Sign in with Facebook
20 Problems Only Book Lovers Understand
Non-bibliophiles don't always feel your pain…but you're among friends here! We asked on Facebook and Twitter: What's a problem only book lovers understand? We got more than 1,000 amazing responses. Check out some of our favorites and share your own bookish struggles in the comments.
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
Don't see your reader-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.
Check out more recent blogs:
7 Great Books Hitting Shelves This Week
Your Most Successful Book Club Picks
Readers to the Rescue: Your Best Book Club Tips
(Top image credit: Illustration by Quentin Blake for Roald Dahl's Matilda.)
Comments Showing 501-550 of 922 (922 new)
probably all twenty on the list as well asbuying a long awaited book, it arrives in the post
and there is an awful round sticker attached to the cover
that is impossible to remove. Usually its some kind of advert
for a shop, book club etc
I travel so much, I'm tired of move from place to place. I have books everywhere, is a huge problem! I really want to have my library with all my books together.
Is this reading addiction a disease? Reading the comments here, and I totally agree with most of them, I wonder if I have an addiction. I hought addictions wefre a psychological problem needing a cure. Oh, for heaven's sake, give me another book!
I hate buy too mane books at the same time. I love when I go one by one. Right now I have a lot of books in the store's bag, I hate it, and I still buying more and more books.
Taryn wrote: "My dilemma is closer to when I can't find a place to stop reading... and it's 6:00am, I have been binge reading a series, and I have a test that day that I should have been studying for."Yep, I can FULLY relate to that...
No money for new books. Walking into bookstores (because you can't just not go in) and having to walk out empty handed because you're broke. Saddest day.
Rouan wrote: "Vanessa wrote: "Going to the library and finding out they have the first 2 books in a trilogy but DONT HAVE THE LAST ONE!!!!"Or, they have the last two but not the first one!"
Imagine that kind of situation - 2 books of a trilogy are released in your country, but the last one not. WHY, JUST WHY.
Princess Lauren wrote: "When people ask "what are you reading" and then try and grab your books."I absolutely HATE that! and it happens all the time with the same people too; they should have more respect...
I was into an accident, tied up to my bed literally, with no arms, and no hands. My husband made a book holder that could stand straight on my belly without hurting me or falling down on my face and hold the pages at the same time; it was kind of strapped to me and once in a while he'd come and change the page - that was after he got tired of reading books to me that weren't his genre. Later, he upgraded it so I could turn and hold the page with a stick in my mouth. I loved it! I gave it to someone else once I was done with it (6 months); I met her in rehab and she too couldn't use her arms and hands and loved to read. Her husband has to twixt it because she was a little bigger than me and she got her own stick, of course...
Thought for a minute that I wrote this list. Can relate to most of this list
"Ordering a book online and getting the book with the movie cover. A book with a movie cover just doesn't feel the same." <--- I hate them!
Nicole wrote: "I was into an accident, tied up to my bed literally, with no arms, and no hands. My husband made a book holder that could stand straight on my belly without hurting me or falling down on my face an..."What a great story. Hope you are better now
All of the above apply especially book on face ha ha.But here's another one - people who talk to you and want to have a conversation when you are trying to read a book :/
Thanks to goodreads, I no longer suffer from taking a book with me and starting to read only then realizing I have read it before, and don't have anything to replace it with. Of course, the Kindle has solved the problem of not having anything with me at all times.
tried to read in a waiting room, too much talking , read the same line without register
Laureen wrote: "Is this reading addiction a disease? Reading the comments here, and I totally agree with most of them, I wonder if I have an addiction. I thought addictions were a psychological problem needing a c..."Somebody once said that there is a fine line between a hobby and an addiction. As addictions go, bibliophilia is one of the more harmless ones, unless you're spending your rent money at Amazon (books) or Barnes and Noble. Personally, I probably crossed the addiction line a few thousand books ago ...
So true about all of them...2 and 7 especially.
feeling conflicted near the end of a book - anxious to find out how it ends yet, at the same time, not wanting the story to end...
Feeling public shame because your book cover is a half naked man.
Felicia wrote: "I have no shame in saying I suffer from all the above-stated problems."
The only ones I don't are 3,13 and 18 because I either read on my tablet go to the library for book but I have ALL of the other problems.I'm SO glad it's not just me!!!
The only ones I don't are 3,13 and 18 because I either read on my tablet go to the library for book but I have ALL of the other problems.I'm SO glad it's not just me!!!
I had to laugh out loud when I read 20 Problems Only Book Lovers Understand. It was as if I had said all these comments, they were all my exact experience even the frozen hand when reading in bed.Nowadays I have bypassed most of these problems by using Kindle or Audible.com which I will not leave. They are just two handy.
