There are dozens of pet peeves that get on book readers’ nerves. Like Amazon shipping you every single book in its own separate box when order loads of them or when the bottom parts of 2 pages are still connected. Then there are the big no-no’s that will make any book lover mad. Like people burning books or tearing off the pages of the books that they’re reading. One. [Rip.] By. [Tear.] One. [Rip.]
We know that you enjoy books, dear readers, so we here at Bored Panda have collected a list of pictures that will infuriate any book lover and literature enthusiast. Scroll down, upvote your fave pics, and let us know in the comments what other book-related things get your blood boiling.
Bored Panda reached out to The Willoughby Book Club, the UK's leading personalized book subscription service, and spoke with Director Marianne Chala about the pet peeves that book-lovers have and the things that infuriate them the most. “Our staff are comprised of book obsessives, booksellers, and library assistants—I was a bookseller myself for 20 years before joining The Willoughby Book Club, so we have seen a lot of abominations towards books in our careers!” she said. Scroll down for our full interview with Marianne, as well as our chat with the founders of the Book Box Club.
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The Only Book In The Store That's Wrapped In Plastic Is This One
That’s a big f**k you to the author. Not cool. EDIT: the author would not be happy about the ironic packaging.
This is like when I, seriously, worked for one day for The Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), the 'clipboard people', the young liberal idealists who go around 'raising money for the environment.' Their little leader was driving us to our first round of door knocking. We're getting in the car, and I ask: 'Is this car electric or run on alternative fuels?' Little leader: 'Oh no. We didn't take the time to set up anything like that.' At this time and place electric cars did exist for sale or short term leasing. So yeah PIRG, it's so critical that everyone else goes green and gives PIRG their money to promote that, but PIRG itself getting greener? 'Well, you know, that's a lot of trouble and all...'
No God, Nooooo. God, Please No
Given that Dewey was such a noted sexual harrasser BY EARLY 20TH CENTURY STANDARDS, the American Library Association banned him, he can spin like a top for all I care.
Load More Replies...EVERYONE knows books are sorted by colour (wavelength) first, THEN height, THEN thickness. Amateurs.
Then, afterwards, reverse alphabetical by the last letter of the author's middle name
Load More Replies...This does not infuriate me, these books have clearly been treated with attention and respect by the cleaners.
My thought, takes dedication and respect to put them in size order,.
Load More Replies...Can you hear the screaming all the way from here? (Former librarian speaking)
The library had obviously never done a deep clean before, and had hired a new person who didn't know anything about the Dewey Decimal system or libraries in general. They must have thought they were doing a good thing by making the shelves look "neat" as well as cleaning them. You can't really blame this person; blame the person who hired them. That person should have given them the instructions not to change the order of the books in any way.
Now, you just need to change the computer system, to add the size of the books, and you can find it again.... It's in the white aisle, 18,66 cm tall ...
Ordered 27 Books From Amazon On A Single Order. Got 27 Boxes With 1 Book Each Delivered
That is enough cardboard to build an adult sized fort. Growing old is mandatory but growing up is not
Load More Replies...My son would have a field day with those boxes, he is always creating things with any boxes he can find. His latest creation was a car with paper plate wheels.
good for him, don't let it die out. let's wish that person who got the boxes has a son like yours.
Load More Replies...Used to get this at work. Some sheds were customer order only but the supplier would only ship them 4 at a time to us so we always had 3 more than we needed. So when we placed 4 customer orders we thought, great they will all be gone. Wrong! we actually ended up with16 sheds!
I have cats, can I have those boxes once the books have been liberated?
Marianne said that some of the pet peeves that she and The Willoughby Book Club have include artsy houses where people arrange their books with the spines facing inwards. “This is a crime against literature,” she told us.
Cracked spines also anger Marianne and her staff, especially when it’s done on purpose and in front of patient, long-suffering book lovers. The book club also hates film tie-in covers (“We’re all snobs, and loathe these!” Marianne exclaimed), as well as books bought just for show without any intention of reading them.“
Bored Panda also spoke to Marianne about the worst things that she’s ever seen somebody do to books. Among these was a beloved book lent to a family member that was mauled by a dog, a burst pipe that destroyed a whole collection of books and ‘might have’ made Marianne cry, and a large hardback that was sawn in half with a breadknife because it was “too big to read in bed.”
This Price Sticker That Ruined The Cover Of This 1908 Book
Thats an easy fix. Glue it back down to begin with. When it is dry use a lighter to provide some heat directly to the label until it starts to turn black, then peel it off. It might leave a bit of sticky residue behind but a little white spirit will soon remove that.
Watch me set the book on fire accidentally! Aaaaaugh!!
Load More Replies...That's damn Savers. They have idiots there that put the stickers on. They ruin more than just books.
QUICK!!! Get a bottle of TALTINE at your local art supply store. It dissolves the glue on most stickers and eventually evaporates, leaving the original surface intact. Apply sparingly and wait 7 minutes. Peel. very satisfying.
I've seen books at yard sales that would have been more valuable if the price wasn't written across the cover with a magic marker.
