I am not sure how often I will do this because I am generally a pretty easy to please reader, but every now and again, my TSS post may well feature a commentary about the things that annoy me!For my first post though, I guess I will have to explain why it peeves me before I reveal my pet peeve.
Do you have reading quirks? I do. Today's example of this is to do with when I put a book down. When I am reading on the train, I try, where possible to finish reading for the morning at a chapter break, or at the very least at one of those big breaks between paragraphs (whatever they are called). In other words it will be at a natural break in the text.
When I am reading at home though, it is a little more complicated than that. Yes, I still put the book down at the end of a chapter, but wherever possible I will put the book down at the end of a chapter that is divisible by 5. So if it is chapter 13, I will push on to read 2 more chapters. If I am at the end of chapter 25 or 30 I feel very comfortable in putting the book down for the night. Why? I don't know. I don't even know when this particular trait started!
All of which leads me to a problem when a book doesn't have any chapter breaks. How can I put it down if there are no chapter breaks, and yet at some point I really have to. At the moment I am reading The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer - no chapter breaks. Next book is Terry Pratchett's Sourcery. I don't think that I have noticed chapter breaks in any Terry Pratchett books. How can there be no chapters!
I know it is a small thing, but it seriously makes me struggle about when I can put a book down.
Do you have any pet peeves which other people might not find annoying at all. How about quirky reading habits?
That's so neat you prefer multiples of 15!
ReplyDeleteI like to read in chunks of about 50 pages (in practice,40-60 pages) at a time, so I get really annoyed if the chapters don't lend themselves to that. I'm more bothered by nonfiction books with irregular chapter breaks than fiction ones though,
Hi Marg I feel your peeve is a reasonable one. I notice that in some books the chapters are enormous or the book is merely broken up into large "parts", all quite disconcerting.
ReplyDeleteMy enduring pet peeve is the folding over of the corner of a page "dog earing" to mark one's place. How can people do this when even the smallest ticket stub or shopping docket will suffice as a bookmark?
I put books down at chapter breaks as well. I hate being mid chapter! When there are no chapters I find myself just forcing myself to keep reading to find a break point and it becomes almost stressful and I get angry at the book. So I completely agree with your pet peeve.
ReplyDeleteI also like chapter breaks, and my preference is for short, evenly spaced chapters that break every 3-5 pages (I'm thinking of Jeanette Walls' The Glass Castle and Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code). I find it difficult to establish a rhythm when the chapters are long or of varying lengths, or when there are no chapters at all.
ReplyDeleteI try to take breaks at the chapter, but have no problem stopping in the middle of the chapter if there is a natural break there. I don't know if I used to be more particular about finishing chapters before I had kids, if I was then all of those late nights have given me amnesia on this particular topic. :) Since having kids I have to sneak in reading whenever I can.
ReplyDeleteI "have to" end my reading session at a chapter break too.
ReplyDeleteNo chapters throws me, too. I also don't like it when the beginning of the chapter doesn't get its own page.
ReplyDeleteI have LOTS of pet peeves when it comes to reading. I wouldn't even know where to start, to be honest. A big one is a loooong book. I have so many books to read that dawdling for more than a week on a long book just tries my patience, even if it's a good book.
I prefer chapter breaks too - I try to end my reading time at the end of a chapter and when there aren't any I feel like I'm just stopping randomly.
ReplyDeleteMy pet peeve is when the book is one of a series, and the other books in the series are either not listed in the front, or not listed in order.
ReplyDeleteMy compulsion is not chapters, but is that once I start a book, I have to finish it, no matter how bad it is. Just another obsessive part of me...
I have a tendency to read more if there are no chapters because I'm like you and use chapters as stopping points. And I'm with MamaJulie..I hate when a book is part of a series and doesn't list (in order) the other books in the series. Interesting post :)
ReplyDeleteI can understand your pet peeve. I've never noticed that I needed a particular stopping point so that isn't a pet peeve. I do have other ones though... mostly dealing with what other people have done to books. I don't like dog-earing, I hate to find any hand writing in a book and when I see someone lay a book face down and open I just cringe for what they are doing to the poor book spine. :D I'm fussy I guess.
ReplyDeleteI struggle with books without chapters as well. And like you, I always try to read until the end of a chapter before putting a book down. It makes reading on the train a lot harder at times, having to calculate how much time there is left and if you could finish another chapter before your next stop.
ReplyDeleteIcedream, I am totally with you!
ReplyDeleteI always prefer to read to the end of a chapter but I read mostly before I go to sleep at night so when the eyes start to close, I stop reading -- no matter where I am in the book -- because if I don't, I won't remember it anyway.
I also don't like it when there are no chapter breaks in the books I read. I am not really sure why this is, but it bothers me to no end!
ReplyDeleteNo chapter breaks throw me off. I'm usually a stop at the end of a chapter person, but if I have to close the book in hurry, I try to find a page with a natural break.
ReplyDeleteI usually stop at a natural break (either at the end of chapter or at the end of a big paragraph). I do prefer books with short chapters.
ReplyDeleteI hate when books don't have chapters! I listened to an audiobook with no chapters awhile ago and it was very frustrating. I felt like I never got to get situated when I was reading.
ReplyDelete