Do Your Reading wrote: "My problem is starting too many books at the same time because I'll be in the middle of a good book but find something else that is so much more interesting that I have to start it even before I fi..."I never wanted to admit to this problem as maybe people would say I was too disorganised with no attention span, though it only happens with books.
So glad to find I;m not alone in my wonderful addiction. I can say yes to nearly all of the above and I'm proud of it
Michelle wrote: "Mwanamali wrote: "Trying to keep the book dry while reading in the bath." Patricia BolandFAVOURITE"
this was me yesterday!! I've only ever dropped one in once. I was ashamed."
Only once?! I commend you! I have had to separate many a page in a book and leave it in the hot water cupboard overnight! They're never quite the same afterwards...
My favorite: "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."
;)
OH YES... And too, when I'm going to finish a book, and I don't find the right people for talking about my feelings!, I love Goodreads for that!
Re: "Having a book fall on your face because you're reading on your back while holding the book up."Being rudely awakened when the book you dropped as you fell asleep hits the floor.
Princess Lauren wrote: "When people ask "what are you reading" and then try and grab your books."Noooooooooooooooooo!
All I could was laugh and agree, because its so true!
The above shared comments are STILL all true statements of my feelings, and I'm heading into my seventh decade!
Omg. How true..... #8 happens to me all the time.
Here is a new one, I think . . . Moving and knowing the cost of moving my books and the shelves exceeds the cost of the entire rest of the contents in the van.
#4. I get such a case of RAGE when I'm interrupted in the last quarter of a book. And NO ONE understands this. Well, except all of you. ;)
one to add-Wishing you were a vampire or something, so you don't have to sleep and can read all night long. (or that you could stop time)!
Huguette wrote: "tried to read in a waiting room, too much talking , read the same line without register"I always have ear plugs with me, either in my pocket, my bag or my purse...
Breda wrote: "Nicole wrote: "I was into an accident, tied up to my bed literally, with no arms, and no hands. My husband made a book holder that could stand straight on my belly without hurting me or falling dow..."Thanks! 9 years, 4 months and still doing therapy. BUT I can happily say I have the use of my hands; I can put face cream down to my chin; I learned to love my un-creamed neck.
Pamela wrote: "I suffer from all of the above, the cold hand, wet book, the book on the face :) Taking the wrong book with one, then finding out it is better than the one you planned to read on the bus /train jou..."Oh, you nailed it! I was commenting about Eve Dallas's baby phobia to my daughter one day, and she responded with "she's not a real person" - I was kind of ruined for a moment, but I shook it off. They're alive and real in their world, and while you're reading, they're part of yours as well - it's the magic that makes that frozen hand and book-splatted face worthwhile - along with all those other issues...
In my personal opinion the cold hand thing really sucks.
About the cold hand - which I agree totally sucks - I put my Kindle on a stand and sit it up on the bedcovers so I expose my hand only to flick the screen and turn a 'page'. The downside is if I am reading a funny story and I suddenly laugh. Oooops, it all falls whoopsy and sometimes the Kindle has lost my place. > : @
I would modify #12. I read all the time when I'm eating, and end up spilling food on myself.
I suffer from Every. Single. One., except the bath.Have books everywhere, hardcopies and ebooks. In phones, laptops, iPads, like everywhere, and I borrow from the library.
I finally feel I found a group of people who understand me. All of these issues I've experienced at some point. My biggest problem right now is that my workplace allows me to take home books, but not having a ton of space in my car, it can be hard to transport them. Also having to sneak them into the house without my parents finding out is a pain. I've had to rent a storage unit and start organizing them there until I get a place of my own, and I will make absolutely sure to have plenty of shelf space haha. Anybody else use an app to catalog their library? I love being able to have a digital organizational tool to keep track of all my books, but I wish there was an easier and more accurate way to input all the information without having to do it by hand.
6. "Wanting every book in a library section but knowing it is impossible to read all of them." Richard Azia
I couldn't agree with this one more. I have one of my own, Kill reading slumps dead. I am in one now & it won't go away. I need a baseball bat to beat it to death.
I couldn't agree with this one more. I have one of my own, Kill reading slumps dead. I am in one now & it won't go away. I need a baseball bat to beat it to death.
Big yes to reading in bed and my hand freezing, big no to reading in the bath (never!). I used to have the problem of packing books for travel but Kindle solved that problem beautifully! Same thing with shelf space. Biggest book problem now is the book hangover, great term for it!
David wrote: "When someone asks, "What are you reading now?" and you wonder which of the three books to tell them about.Or, you tell them about all three, and watch their eyes glaze over..."
That happens to me a lot despite the fact that my family knows I usually have several books going at once.
I really identify with this one Evelyn was reading recently in a hospital waiting room and noticed a lady reading a book I had just finished and loved. I had to stop myself from going over to her and saying "It's brilliant isn't it, and wait til the end you will be shocked". I settled for a smile when she caught my eye anymore and she might have thought I was a loony.