I've received first edition SciFi hardback books with this kind of sticker
Instead Of Putting In A Bookshelf, This Coffee Shop Cut The Spines Of The Books And Glued Them To A Shelf
Now I'm angry about the books AND those terrible fake pockets!
Load More Replies...Imagine being a book collector and spying a 1st edition of a rare book on those shelves...
Load More Replies...Books are not meant to be glued to the wall or be decor. Use plants or something else.
I detest the DIY crafts that suggest gutting a book to make a cute, secret hiding place!
Load More Replies...And it's not even a few books, that looks like about a 100 noooooooooooooo
This Is The Last Page Of A Book In My School's Library. This Isn't The Only Time It Happened Either
while i love that humor, that person deserves to be in one of King's novel
Load More Replies...NononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononoNO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!YOU CAN’T DO THAT!!!!!
In the 1967 British comedy "Bedazzled," Peter Cook as the devil tears out the last page in boxes full of Agatha Christie mystery novels!
In my school we had the same sheets only they were pink, and they were glued only on their top part on the page. The rest was in the air and you could flip it over to see the inside cover, or in this case the end of the story.
That would suck big time. I already can’t deal with open ended endings, let alone a book with the last page ruined.
Classic. Somebody said "just glue the paper on the last page" and the employee did it to every book the exact same way, without carrying.
“From working in bookshops, I have had books returned for a refund that have been dropped in the pool on holiday and are crunchy with sand… or when 50 Shades of Grey was the thing, we’d get copies returned with the spine cracked on the saucy bits. I have seen sandwiches, burgers and on one memorable day, a whole burrito tucked into the shelves with the books… and a large coffee upended on the Christmas display tables of bestsellers— ugh, it’s giving me hives to have to re-live it,” Marianne told us about all the horrible things she’s seen done to books. Poor books. They deserve better.
Marianne went into detail about book borrowing etiquette and how long it’s polite to hold onto them. “I’m cringing a little at this because I am a notorious book magpie and have ‘accumulated’ quite a few books that were lent to me in good faith. This is Not Okay and was the most frowned upon behavior from the Willoughby team,” she said.
Looking Through An Old Cookery Book I Just Found And There's A Squashed Frog As A Bookmark
I would scream and drop the book, most likely yell "get it off me" even though it wouldn't be touching me by then, and run and take a 45-minute shower to "get it off".
Frog looks like a found object, so not sure what's sad here. Not realy different from using a leaf... I have a similarly flat adder I found (not in a book; usually on the toilet seat when a new visitor is coming).
That was called in oh...which recipe is that? Something...eye of newt, and toe of frog, wool of bat, and tongue of dog...something, something. Mother never could get the proportions right.
This Hardcopy Ela Book Is Complete With Useless Hyperlinks And And Unwatchable Videos. Go American Education System
Unfortunately, in order to shoot anything into the sun, you need a Δv (pronounced "delta vee" and it's the total change in velocity required for a space mission) of 31.7 km/s, because Earth is travelling at 29.72 km/s around the sun and you have to slow down from that phenomenal speed in order to be sucked in by the Sun's gravity on top from crawling from Earth's gravity well to get to orbit... Of course, you could also use the gravity wells of other planets as slingshots to help you get that tremendous Δv change for less initial thrust, and that's the way it was actually done with actual NASA missions to the sun, but it's much easier to just launch towards deep space, because you can add speed on top of earth's speed and the minimum amount you need in order to escape Earth's orbit is a Δv 18 km/s.
Load More Replies...Well, you know, the people responsible for books like that COME FROM said education system. From a certain point onwards its a downward spiral.
I know this all too well from my high school textbooks, (oh and did I mention they're also 20 years out of date?)
What?! People were already doing this 20 years ago?!
Load More Replies...Also someone should really edit the yearbooks. Mine was literally made by students and it was full of missing quotation marks, commas, and periods. There were several sentences that sounded super childish but could have been better if they were reworded. AND SPELLING MISTAKES IN THE SIMPLIST WORDS. I go to a middle school and this book hurts my heart.
This is just reaching. This is a book with the text and questions for these videos, that you can watch on your pc. Nobody expects you to watch the videos in the actual book, or click the link. How else are you supposed to do this? Is this written by a 12 year old that doesn’t understand books on real paper?
Oh really. I don't see the web address for the video typed out in the book. And to answer your question, some adults aren't even as smart as a 12 yr old. And seeing as how today people value profit over quality products, I expect there really are books this stupid because they know soneone will buy them (WHO?!). Textbook prices are marked up way higher than normal book prices, for profit.
Load More Replies...I can't stand any books not being used properly. They are not made to tear out pages, burned, play little games or anything but to be read, hopefully to be loved and shared. My parents never bought us books while growing up. However, we went to the library a lot of Friday night's. I loved it there. One Friday i found this very thick book titled " Little Women". I fell so in love with it. I would return it but the next time I would get it again. I remember once I thought I have checked this book out so many times I bet they will give it to me. That never happened of course, but many years later when I was in college during my junior year we had to buy several books and I'm happy to say that I finally got my own copy.
