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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 351-400 of 1,070 (1070 new)
Receiving Goodreads monthly email of new books while living in a country with few bookstores and poor internet services
hhhhhhhhhhhhh OMG that's soo mee xD ♥ #i #love #reading #books
Oh such a nice topic & such marvelous & exact responses.. I've experienced most of them.. :) Here's one:
You've bought a new book or have borrowed it from library & you're so eager to read it.. You can't wait to get home.. So you just start walking toward home & reading.. Imagine what people might think of you..
:)
Thanks..
The only thing I have never read a book on the tub, otherwise with all other fully agree
when you rush through all the books of a series in excitement but then go so slow as to stop now and then on the last one of the series, because you just don't want it to end... ...or... when a writer just stops writing a series, no finale, no closure, just...
I CAN RELATE TO ALL OF THESE THINGS!:)
Proud of that.
Being a librarian-all the books that I hold in my hands and want to read!But at least I know that they are on the shelf.
Zoe wrote: "I would also add: "Hating a book that everyone loves, tell me about loneliness.""This is definitley my number 1. It is also one of the main reasons I'm a member of goodreads. There's nothing better than to read through the reviews and find that one person who understands the dislike you have for a book that everyone else seems to love.
Unable to feel comfortable in someone else's house, when there isn't a book shelf in sight!
Falling asleep mid read and losing the page you were up to :(
Book hangover. I have spent days without reading any book after I finish a very good one. Every new book pales before it for few days.
This list is brilliant! It certainly made me laugh out loud. It's so recognisable that it's nearly embarrassing. What about telling yourself you're not going to buy books for the time being because you have no more shelf space and still sneakily coming home with 7 books from the library because they were selling them off for a euro each and it would be a shame not to...
Amanda wrote: "This list is brilliant! It certainly made me laugh out loud. It's so recognisable that it's nearly embarrassing. What about telling yourself you're not going to buy books for the time being because..."Oh girl, I have done this so often! Not only do I have thousands of books in my home to read, but I keep buying more, getting more for my Kindle, AND going to the library every three weeks. It's a sickness, an obsession, but one I fully embrace!!
Inkweaver wrote: "Living in a town where no one reads at all! I'm slowly dying from the loneliness..."Your Goodreads friends are here for you!
Book wrote: "Grace wrote: "Book wrote: "Have you ever read Obsidian"Yes."
I love that book but nobody I know has read it. Did you like it?"
That whole series was amazing can't wait to read it from daemons point of view
It's all so true and...After meeting the space limit on my iPad and broken WiFi connection at home after the newest upgrade from my provider - from now on I have to decide which books I want to keep on my iPad and which in the cloud is little bit more complicated :-(
Deciding each day if I read a book or update my TBR - on GR so I can overlook what I really have (still a backlog of few thousands :-)
All of these are me, especially 1 and 3. The last time I went on a trip I solved to too many book problem. I just mailed them home to myself.
Being so torn between family and books every time my mother says I spend more time reading than socializing with real people.
Chelsea wrote: "Book wrote: "When a book ends with a Cliffhanger"That is horrible when that happens, especially if you have to wait for the next book to come out. With the Earth Children Series there was a 9 yea..."
Oh that series! Waited ages and then book six was shockingly bad! Hey author, why don't you just brain dump your last 30 years research of cave paintings into this book then write a terrible but loooong poem about where babies come from and keep repeating it. And I waited years for that?!
So when a book you have been waiting for ages for is awful.
Dolly wrote: "All of these are me, especially 1 and 3. The last time I went on a trip I solved to too many book problem. I just mailed them home to myself."Ingenious :)
This list is very easy to relate to. For me my pet peeve is not being to concentrate end I end up reading the same sentence two or three times, due to how loud my families tv is. ugh it's so annoying, they don't seem to understand that i'm a shy, quiet introvert that that's the way I like things, peaceful except when i'm feeling impulsive and want to listen to loud music. I can't stand the fact that my family and other people look down on me or treat me differently just because i'm a bookworm and love reading over socializing, due to social anxiety. What's so bad or weird about reading books or the fact that people love to read, it's fun and fascinating or creepy to delve into a world that is fictional and fuels your imagination or nightmares etc..
C-shaw wrote: "Amanda wrote: "This list is brilliant! It certainly made me laugh out loud. It's so recognisable that it's nearly embarrassing. What about telling yourself you're not going to buy books for the tim..."Kindred spirits :)
21 trying but failing to keep all the books out of dusting up the upper spines...
