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20 Problems Only Book Lovers Understand
Last week we asked on Facebook and Twitter: What's a problem only book lovers understand? We got over 1,000 amazing responses! So even if non-book lovers don't get your struggle, remember—you're among friends here.
1. "The urge to buy books even though you still have too many books to read at home." (Rie VdWarth)
2. "Feeling sad for people who don't really exist." (Kimberly Moniz)
3. "RUNNING OUT OF SHELF SPACE!!!" (Kim)
4. "Getting interrupted when you are on the last few pages of a book." (Sobe Daya)
5. "The book hangover. When a good book finishes but you can't start a new one because you're still too immersed in the last book to move on." (Meagan Lewis)
6. "Wanting every book in a library section but knowing it is impossible to read all of them." (Richard Azia)
7. "Waiting so long for a sequel that you forget what happened in the first book." (Jessica Luong)
8. "When you're lying in bed and it's all cold in your room—and the hand holding the book freezes to death, even though the rest of you is warm under the blankets." (Alina Marie Swan)
9. "Finishing a book and having to wait a whole year to read the next in the series." (Sarah Scanion)
10. "Trying to keep the book dry while reading in the bath." (Patricia Boland)
11. "Ordering a book online and getting the book with the movie cover. A book with a movie cover just doesn't feel the same." (Anna RN)
12. "Not being able to read and eat lunch at the same time because you don't have a third arm." (Bernadette)
13. "When someone borrows your book and doesn't return it for ages!" (Pallavi B)
14. "Deciding. Which. Book. To. Read. First." (Monique Balsamo)
15. "Getting to a 'can't stop reading' spot in the book and it's 3:00am." (Joan Chesley)
16. "When you have a book with you, but it's not the one you wanted to read right then." (Virginia Osborne)
17. "Being forced to stop reading by other obligations, but choosing to ignore those obligations. Then getting in trouble." (Feel Like Fangirling)
18. "Packing for a trip and never being able to bring enough books." (Erika Gallion)
19. "Having a book fall on your face because you're reading on your back while holding the book up." (Manuel Cedillo)
20. And the ultimate book lovers' dilemma: "So many books, so little time." (Navy Reading)
Have another bibliophile-specific problem? Share it with your fellow Goodreads members in the comments! Chances are you'll find someone (or many someones) who feel your book pain.
(Top image credit: Illustration by Quentin Blake for Roald Dahl's Matilda.)
Comments Showing 501-550 of 1,070 (1070 new)
Scribal wrote: "I bought used paperback copies of favorites to "lend." I don't mind that I never got them back....but I cry with loneliness because I lent very thoughtfully... like a matchmaker, book and friend, a..."I do the very same thing!!! Im still waiting on several convos to happen but I know they probably never will:( We should be friends instead!!
Erma wrote: "Rashmit wrote: "You close your book depressed as your favourite character in your novel just died but also confused why everyone else is acting like nothing happened , i mean YOUR FAVOURITE CHARACT..."Yep i feel pity for people who dont read books but these are the moment when i feel sorry for the book readers instead , i mean atleast the non readers didnt go through the same emotional turmoil that i just went through
Ooh... seeing someone out in public reading a book I absolutely loved and immediately becoming aware that I'm smiling hard at a complete stranger.or
Hearing someone make a book reference and then suppressing the urge to give a knowing nod or any other form of acknowledgement of my *ahem* eavesdropping.
Being the only one who likes to read in your class and having no one to discuss the book with, fangirl with, complain with, and cry with
I forgot one- Visiting my local library and seeing books for sale (50 cent to a dollar). I grab as many as I can carry to the circulation desk and wonder why the rest of the patrons are still sitting at the computers. Well, this one is more of a benefit than a problem.
DeLaci wrote: "Ooh... seeing someone out in public reading a book I absolutely loved and immediately becoming aware that I'm smiling hard at a complete stranger.or
Hearing someone make a book reference and the..."
Yes yes yes
19 out of 20 are problems I face. The one I don't... Lunch. I eat with one hand and swipe my kindle with the other :-)
Jessmuhs wrote: "I relate with pretty much all of these, and add "people trying to start a conversation with you when you are clearly immersed in something.""Grace wrote: I know right? It's like why are you trying to talk to me when I'm clearly reading something. This should be a rule: If I'm reading a book, don't talk to me."
I know, it can be so annoying. When someone is immersed in reading a book you should not bother them with trivial things. We are in another world and generally would like to stay there.
Vicki wrote: "Grace wrote: "Cassandra wrote: "Warren wrote: "they forgot not having enough money to buy books and pay the bills :("I work at a library, and my dad's like, "Just use the library." I say that it'..."
That sounds so cool! I would love to have my own personal library!
Your friends start to think it's weird, that every time you go to the mall you have to spend at least 30 minutes at the Barnes and Noble there.
I must be very good at number 10, cause I've never worried about getting my book wet after the age of 10.
Telling yourself you're going to go to sleep at 11:00, only to look at the clock and it's already 11:05.
I think # 20 should be # 1 but rephrased as "So many good books, so little time".The ideal of book readers is to read only excellent, very enjoyable, inspiring, moving , well written books another after another.
This is a quest . It is not a dilemma.
Like the lawyers commonly quote "time is of essence" and readers do not want to waste time on bad books, I think.