Got Bumped To First Class (Super Sweet) Only To Witness This Lady Tearing Off The Pages Of The Book She's Reading
This book will self destruct when read by that lady
Load More Replies...this may get me some downvotes (I certainly don't approve of her methods) but my mom did read a book once that told you to self-destruct it. "Imagica" I think it was called. Maybe this is a similar situation? (P.S. my mom ended getting a new copy because she felt horrible about it)
The Clive Barker book? Though I think that was spelled "Imajica" (and is now sold as two separate volumes).
Load More Replies...*Ultimate cringe* I COULD HAVE READ THAT!!! *cries* I love you book! R.I.P
What sort of other worldly mental illness are all these people suffering from????
“We’ve all fallen victim to it (but I’m the only one owning up to doing it myself!). It also raises the issue of hurt in the poor lender. As Alisha says, the lender can feel very let down that the book they love is not being cherished to the correct degree… ‘It’s like seeing a friend mistreated.’ None of us set deadlines, that’s just not how it goes, but I think if you don’t see it back in a few months, you can wave goodbye to it forever.”
Marianne added: “Despite the risk of books not being returned, we all love books and will take that risk to pass the love on. It’s so great when someone loves a book you’ve recommended, and we’re really lucky to be able to do that for a job!”
Burned Down The "Take A Book, Leave A Book"
What an a*****e thing to do. Geez some people have zero respect.
I've been to a couple Little Free Libraries that had been vandalized. There is a special place in Hell for people who do things like this.
Hey, what a coincidence. I just posted a "special place in Hell" comment about the book murderer. (A lot of book lovers here who think alike.)
Load More Replies...Rotten kids, neighborhood hoodlums thinking it was fun and funny.
Load More Replies...Just because you don't want to read doesn't mean you should destroy it for everyone.
Ugh, this is heart-breaking. There needs to be a special circle in hell reserved for a******s like this.
There's like a 100% chance this was doone by a bunch of teenage boys.
This Hotel Doesn't Allow You To Use Books For Their Intended Purpose
Books should not be decor. They’re meant to be passports to other worlds.
“Books are a portal to other worlds, an object that can take you to a place where magic is real or where people fight for the throne. It can project you onto a spaceship or far below the water. It puts you in the lives of those that are being written about, and if you spend your life reading, you have only scratched the surface” - Me
Load More Replies...i always feel like i won the lottery when i can read the book displays in coffee shops and hotels,
Why bother having a bookshelf if you don't want people to read the books?
They probably did this because too many of the books were walking away. Sad, but understandable.
Makes some sense, but why did they leave them? Does a sign really prevent theft if someone is so inclined?
Load More Replies...This sign should be with #9. The Coffee Shop that cut them on the spines with nothing to show for on the inside. I was going to say this isn't as bad as #9, but now this is just making me think of a museum, where you can't touch anything. A book I feel is a piece of art that should always be touched and read. While items in a museum should only be admired from afar. Such a tease this sign is. They should put up wallpaper that depicts a full bookshelf instead.
Tragic for sure. I wasn't aware until this pandemic shutdown that it's fairly common to use books as decor. WTF. Maybe it's the Instagram culture of obsession with image, putting on a show.
Load More Replies...Imagine my disappointed when I found a business lounge full of books at a Marriott - literary classics, art books - only to discover that they were in fact different covers.for the same uninspiring promotional book about the Marriott hotels. ,
I Don't Think I Should Read This Deign Chapter In My Book
No good designer would design a double-page spread where a crucial part of the image is in the "gutter" of the book.
Load More Replies...Sort of like that sign that reads, "Plan ahead" with the "d" squeezed in on the end. Not well planned.
The Willoughby Book Club offers personalized book subscriptions: they’ll provide you with a bespoke selection of books they think you’ll love and all you have to do is answer a few questions about your reading tastes and genre.
“Subscriptions are available for 3, 6, or 12 months in a variety of genres from Contemporary Fiction to Wellness and each month, one title arrives beautifully gift wrapped to your door,” Marianne explained what services the book club provides. “This makes the perfect gift for voracious readers, difficult to buy for relatives, and children building a lifelong relationship with reading alike. We also make the perfect gift for lockdown: let us take the stress out of choosing reading matter for yourself or your gift recipient, and as each subscription is selected with the reader in mind, no two subscriptions are ever the same.”
The Willoughby Book Club also donates a book to Book Aid International for every subscription purchased. They do this to “work toward their vision of a world where everybody has access to books that educate, inspire, and change lives.”
This Store Sells Books Wrapped In Packaging So Readers Can Pick A Book From Just A Sentence. Somebody Opened All Of Them
Only one shelf of the store sells books like these. People usually get these as gifts or when they want to explore new books without judging them by their cover. There are other books in the store so I don't know why the person felt that it was okay to do this.
The same person opens other people’s birthday presents.
Now THIS is an interesting and novel idea!!! I probably would have bought 90% of these books, just to be happy for doing so. A book can be a gift, to someone else, or to oneself.
The culprit is probably a bored child left to do whatever without adequate supervision.
Google that sentence and you could probably find out what the book is without opening those up.
Why would anyone do this! Order them online, or find the others in store.
Book Murderer
Who does this?! I carried around and read a 5 lb. paperback book and never did I feel the need to cut it in half.
Send them your thoughts and prayers. I'm sure that would cheer the books up.