Elise wrote: "Reshma wrote: "Elise wrote: "When you loan a paperback book to a friend and you get it back with the spine creased and you want to kill them, but they are still your friend, so you are torn (so you..."Or, when they turn down the corners on the pages of your new book, start reading it and take it home with them... then, loan it to someone else, who also loans it. And, I hadn't even read it yet!
Carly wrote: "This list is very easy to relate to. For me my pet peeve is not being to concentrate end I end up reading the same sentence two or three times, due to how loud my families tv is. ugh it's so annoyi..."Yep some people never get that their noises and actions can disturb or ruin something incredibly beautiful and/or powerful going on in your mind while reading. When I was younger my family never understood how great it was for me to be able to escape into a book so they had no problem with interupting and disturbing me while I was reading.
All of these. . . I completely do all of these all the time!!!
Ava wrote: "My reading list is longer than my lifespan"Me, too!!!!!
How about recommending a book you love to a close friend or family member and having them absolutely hate it. =(
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..."Use an iPad mini as you can enlarge the size of the fonts and it has the added advantage that you can carry as many books as you like
"Hating a book everyone else loves"When everyone loves the movie created from the book and I hate it because it is nothing like the book except for the title.
Also people are amazed that not only have I read all the books in my library but more then once. They ask why I would read a book more then once. I ask them if they have watched a movie more than once and they say yes I ask them why?
When you interact with the fictional characters more than real people. Books are life.
Anna D. wrote: "Since I switched to mostly reading on my Kindle, a lot of these are N/A to me now (like shelf space, book cover issue, not being able to bring enough books on a trip - this is a big one!)What mad..."
Solution: my Kindle cover folds into a triangle, so I never drop it on my face, and both hands can almost stay warm and under the covers...if only there were a clicker to turn the pages! :D
Inkweaver wrote: "Living in a town where no one reads at all! I'm slowly dying from the loneliness..."I'm so very sorry! I can imagine and (almost) relate.
"Trying to keep the book dry while reading in the bath." I think it's my biggest problem.
Linda wrote: "Anna D. wrote: "Since I switched to mostly reading on my Kindle, a lot of these are N/A to me now (like shelf space, book cover issue, not being able to bring enough books on a trip - this is a big..."i just bought a kindle...yeah i am with you
here is the same a lonely reader amidst netizens
Natina wrote: "Having to index all next years reads by publication date so you can put them on hold at the library before the list gets too long.."I've actually had my maximum limit checked out at the library *and* my maximum limit on hold... I feel bad about it, but not so bad as to stop doing it!
#17 is why I end up with crappy marks in tests...I can relate to most of these situations.
Dolly wrote: "All of these are me, especially 1 and 3. The last time I went on a trip I solved to too many book problem. I just mailed them home to myself."Number 2 and 4 are mostly me.
Reshma wrote: "Elise wrote: "When you loan a paperback book to a friend and you get it back with the spine creased and you want to kill them, but they are still your friend, so you are torn (so you just hit them ..."This! I can still remember how shocked I was when my sister returned my Coraline and there was this thick crease on the spine. I hated it so much that I gave the book away as a present.
...
I guess that was overreacting but the crease.
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Getting a bruise on your face because you rolled over in your sleep and hit it on the cornor of the book you were reading when you fell asleep. Or waking up with a light shining in your eyes because the lamp you were using to read in bed so others could sleep is still on.
Sadia wrote: "Ava wrote: "My reading list is longer than my lifespan"I feel you xD"
What is worse, my reading list keeps GROWING and I'm getting OLDER. sigh
2) When you have to choose between continuing to read or being forced to throw up when you're traveling in a car!
3) When you really want to re-read a favorite book but feel guilty because there are so many amazing ones you haven't read yet!
4) When you have a feeling the author's somehow bringing back the character that just died so you're not sure if you should mourn or not!
5) When you see a great book online but you can't find anywhere that sells it!
6) When it's not acceptable to read at a wedding!
7) When you accidentally read a sentence at the end of the page and give yourself a spoiler!
8) When you read an incredible book and you feel disappointed in your own writing.
9) When the book is amazing and the main character is horrible!
10)When you already choose 10 books in the bookstore and realize you only have money for 5!