On your left is a manhwa (만화), Bride of the Water God (하백의 신부) by Yun Mi-kyung. It is read from left to right. Manga (漫画) is read from right to left, like Kamisama Kiss by Juliette Suzuki. Even their sizes are different, no?

Usually, I just shrug off people’s whims and whatnots because I do have one of them and I don’t like being ridiculed/pointed out about it. But you know what? When I see one, it really does tick me off, but I won’t do anything. I’m just going to groan inwardly and let the person be. I’m not one to call a person out, but for transparency’s sake, I would like to share some of my irrational pet peeves. So yeah, here’s mine! (Hopefully I don’t offend anyone.)

I don’t like for graphic novels that are not made in Japan to be called “manga.”

Nor do I like animated shows with “anime” style to be labeled as anime. If it’s not made in Japan, it’s not anime or manga to me. So yes, Avatar by Nickelodeon is not anime as long as I define it. And so are those books with graphic novel adaptations that are not manga as well (e.g., Twilight, Mortal Instrument, and Soulless). Korean has manhwa, and Chinese has manhua. Westerns have comics, or as I called ‘em graphic novels (which I synonymously called comics regardless of origin). Even the New York Times separates manga from other graphic novels in their list. I know some people don’t mind, but I do—passionately, for some reason. So if I asked for a manga recommendation and you recommended The Breaker by Geuk-Jin Jeon and Jin-Hwan Park, I’m going to look at you with judgment in my eyes (haha, but mostly annoyance). That’s a manhwa, darn it! (Trivia: I can distinguish Chinese, Japanese, & Korean languages, so I’ll know.)

I might write a tl;dr version of this topic one of these days so I can fully explain why. (It could be long though, haha.)

When books were labeled “because.”

I know we’ve already been there, deceived by the cover, the summary, and even sometimes the genre. Like, for example, I want books about music, so I search for one under this category, only to find out that 1% of them are about music (like, for appearance’s sake, yes, NA books, I’m looking at you!) and 99% is romance. I’m not happy when it’s labeled as such just because it has a miniscule (like, so small!) amount of the subject. For me, that does not make it fit in this category. Or maybe I’m just too obsessive with my labels.

I also dislike it when people refer to print books or physical copies as “real” books.

One of my biggest bookish pet peeves, actually, but I think I already said my piece here.

I massively loathed non-uniform print copies.

Nothing annoyed me more than buying a book, loving it to pieces, just to find out that the publisher redesigned it mid-series! Not only does it render my copy sort of useless (well, not really, but you know it’s different from the others), but mostly because… IT JUST DOESN’T LOOK GOOD ON THE SHELF *cries because of her irrational peculiarities*

Sometimes I don’t like being randomly recommended.

I do LOVE being recommended; let’s clear that issue up first. I just don’t like people randomly and personally pitching me titles, especially if it’s not a genre I usually read or a book I’ve already read and loathed. It is also why I prefer to ask people or search for it on my own. There were so many times already where I was recommended to read Stormdancer, Divergent (and the sequels), and The Fault in Our Stars when I already voiced my opinion on these titles (adamantly and evidently if I say so). If you didn’t know, that’s ok. I’m not going to lash out at you, but it does leave me feeling really exasperated… “Not these books again. *sighs*”

(I hope you’re not scared of recommending me books.)

That’s it (or that’s it for now). How about you? Do you have any pet peeves, fannish or otherwise? Hey, no judging here, but I do love to know! XD