Load More Replies...Excuse the rage. WHAT KIND OF F*****G MONSTER ATE YOU?!!!
the sickest type.. and yes, i wish a monster "Ate" him instead.
Load More Replies...Three Books In The Same Series Produced By The Same Company
I shoot book covers, I think this might have happened because the first two are consumer size and the last one is Library size. They need to add more info on the cover for filing the books so the cover has to be taller. I hate it too. It totally messes up the cover design.
If you go carrying books about Chairman Mao you ain't gonna make it with anyone anyhow
Actually that is because one of the volumes is from a different print than the first two. When you buy the box set they are all the same size. Someone mux and matched from different sets. Read Dikotter btw, brilliant scholar who had access to hundreds of thousands of documents before the CCP locked them up and ordered him to destroy his copies (he kept the digitial and was banned from China for that). Amazingly well researched book on Mao.
I know that sometimes a paperback book will have a trade print which is smaller than the hardback, but then a smaller paperback maybe later or at the same time. Maybe the last volume is trade? As a bookseller I know I've seen these 3 volumes in the same size and it's much more satisfying to look at!
I have this set, and they're all the same size for me! Weird, must have been a larger set printed at one point and they got mixed up.
Bored Panda also spoke with Kate Morris-Double who founded the Book Box Club together with Libby Harris. “We're both a bit laid back when it comes to books,” Kate told us. “Of course, we love beautiful books and we've got lovely editions and signed copies of things that we like to keep pristine, but generally if someone is enjoying a book (even if that means folding down the pages, eating their lunch and crumbling over it!) we don't like to criticize! The worst thing someone could do to a book in my opinion is buy it, put it on the shelf and never read it!”
Neither Kate nor Libby are worried about people who borrow books keeping them for a long time. “If I've lent someone a book it's because I want them to read it, and I know that everyone is busy and that might take time. I wouldn't loan a book that I was worried about getting back,” Kate said.
The Book Box Club is a subscription box and online book group for fans of young adult fiction. “Every month, we send our members a brand new, beautifully wrapped YA book and an invitation to an online book group, where they can meet (virtually) the author of our featured read, ask their questions and chat to our other members,” Kate explained. “We choose books of all different genres, the only criteria is that they have to be completely brilliant! Books are often signed or accompanied by signed bookplates and we have an option that also includes lots of themed exclusive goodies made by small businesses (Book Box Club) and an option for just the book and book group membership (Purely Books).”
Folding A Page In A Library Book When It Has A Built-In Bookmark
A dog-eared book, is a well-read book. Maybe I'm a monster, but I don't mind this, and sometimes do it.
Agreed, I am an avid reader, and I dog ear my pages all the time (only books I own). I find it amusing how it seems to horrify others.
Load More Replies...I have always hated anyone folding the corner of a book, until I had an autistic daughter who will pull out any kind of bookmark. Now this is the only option!
Folding a page is wrong even when there isn't a ribbon. There's enough junk mail in the world to easily grab a slip of paper or a bit of ribbon for a quick bookmark!
Maybe they did not see it or know what it was for? Not all are observant even to the obvious!
About Finishing The Book Only To Discover That 10 Pages Are Missing
Movie Logic: that section contains a secret big enough to change the world as we know it, the cure and origin for C-19
I bought a book where after a certain page, the page numbers started over and repeated, so I never got to finish it🤦♀️
Or it's an Italo Calvino book, so the missing pages are deliberate. :)
Polish Catholic Priest And Kids Burning Stuff Such As Harry Potter Books, Lord Of The Rings, Buddhist Figurines
As a christian myself I cant imagine what is wrong with the Lord of the Rings. It is about love, bravery, friendship, courage etc.
My very catholic mother is the one who inspired my love of books. LOTR was her favorite, she read the entire series every winter. Also loved Anne McCaffrey. She loved Harry Potter. I have not been Catholic (or even Christian) since reaching adulthood for many reasons, but I was always encouraged to read anything and everything!
Load More Replies..."Wherever they burn books, in the end will also burn human beings." - Heinrich Heine
You couldn't have chosen a more true quote. These extremist groups are the same ones that spew hate against any human being that they consider "deviant." I'm sure the people in the photograph above are the same ones holding up hate signs and symbols.
Load More Replies...So basically destroy anything you don't understand. Got it. Good luck surviving in the real world, kids!
I wonder if they do that with other books too. Like Advanced Algebra or something.
Load More Replies...They could have just donated it or something. That is just wasteful.
What and doom the rest of us to magical practices and hell? They've got to save us from such depravity. And now if you'll excuse me, I need to go finish a Harry Potter fanfiction I'm writing, just to spite these guys. :P
Load More Replies...As it turns out, there are lots and lots of things that get on people’s nerves if they’re big fans of books. Like “borrowers” who fold up or even rip your books. Not to mention folks who borrow a book and hold on to it for months or even years without finishing it (most of us are guilty of having done this at least once in our lives, so let’s cut each other some slack).
Some literature fans are also merciless when they see somebody folding the book to make it easier to hold while reading. While books should be shown the proper respect that they deserve, we should also ask ourselves if the point of a book is to look pretty or to show that it’s been read. Time and time again. Passionately. Enthusiastically. In our opinion, a bit of wear and tear gives a book character. (You should see our Harry Potter sets!) Not too much wear, though. There’s always a limit!
