Yesterday, Business Insider published a list of 10 things you should never do in bookstores (according to booksellers). Some of 10 warn you against low-grade jerk behavior (like: don’t photograph staff recommendations and then buy those books somewhere else, and don’t hide merchandise that you accidentally damaged).

Others, though, are more concerning. Like this one: “Never intentionally damage books by kicking or breaking their spines.”

Obviously, this is good advice in the sense of definitely do not do this. On the other hand… people are doing this? I know the world is a rich tapestry of jerks but, damn! I guess on the off chance that someone out there didn’t realize that the “kick test” isn’t a good way to select your reading material, then this list is doing good work.

 

Jessie Gaynor

Jessie Gaynor

Jessie Gaynor is a senior editor at Lit Hub whose writing has appeared in McSweeney's, The New Yorker, The Paris Review, and elsewhere. Her debut novel, The Glow was published by Random House in 2023. You can buy it here.