Pet Peeves

Do you have any pet peeves whilst reading.

Not those that make you want to throw a book against a wall. But those that just niggle. I have a couple, but there's one that's getting on my nerves at the moment.

I have a problem with the word 'literally'. Actually it was one particular author who gave me a dislike for this word because she used it so much. To the point where now I think it should be banned. LOL. Well maybe that's a bit extreme. But I think 99% of the time it's used when it doesn't need to be. It's the verbal equivalent of an exclamation mark. And it seems to crop up a lot on consecutive pages. It's got to the point where I may have to start mentioning this in reviews - just to get it off my chest.

It's used a lot for emphasis - "His head literally exploded."

Ouch that's got to hurt. But did his head actually explode? If it did, why not just say "His head exploded." If it didn't explode, why are you telling us it did?

"His blood literally burned."

Oh my God! He's on fire. Or did you mean he was losing his temper?

I think one 'literally' per book is enough. Thank you for listening. :)