Books That Have This Much Paper Before Chapter 1 Even Starts
I don't recall Wuthering Heights having either - except for later add ons by modern day publishers. When I pick up a classic, it is because I want to read the classic - not a discourse on literature or the author. So in my book, this is a waste of paper.
Load More Replies...Without knowing the details it could simply be a prologue and someone just wants some attention or it is annoying stuff like story of the author and acknowledgments.
This is Wuthering Heights. No prolog. Though it might be a lengthy forward.
Load More Replies...That's the academic edition of Wuthering Heights - so if you're studying it, it outlines the key themes etc. Otherwise that's what a contents page is for! Or, you know, just buy a regular copy.
If a quarter of the book is the prologue or forward, I'm not going to read it.
I NEVER read forewords and not even introductions when they are this long. I want to get to the book.
This copy has a long preface. https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/charlotte-bronts-1850-preface-to-wuthering-heights
Dammit USPS. Go Ahead And Stuff A Hardcover Book In My Mailbox
File a damage claim and buy a new one. Generally USPS will tell you to donate the damaged one when they pay your claim. SOURCE: USPS claims supervisor
Who has time to read anymore? And those who do may read those words as a challenge. The warping of the human mind is a mystery.
Load More Replies...I cannot stand it when USPS just jams things into my mailbox. Often times they are used books, sometimes autographed or sketched in...and they just bend and mangle so that they don't have to walk up to the door.
At least this can be corrected a little by flattening it for a period of time, but definitely report it. Surely, the book fighting back should have been a sign not to bend it.
The Downside To Checking Out Books From The Public Library
You would not believe the things I have found on/in books over the years.
Another thing that annoys us is when the publisher decides to completely change the book format for sequels in a series. There you were, putting those books nicely on your shelf and out comes the long-awaited sequel. But there’s something wrong: it’s way bigger/smaller than the other books. And the cover art! Ugh! They completely changed the art style. It’s not like you’re not gonna read the sequel, right? (It’s still a book after all.) But the fact that the set isn’t uniform anymore is going to be like a thorn in your mind for a long, long time.
Dust jackets also really infuriate us. They’re supposed to protect hardcover books from dust, damage, and sunlight, but what they really do is annoy the heck out of us! They get in the way, they rip easily, and they end up cluttering our homes when we take them off to read without distractions. When you look at all the things that we book lovers get mad about, it’s surprising we manage to get any reading done at all!
The Perfect Book For A Price Sticker That Won't Come Off
Use a wet kitchen sponge. This book wouldn't get damaged and the sticker comes off within seconds.
Taltine, everybody. Book stores usually keep a bottle next to the cash register.
Use a damp microfibre cloth. Simply keep rubbing it, no pressure needed. It will come right off. There's a reason they are called magic cloths.
Use eucalyptus or tea tree oil. Bookstores use it to remove or replace old and stubborn stickers
A Qtip dipped in 100 isopropyl alcohol works well and wintbtakebiff the coloring of the book.
This Harry Potter Box Set Doesn't Fit All Of The Books If Any Of Them Have Actually Been Read Or Taken Out
I have a similar HP set with hard back, and if you take out one, it can barely fit afrerwards
Load More Replies...Yep, got the LOTR trilogy that has the same problem, as soon as you take one book out you have no chance of getting it back in again.
That's why my LOTR paperbacks are tattered in pieces. Bloody box!
Load More Replies...Somewhere a boxed set designer is screaming....you see, bookworms readily know which spells can be used for effective hexing.
This happens with a lot of boxed sets, I usually just put them all on the shelf together.
You saying the books are magically growing once read, so you cannot be sold a used set as new? I'd say, impressive and very appropriate!
I have the same problem with The Selection series books! They won't fit back in the box!
What A Kid At My School Did To A Library Book
Am admittedly old fashioned, but think teachers should collect phones at the beginning of school and give them back afterwards. Hard enough to get kids to pay attention without that distraction added.
ugh i HATE when they do that. and besides, they probably had to read a book to figure out how to cut a hole in a book and hide their phone in there.
That's thing, huh? I used to tuck a paperback into my spelling book. But, I didn't cut it up!
This Bookshelf Containing Books Placed With Their Spines Facing The Wall. Why?
This looks like an installation with a Message about censorship. See the artwork on the walls.
Erotic literature or ya adult novels like twilight. I’d display the erotic literature though, being in charge of your pleasure and owning it are not ammunition for others to shame you.
Shoot the interior decorator against that wall. Needs some spots of colour.
Artsy-fartsy? And arranging books by the color of the spines, same thing.
Every Book Was Blocked Like This
So irritating. If I can't read the summary then I won't be able to buy the book, Karen - I mean, Bookstore!
Fun fact: this sticker is from the german book merchant "Umbreit". The book was ordered for a person with the surname "Petersen". Guess they did not want it, so it was put back on the shelf without removing the sticker (which is quite easy without residue, because those are made that way).
This article is slowly tearing my heart in half. As a book lover/nerd, I am DEEPY depressed.