When you have more books that you want to read then have read
❅Rebecca❅ wrote: "Your friends start to think it's weird, that every time you go to the mall you have to spend at least 30 minutes at the Barnes and Noble there."Only 30 minutes? I'd stay for hours
1. Stubbing my toes on all the stacks of books that I have lying about the house. 2. Realizing that I have far more books bought and paid for than I have life time left to read them. The good news is that I never have to buy a book again. The bad news I keep buying them.
3. Getting older and reading becoming a nap interrupted by paragraphs thus insuring that even less books will be read in my remaining years.
4. Being forced to read a dead tree book every now and again because it is not available in Kindle.
5. Being rudely woken from the nap (noted in #3) by the dead tree book (noted in #4) falling out of my hands and hitting the floor. Then having to find what page I was on and repeating the entire sad process 30 minutes later.
My perennial dilemma: #s 5, 7, 14, 15 and 20!
Oh gosh #7 is so me (they all are) but I have to plan when to read books so when the sequels come out i don't have to wait forever
Siblings poking their nose in your book and reading aloud any random line.
OMGOSH this list is a story of my life!!!!!!!!!
Getting strange looks and/or irritated responses from people (yes husband, I mean you!) When something I'm reading makes me laugh out loud.
Judy wrote: "i am 61 years old and have read since i was 4. i lost the centaral vision in my left eye about 10 years ago, now i am losing it in the right...i read never less than a book a week, usually 2, but n..."I am sorry to read about your predicament. Maybe get a friend to read to you? You can have both the book and a friend at the same time then.
"Getting to a 'can't stop reading' spot in the book and it's 3:00am." Knowing you have to get up at 6:oo am to go to work. I'VE DONE THIS AND I AM NOT SORRY. Even with my Kindle, iPad, iPhone, computer and actual books, I still identify with every single item on this list, except I do not read in the bath. I may have tried washing dishes and reading though.
I'd love to add:"Loving a book that nobody's heard of, and not being able to convince anyone else to read it."
~and~
"Getting a friend to read a book you love, that you think they'll love...except they don't.
There is no agony quite like loving something and having NO ONE to share your love for it with.
A well-put one :)'''
And the ultimate book lovers' dilemma: "So many books, so little time." (Navy Reading)
'''
Another one, one that's happening to me right now; reading the first book in a series, wanting to read the next one because you have it, then getting caught up in all the library books you keep borrowing!!!!!
You’re reading a really funny book and you burst out as you’re sitting there in a cafe, or on the bus. People’s heads swivel to your outburst and you look like you lose your mind...........
OMG. Most of this list is pretty much all my problems. THIS IS FREAKY!
When my wife points out (for the hundredth time): "you haven't even finished the last batch, why did you get more??" - I used to answer her, long ago :)
Getting so wrapped up in the story that your butt and legs fall asleep. But, you still can't stop reading so you try reading while doing the dance known as walking on hot coals to try to wake up your legs and butt. But, even when this fails to be enough you sit back down and decide you'll walk later, like when you finish the book. : )
S.J wrote: "You’re reading a really funny book and you burst out as you’re sitting there in a cafe, or on the bus. People’s heads swivel to your outburst and you look like you lose your mind..........."Oh my god, I've been through this.
Being a bookaholic. Trust me it is a thing.
Judy wrote: "i am 61 years old and have read since i was 4. i lost the centaral vision in my left eye about 10 years ago, now i am losing it in the right...i read never less than a book a week, usually 2, but n..."Wow, the number of books you must have read in your lifetime!:) I also have nearly given up on reading after suffering nerve damage to near my left eye. I can still read a little bit, slowly a couple of pages at a time. Like you, I used to hate audio books, but I've grown used to them. It's hard to concentrate at first (as I'm sure you know). Everything seems to distract you. I miss losing myself in a book, that just doesn't happen with audio books. It's like listening to someone tell a story, and you have to make yourself sit still and concentrate. I've slowly learned to live with audio books and these days I even quite enjoy them.
Oops!15. "Getting to a 'can't stop reading' spot in the book and it's 3:00am."
Avinash wrote: "Siblings poking their nose in your book and reading aloud any random line."I perfected the withering stare because of this... But, on the other hand, now that we're grown, I have found that my incessant reading has turned them into readers, and they have read many of the books they saw me reading While growing up. SCORE!!
-When you borrow your book to someone and you get it back in terrible condition-When the plot is amazing and the author ruins the ending
-When the movie adaptation of the book has nothing to do with it
12. "Not being able to read and eat lunch at the same time because you don't have a third arm." (Bernadette)I relate to this at every meal. But Thank God for my Kindle I can usually read that while I eat. Lunch issue.... although I love my co-workers and we usually have great conversation the ability to stop and just read while I eat is impossible. The whole list is great!
Zoe wrote: "I would also add: "Hating a book that everyone loves, tell me about loneliness.""hahahaha, I know what you mean! :)
Missing people who don't really exist when you are no longer reading the book!
With each new listed problem i just kept thinking; yes, yes, oh that is so true, definitely, Amen to that.I mourn the fact that there are only 24 hours in a day. And life is too short to read everything.
You could try Maria V. Snyder's Poison Study. It wasn't about assassins, but one of the main characters w..."
One I really like is Hunter's Moon by CT Adams and Cathy Clamp.