands, even when washed and scrubbed, can leave marks. My copy of "The Hunt For Red October" came back and it was black around all the page edges! Plus, he's a spine bender as well, which I hate as it ruins the binding.

Maybe I'm just a bit anal about my books, but lots of them look like they've hardly been opened.

Scarinae

I always gasp audibly when I see people crunching the spines of books, arrghhh... Why do they do it? I also hate when people fold back the corners of pages to mark their place

And I hate the extra covers you get on hardback books, because they always get ripped. I sometimes just take them off when I'm reading the book, and put them back on when I put it down

cecilwinthorpe

the bending of corners of pages annoys me but bending the spine doesnt bother me at all apart from one book which the middle pages fell out of cos the binding was absolutely rubbish in it

lacuna

I do that with hardbacks too. The extra covers are just annoying.

I do like the look of a book that's been read a lot. The old, worn look. Having said that it's not nice to see a book which has its spine ruined from folding back.

grimloch

All valid points but I especially hate bended pages, Jesus H can people not find another piece of paper to hold their place? Extra cover things are stupid, they only serve the purpose of getting in the way.

I dislike the way that an old book has to be dealt with carefully to prevent damaging it, ultimately preventing you from reading it.

StonedParadoX

nope.. i love bending back pages... keeps your page

also the spine bending i do ..

jeez lads dont gimmie any of you books

simu

I hate seeing bits of food stuck between the pages. Tea and coffee stains, I can handle though.

dudara

simu wrote:

I hate seeing bits of food stuck between the pages. Tea and coffee stains, I can handle though.

You should see some of the lab reports I get handed up for correction!

I do fold my pages to mark my spot when I can't find a bookmark. But only a teeny teeny tiny bit

Dagnir Glaurung

I hate it when you put an open book down flat on the edge of your chair from where it invariably falls off, losing my page. Damn me being too lazy to mark the page.

StonedParadoX

lol yep thats soooo annoying

or u get distracted by something and u go back to find where u were and u CANT!! and you panik and faint

oh god poor me :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

Scarinae

You know, there's this wonderflu invention called a bookmark... You don't even have to go out and buy one, you can use a piece of paper or a pen or anything to hold your place... Why ruin the book? Arrrghh

upmayo

My friend puts her cigs in between the pages and then roles them back and forward till the tobacco start to come out. Then lights up cig and changes page leaving smell plus tobacco in previous pages

M

I hate it

Scarinae

Does she just do that purely to piss you off?

Earthhorse

My new policy on this, which I have yet to fully implement, is to buy someone a copy of the book rather than lend them my own.

Seriously, the little money it costs is worth the peace of mind.

Pinx

Earthhorse wrote:

My new policy on this, which I have yet to fully implement, is to buy someone a copy of the book rather than lend them my own.

Seriously, the little money it costs is worth the peace of mind.

That's such a good idea!! I once lent a book (in immaculate condition!) to a friend who was going on hols and when she gave it back it had pages bent back and greasy suncream stains!

Scarinae

Oh god, suncream stains... they are so disgusting! My Dad lent a book to a friend once and got it back with a squashed spider between two of the pages, he wasn't impressed (the pages still have a weird rust-coloured stain where thespider was)

grimsbymatt

doctor evil wrote:

Book Pet Hates

My dog has taken quite a dislikening to my copy of The Lord of the Flies.

(Ba-boom)

eclectichoney

i have *serious* problems with people bending the spines on books, i just can't take it.

doonothing

is it not ever so slightly nice to see books looking used? it adds to their appeal..

that said, all my books look new

grimloch

I nearly slapped this fellow on the bus today, he got on and took his book out of his briefcase. Out of curiosity I glanced over,as you do, his pages were marked by the infamous "dog ears" then he bends the book around to such an extent that the front cover was bent all the way to the back. I nearly fainted.

doctor evil

grimsbymatt wrote:

My dog has taken quite a dislikening to my copy of The Lord of the Flies.

(Ba-boom)

So did my guinepigs(when they were alive ) so much so that they were determined to try to digest an entire book (I foiled their evil plan )

Grimloch,breath and box yer mans ears!

Branoic

I have to say I am a complete and utter book nazi. I cringe and shudder every time I'm on the bus and see people handling books with anything less than the utmost respect. I really really hate when people use dog-ears to mark their places. GET A BOOKMARK!!!! Hell, a goddamn receipt will do.

By far the worst though is when I see someone holding the book in one hand so that its bent right over on itself, completely f*cking the spine. My feelings change then from frustrated anger to positively murderous.

Plastic Scouser

I'm afraid I'm of the 'books should look loved' camp! I have no problem bending the corners of the pages of my books instead of using a bookmark and I don't mind if they get roughed up a bit!

Having said that though I try not to mess up other people's books when they lend them to me....and what I REALLY hate is when people write in books 'cause when you come to read them all you can focus on is what they've written!

scorpy

I hate folded pages and cracked spines(my first copy of the hobbit had been so badly cracked whole chapters just fall out of it now! >_<), but what I really hate is when people don't take care of my book when I lend them out. I gave a friend of mine a loan of harry potter and the goblet of fire and when it came back it was covered in greasy stains... eww... another time I gave one of my most prized books to somebody and it came back with a big shredded patch in the middle! it went right through like five pages, I was disgusted.

also I hate dust-covers. I have to take them off before I start reading a hardback(for this reason I hate hardbacks...) or I end up fiddling with them; they're so distracting.

grimloch

Branoic wrote:

By far the worst though is when I see someone holding the book in one hand so that its bent right over on itself, completely f*cking the spine. My feelings change then from frustrated anger to positively murderous.