Occasionally A Book Will Arrive Damaged - Never Had One That Looks Like It Was Run Over
Got one like that. Use to get books from The Military Book Club. Then two months in a row got letters saying I was late paying for books. Problem was the books came after the late charge, and the second letter came like four days before the book, and the box looked like it had Bee run over. I called and said to remove me from their club.
I had an Amazon delivery person leave a book in a box in front of a downspout in the middle of a rainstorm....
I always wondered what happened to the orders when a FedEx plane crashed.
Have you ever seen Cast Away? I saw it in middle school, I think, and the guy was stranded on an island after an unfortunate crash while working on a fed ex plan. Watch it and see what he did with one of the boxes he saved from the crash.
Load More Replies...I sold books years ago online and had one returned from France as undeliverable to the address I shipped it to. There was a bicycle tire track over the book An actual bicycle tire track on the cover and a very ripped up box. I informed the buyer of this and he said it happened all the time over here.
Apparently that book must be delivered by ppl described in the title
It's A Library Book. Don't Be That Person
If those notes are from the famous writer Anthony Burgess, then they'd actually add to the value!
Actually, in my country, a lot of library books get to the library secondhand.
I was hoping that this was the case here
Load More Replies...I must plead guilty to this crime - at least two counts, and worse, one when I knew better.
I have a horrible tendency to proofread the books I read, but would never write in another person's book. I just note them and make sure I don't make the same errors in my own writing.
I worked as a proof reader and it's a very difficult habit to get out of when reading for pleasure but it's easy to not mark up the books - just don't read them with a pen or pencil to hand!
Load More Replies...Edited and annotated by Anthony Burgess? Yeah, I'd buy that and keep it in that condition.
This Bookshelf
I think this happens when one is referring to many books at a given time. In the writing phase of my thesis, my bookshelf ws this way. You can lose the argument in a momenta nd Stacking them right was the last thing on my mind.
Working on my thesis now. My research collection has outgrown my bookshelves so I have shelves like this and books stacked EVERYWHERE. No flat surface is safe!
Load More Replies...Hopefully this pic was taken mid-organizing. Though I do see another pet peeve, stacks in front of stacks so you have no idea what books are behind the front row. These are some deep shelves!
I have a wall of bookshelves that stack 2 deep - it's the only way to store all my books! I do know mostly what is where, as each shelf has a genre / theme (or author, in the case of Terry Pratchett!). If you have a way of making my walls longer or ceilings higher, I'll happily opt for shallower shelves!
Load More Replies...Must be either a short person putting books up or two different people putting books up.
Well, the shelving system is obviously not made for books so it doesn't really look like a permanent solution.
I work in a second-hand shop ... and have turned very many shelves like the upper, one into the lower ones. That was very satisfying.
Opened The Wrapping On A Fancy New Book With A Pen. I Hate Myself
oh it's bad when you do this by mistake! i leant a book to a classmate in high school, and she drew a pattern on the side of my pristine book in pen. I was so so angry at her! she offered to replace it, but you couldn't get the same edition any more. I'm still not over it and it was like 16 years ago
With front and back covers opened away from the text block try 000 grade sandpaper, very gently.
Use acetone and a q-tip. I've never tried this trick, but apparently, it works.
Try a Q-tip with isopropyl alcohol, it will remove the ink without wrinkling the pages. Or at least make it less obvious.
When You Borrow A Library Book And Someone Else Has Annotated All Over It In Pen
I can see some idiot doing this and thinking they are helping future readers with their brilliant notes. ( ¬_¬)
This may be part of someone's course material that has then been donated to a library.
I think that those kind of booms are interesting, so I get a lot of books at the thrift store. I don’t do it to my books though. I don’t have enough interesting thoughts.
this bugs the heck out of me. Even when the book is on my kindle. I don't want to see that 5,430 people highlighted this passage. I like my new books to be pristine.
If I'd get back this book at work I swear, that person NEVER gets another book from us AND they pay the damage. WTF who do these people think they are?!
Lent My Friend This Book In Perfect Condition And Get It Back Like This
Never lend them a book again. I accidentally ruined 2 of my aunties books, one I spilled a 2L drink all over as I was pouring myself a drink and the other got ruined when I moved house and one of my candles melted all over it. You know what I did, bought my aunty brand new ones without her asking coz that is the right thing to do.
Those people lose my trust forever. Avoid the winos and bathers who read at the same time. I love both but my books are innocent, and there’s always an audio book.
I had a friend lend me a copy of Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (didn't care for it). In the middle of reading it, the spine just disintegrated. I have no idea why. Just bad glue, I suppose. I offered to buy her a new one, but she said it was fine. I still feel bad about that.
I have had that happen to books - not borrowed or lent. Sometimes books aren't that well made unfortunately.
Load More Replies...Ah yes. I bought the 4th Harry potter hardcover when it was released, lent it to a friend after I read it. Came back sans dustjacket, front hardcover or first page and the spine was hanging off. I still have it tho! Not the books fault ^-^
I lent my sister several books in one go about 10 years ago and have never seen them again. I didn't make that mistake again.
Load More Replies...Really, Used Book Distributor? Was This Really Necessary?
