It's called Top 5 Wednesday, and it's another group on goodreads found Here. Essentially it helps give topics every Wednesday of the month as helpful discussion starters and has them in this type of numerical list order. So this week is "Bookish things you're a Grinch about"
Now this isn't supposed to be serious topics, like the lack of diversity, or abusive relationships, etc... but rather more opinionated topics like book covers and tropes.
So let's discuss my top five bookish Grinchy issues.
5) Dog Earring Pages
I understand why, I get it. I used to do it. My boyfriend continues to do it to his books. But I've complained so much about it that he's almost afraid to pick up any of my books. I like keeping my books in pristine condition. I don't know why, it's not like they'll be worth anything later (I mean this is arguable, but I don't have very many books that could be considered "collector's editions.) My boyfriend has pointed out that if I plan on leaving them to our future kids it's not going to look like I even read them. He also likes used books because you can tell they've been handled and used due to their worn covers....no...I can't....If it's my own fine, that's my books story and it's travels with me. But I can't buy a used book with dog eared pages and broken spine...
4) Hardback to Paper Back Cover Changes
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| Hardback |
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| Paperback |
I feel like if there's going to be a cover change, it needs to apply to all editions. I love hardback books, they work better for me. I have a hard time with paperback, but sometimes I enjoy their covers better, but they aren't available in hardcover.
3) Limited Hardcovers
I've run into this issue from time to time. I'm not sure if it's because I think there should be a hardcover version of a book but really they just never published one, but I'm finding with older books that unless they're in a collectors or pocket edition (and that's usually limited to classics) they're not available in hardcover. I've looked at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, etc... Book Depository tends to be good at letting me know if they were ever available in hard cover or not, and even if they don't have it they usually point to Abesbooks or elsewhere so I can keep looking.
2) The Fourth Date Marriage Trope
Now I'm going to be mentioning this in my December Review, I'll let you know that right now. And I'm not sure if this is so much a trope as it is a cliche, but it really ruins a book for me when a couple, especially a young couple get married after so little time has past. The book itself could be great with a slow burn romance, have enough of an adventure and trial with enough time lapse that give the couple that anxiety and angst that by the time they get together, I'm popping a bottle of champagne yelling "FINALLY!!" Then the book ends with marriage with little to no time laps or trials from when they got together and it's just so cliche and sudden that I feel more irritated than anything, because I feel like the author should know better.
This is probably me looking too much into it, but when it does happen, what comes to mind is how they move on from their trials, how do they cope now that they're together and they don't have these trials to deal with anymore? How do we know that those trials aren't what sparked their "love" and having a "normal" life after that isn't going to effect how they see each other in a more "mundane" setting? Or PTSD? How are they going to handle that? It leaves more questions making a "happy ending" feel forced and rushed. The one, I feel that takes all of that into consideration is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.
1) Sizing Differences
This was 2...but after writing this I realized how irritated this makes me so here it is at number one.
You know that slide show that goes around facebook and the like, where there's little things that have gone wrong, it's not that big of a deal, it's not dire and doesn't effect anyone in a harmful way but it drives you crazy and you want to hurt who ever did it? Those ones that will "Drive your OCD friends insane" like someone taking a bit out of a whole cheese stick, or this lovely number:
Most of these bookish things could be considered the same way, but mine in particular is a size change in the books in the middle of the series. I'm not talking width, I'm talking height. It's usually not the original publisher's fault. For some reason another publisher will decide they too want to publish the series, but change the format just ever so slightly. The one that comes to mind immediately is Winter by Marissa Meyer. I have the Lunar Chronicles in paperback. Yes I typically like hard cover, we've established that, but I will by paper back if I have to, and if it's a series, I will continue to buy that same format. So I patiently waited for the paperback of Winter be be published, ordered it quickly off Amazon, only for it to arrive and not fit with the rest of the series, because it wasn't the same publisher, it was a half and inch smaller in height but almost double the width of the rest of the series. I refused to read it, donated it to a local book store and have been cautiously waiting for the correct publishers paperback edition to appear at my local book store. I know it's the same story (it better be) there's no difference there, but it doesn't look nice in the series on my bookshelf!
Those are my bookish Grinch items, what are some of yours?
Until next time!
Litta
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