That's what I was talking about earlier on, really annoys me. The baffling desecration of these fine things and the abuse they suffer at the hands of some. Really makes you think twice about lending a book or two.

*Angel*

I HATE folded pages. I also like to keep my books as clean as possible, I hate seeing a messy book.

edibility

I quite like when books look used tbh, but not overly. A few bent corners, or a slightly bent spine are fine like. I do hate it when people just disrespect them though.

Scarinae

scorpy wrote:

(my first copy of the hobbit had been so badly cracked whole chapters just fall out of it now! >_<)

Same with mine! Weird! That whole part from the elves's song in Rivendell to the part just before Bilbo meets Gollum is detached from my copy

theCzar

cecilwinthorpe wrote:

the bending of corners of pages annoys me but bending the spine doesnt bother me at all apart from one book which the middle pages fell out of cos the binding was absolutely rubbish in it

same here, I leave my book face down all the time, and you can't read it properly if it's not spread good and wide!

But I do hate when i lend a book to someone and they bend down the pages as a place mark. To do it to somebody elses books is abhorrent.

theCzar

I hate hard back books.

if you offer me paperback or hardback at the same price, then it's paperback all the way. Hardback books are too big and too heavy. can't read them on the move, or with one hand, and when your finished it takes up loads of space.

grimloch

theCzar wrote:

I hate hard back books.

if you offer me paperback or hardback at the same price, then it's paperback all the way. Hardback books are too big and too heavy. can't read them on the move, or with one hand, and when your finished it takes up loads of space.

I used to be that way but I'm after buying my third set of LOTR and am thinking that a hardcover edition is on the cards next time round.

theCzar

grimloch wrote:

I used to be that way but I'm after buying my third set of LOTR and am thinking that a hardcover edition is on the cards next time round.

lol, but paperback is ~1/3 the price of hardback so your only now breaking even. if you read LOTR that much that your on your third set, you'd probably be on your second hardback edition anyway.

grimloch

theCzar wrote:

lol, but paperback is ~1/3 the price of hardback so your only now breaking even. if you read LOTR that much that your on your third set, you'd probably be on your second hardback edition anyway.

That may be true. Paperback were 32 and hardback was 81, so I opted for paper. I'm going to make a much more conscious effort to look after this set now and not lose or abuse it.

Ah well. 30 or 40 euros every few years isn't too bad.

theCzar

I'm curious as to how many times you've read LOTR? I have a paperback edition, i've read it thrice, my sister's read it once, it's still in very good nick (though the pages are pretty grubby!)

Branoic

I have to say that I actually really like hardback books. I don't buy them that often or anything - say if one of my favourite authors gets a new book published, I'll get the hardback.

And twice I've bought newly released hardback editions of old books that I already have in paperback.

I like the weight and the size, and the dustcover's rarely present me with any problems, althrough the botton edges of them do tend to get minutely bent or torn.

Beebox

If I buy a book it has to stay looking the way it was when I bought it. No bent spine, folded pages, writing inside etc. But I do love buying secondhand books and finding a note written in the side or an inscription with the date.

grimloch

theCzar wrote:

I'm curious as to how many times you've read LOTR? I have a paperback edition, i've read it thrice, my sister's read it once, it's still in very good nick (though the pages are pretty grubby!)

Many, many times at this stage. Plus if I'm thinking about something even vaguely related to the book I'd run up and use it as a reference.

It tends to get wrecked to bits if I'm off on holidays and it gets shoved into my bag in a haphazard fashion.

Scarinae

Beebox wrote:

I do love buying secondhand books and finding a note written in the side or an inscription with the date.

I love that too! We have this really old edition of the Bible, a massive one that looks like it belongs in a church, it's full of engraved pictures and is absolutely beautiful; anyway, I was flicking through it, and sandwiched between the old and the new testament I found a load of family records! This particular copy was a wedding present to a couple in 1812, and it had the details (full name, birth weight, birth time) of the birth of each of their eight children! I think that's the most interesting thing I've found in an old book

Tar.Aldarion

grimloch wrote:

Many, many times at this stage. Plus if I'm thinking about something even vaguely related to the book I'd run up and use it as a reference.

It tends to get wrecked to bits if I'm off on holidays and it gets shoved into my bag in a haphazard fashion.

i think i should get a new set too....just because i prefer hard back
the tolkiens works shelf needs to be enlarged

cuckoo

I'm a bit of a book abuser by some of you guys' standards - i never bend back page corners, but spines get crinkled, there'll be coffee stains and the occasional ruffled corner. But, i buy books to read them, cart them around crammed into bags and then re-read them.

But, any book lent to me receives absolute TLC, and is given back in the same condition i received it in, but that's something i consider a basic respect for other people's property.

bounty_hunter

doctor evil wrote:

Just got a book back from a mate(gone for so long I forget I owned it!), and the spine is absolutely f*ck*d!. I don`t now what happenned to it but I think the two covers were brought back together which wrecks the spine!, ggrrrrr.

I'm so relieved this pisses you off, I thought I was just an evil-tempered bitch Nearly tore my brothers head off last night just for severely creasing the spine of a book i lent him.