Also it happens when i collect video games and need to remove any stickers on it
Maybe trying to stop someone else selling it on afterwards? Cos the market for used books is sooo lucrative
I buy my books from used book distributors, but they don't do this! Since I read 3-5 books a week, couldn't afford it otherwise.
Used bookstore in Paso Robles CA does and an even uglier sticker. She defaces her own merchandise. I never went back.
Found In A Dumpster Behind NYC High School. Donating Books Is So Over Rated
It's so difficult to get rid of old textbooks, they get outdated really fast and schools always require specific editions. I tried to relocate my old school books for years but in the end i had to recycle them.
Algebra and geometry haven't changed in several hundred years. This is criminally negligent.
Load More Replies...Donating books is way harder than you would imagine. Unless they are up to date and in perfect condition, none of the donation organizations will take them. The only other way to donate them is to source out recipients yourself and/or pay for postage/transportation yourself. As a librarian, I had a lot of experience with this sad state of affairs.
There were so many books my mom wanted to give to my elementary school because she didn't know what to do with them and to this day I remember the disgusted face the secretary gave my mom when we walked in with them. Told us they wouldn't take it... Library didn't take it either, like wtf? Makes no sense!
Load More Replies...Ship them to poor countries, give them to prisons, or give them to refugees or to refugee camps - wherever they are. Give them away for crafts!!! Don't dump them!
It looks like a donation drive where the person/ org organising it couldnt get hold of anything but these dumpsters and asked people in a neighbourhood to donate what they wanted in these. Doesnt look like one person would throw these many books aat a time.
Those are high school text books. At least in the US those are owned by the school.
Load More Replies...They can keep those algebra and geometry books, hahahah! In all seriousness, when I volunteered at local thrift stores over the years, and in different states here in the USA, one thing I noticed was that NO ONE wanted school textbooks. They just did not sell, ever... I was in the person who took care of the book department at the thrift stores, since I loved books so much.... but really, the textbooks NEVER sold....
Paperback Books
Check ventilation and sprinkler systems. The air humidity is way too high. When you get the humidity down to a reasonable (i.e. really too dry for humans) level, the book will flatten out again.
Yeah... Some people actually live in subtropical or tropical climates. The only way we could get the humidity that low is by wrecking the entire world's ecosystem.
Load More Replies...I just got one that did this. It's a new book, and none of my other books' covers have done it. I think it's a different composition in the cover stock. I've been trying to flatten it, no luck yet.
Yup. Plastic coating on the cover - just thick enough that it doesn't allow humidity to penetrate the cardstock at nearly the same rate as the uncoated side, not thick enough to provide any structural integrity. If the plastic coating was either thinner or thicker, it would be fine.
Load More Replies...If you wrap it in a slightly damp towel and place a heavy object on it and let it sit, it will straighten out.
Cheaply produced copy, thin cover, but also maybe heat or humidity. Pile a load of other books on it for a few days, it will flatten it, though maybe temporarily
Not a big deal...just put them with front cover down and they will be ok
Who The Frigg Wrote This Book?
I was going to say "well, maybe Ryan is the protagonist of a whole series", then noticed the third name on the bottom. Googled it... Ryan is indeed the protagonist. Greaney is the author. Clancy is the creator of the universe where this story takes place.
Yup. Clancy is also dead at this point, so no way he's going to write anything else... To be frank, I've seen this handled better as "Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan in...whatever... by... someone"
Load More Replies...Now this is a book for people who want to watch a tv movie... The biggest crime here is the large letters "Tom Clancy" (and repeated name on price tag), while that is now just a brand.
Tom Glancy has become a Hollyweird ghost writer and bonafide sell out. He profits just from using his name on novels writen by other authors. He has pattoned the characters he wrote early in his real writing career so others couldn't use that Character without his name being used and paid a portion of sells profits. Could you imagine how wealthy Shakespeare would have been if he could have done this?
I don’t understand this, most places that I go to buy books they have the price sticker on or next to the barcode so it doesn’t impede on any significant part of the book. Some second hand shops write the price on the inside of the blank front cover (usually in pencil).
Tom Clancy is the worst for this, but also James Patterson, 'writes' books with other authors. I am of the opinion that JP just contributes 'he went into the room' and that entitles the other author to put his name on the cover to help sell their book.
My Friend Found This Inside A Math Book
Two-way radio. Not a bad way to cheat. In the time you built it you could have studied though.
Ah, but it was most likely built by the person supplying the answers, not the one receiving them. Successful cheating requires either a smart person or a very fast researcher at one end. Or so I hear...
Load More Replies...I'll give him $10.00 to do the TSA test run. $25 if he gets as far as the boarding area and $100 if he gets on the plane. All he has to do is have his underwear start smoking and the book to tick and never blame COVID19 as the reason he did it. I'm bored. Sorry. Quarantine plays tricks with an already warped sense of humor.
These Book Covers
Hah. My dad has these books too and as a kid I've always wondered what they were thinking... In case anyone's wondering, they're Czech books about historic military ships ("Válečné lodě" means literally "Warships") published starting from the 1980s with the most recent one, No.8 coming in 2008. By the sixth volume they had changed publishers so the spine has a pointlessly different numeral as well: https://www.cervenyknir.cz/hynek-valecne-lode-1-6-42486v
I'd noticed that when shelving Spanish language books (libros en Espanol). Not every country follows our rules.
I don't understand what is wrong on this picture. I'm Czech and I see only books about ships.
Paid $18 For This From A Used Book Seller On Amazon. They Left Their Price Tag On It
What people also forget sometimes is, if the book is older then ofc the price will be different today. One mans trash is another mans treasure.
This happened several times for me. Thing is, you're paying for convenience. You knew what you wanted, you searched for it, you purchased it, it arrived at your door. The person who bought that from you had to go out and get it from somewhere, and hoped for decent selling books. I happily pay $5+ for a book on amazon even if it has a $0.50 sticker. :-)
you could also have hit up estate sales and thrift stores and found that book for $2, but you wanted the convenience of buying it online and having it shipped to you. That's how reselling works. We pick it, list it, you buy it, we make a profit, you get your thing with zero work.
We were looking at a radiator for a Model T at a swap meet, the price written on the radiator was 20 dollars. That was an awesome price, we talked to the guy, were interested in buying, until he told us it wasn't 20 dollars it was around the 150 mark. I get buying something and selling it higher, that's how you make money- but seriously, take off the old price. In the case of this book they paid 9 times more than the seller did, nothing wrong with that, but just kind of unpleasant for the purchaser to see. In case you wondered, we didn't buy the radiator.
Thrift stores are THE best place to find rare and collectable books.
i bought a 'meditation' headset with cds, paid $125, goodwill sticker on it was $3.....AND it didnt work, and they ignored me. ugh. beware buying used....
The Bottom Of These Two Pages In My Book Were Connected
Yeah, old books (and some oldfashioned ones to this day) always had connected pages at the top and the bottom interchangably, it had to do with the way the pages were printed. So you used a letter-openeror a butter knife, it's not a problem.
Load More Replies...Once upon a time didn't a lot of books come like that? Wasn't that the purpose of a book knife?
Yes you are right. They did that so it would be easier and cheaper to print, because then they could just fold and not cut the paper.
Load More Replies...Years and years ago, a lot of books came uncut, and before you could begin to read it you first had to carefully cut all the pages with a special letter knife.
My wife is a teacher - in her books in ancient greek, all the pages were this way... Guess what was my job :-)
This seems charming to me, not infuriating. A reminder of how books used to be made by hand and then you (the buyer/reader) would slice them open... I do love a deckle edge. :)
As a book lover, I find this cruelty unnecessary. My eyes are bleeding.
At least Lord of the Rings was only destroyed in one of them
Load More Replies...I love books but I want them to be loved and read and used. There is no intrinsic value in keeping them pristine. But it's not ok to deface and abuse public library books.
The person who cuts books in half is an insult to this planet. This article was incredibly painful.
I think I need to go lie down..this was truly awful..Gonna go hug my books now
Load More Replies...When I started college I was against marking in books, by the time I was in graduate school I was writing all over them and bending pages left and right. I even breaking in the binding before I even start reading. I only do this to my own books, not any library books, but when you constantly need to refer back to certain books and you build your own library that you use when writing research papers, it is just far faster to bang that book up and put tons of notes in it. Sorry not sorry. My personal library has some rough looking reference books.
I have a habit of smelling new books, and I recently bought a new comic book and forgot you aren't supposed to smell that kind of book. Do not recommend
I used to go to a library in Texas that had numerous galley proofs in their collection, including some with JACK KEROUAC's own notes in them. They were checking them out to people! I asked to talk with the library director to tell him what they had, and he said, "We know that they are very valuable, but this is a circulating library and we don't collect antiques but check out books." Point taken, but it seems that they should have sold them or donated them before somebody ruined them. PS - I checked online and believe that these have now been donated to the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas.
As a book lover, I find this cruelty unnecessary. My eyes are bleeding.
At least Lord of the Rings was only destroyed in one of them
Load More Replies...I love books but I want them to be loved and read and used. There is no intrinsic value in keeping them pristine. But it's not ok to deface and abuse public library books.
The person who cuts books in half is an insult to this planet. This article was incredibly painful.
I think I need to go lie down..this was truly awful..Gonna go hug my books now
Load More Replies...When I started college I was against marking in books, by the time I was in graduate school I was writing all over them and bending pages left and right. I even breaking in the binding before I even start reading. I only do this to my own books, not any library books, but when you constantly need to refer back to certain books and you build your own library that you use when writing research papers, it is just far faster to bang that book up and put tons of notes in it. Sorry not sorry. My personal library has some rough looking reference books.
I have a habit of smelling new books, and I recently bought a new comic book and forgot you aren't supposed to smell that kind of book. Do not recommend
I used to go to a library in Texas that had numerous galley proofs in their collection, including some with JACK KEROUAC's own notes in them. They were checking them out to people! I asked to talk with the library director to tell him what they had, and he said, "We know that they are very valuable, but this is a circulating library and we don't collect antiques but check out books." Point taken, but it seems that they should have sold them or donated them before somebody ruined them. PS - I checked online and believe that these have now been donated to the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas.
