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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 551-600 of 922 (922 new)
message 551:
by
Tina
(new)
Mar 18, 2017 09:29PM
If I was almost done with a book and it was part of a series, I would have to carry that book around with me so I could start it as soon as I was done with the other book. I don't go anywhere without a book. Thank God my husband bought me a tablet, now I have over 10 thousand books on sd card and 4 or 5 ebook Apps so I can read till my little hart is content or untilI fall asleep and my tablet hits me in the face. Lol
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I can relate to 1,3,6,12,14,18 well. Adding few
1. Start to read second book while first book still work in progress.
2. Seeing other people carrying books , we wondering what books they have.
All of the above, plus people who I've lent the books to, or previous readers at the library or used book store, dog-ear the books.
I understand every struggle to the letter. This is perfect.
"Getting interrupted when you are on the last few pages of a book."Did this with one of the Percy Jackson books. Phone call just as I neared the end. I would have thrown phone, but then there's that pesky retrieving it and having to decide how best to lie about the damage done to the phone's screen.
"Honestly, it got run over by a really big truck."
One of my habits has to do with books that are slow or kinda boring. If I'm having a hard time getting through a book, I'll put it down, and read another book. When I'm done with the second book I'll go back to the first. I find I can usually get through it easier.
Rebecca wrote: "Felicia wrote: "I have no shame in saying I suffer from all the above-stated problems."Thank god I'm not the only one. I thought maybe I was crazy ahah"
:) me too
Take away my books and you might as well take away my life! They bring me such comfort and I learn so many new things. Remember you're never too old to learn something new.
I have been transferring my books onto GR recently and have discovered that in the course of time I bought many copies of the same books in different editions ...
Is it bad that I relate to every single one of these book lover problems?
I enjoy buying many many books even though I know it may take so long when I can start read them and many others are still waiting to read in my bookcase, but Time dilemma is the worst indeed.
I had a recent 'crying crisis' when I finished reading the last Flavia DeLuce novel that came out, those who read it know what I'm talking about those who are reading that series and is not there yet I won't spoil anything. I work at a library and that was a library book so I was reading it in the break room before I started work and ugh the ending made me feel like I was kicked in the stomache. I turned it in and tried to work but I had to run to the storage area and let myself cry, felt a bit embarrassed about it but hey I work in a LIBRARY they get it!! One of them does read the series and she knew the feeling. I do read several books at one time, I try to keep it down to like three or four and Goodreads helps keep everything on track. see my list and it's kinda crazy. My reading goal for this year is 130 books, I'm up to 34 now.
Neha wrote: "Is it bad that I relate to every single one these book lover problems?""have companion to the grief fades worth" wrote Dante ...
Neha wrote: "Is it bad that I relate to every single one of these book lover problems?"No Neha it's certainly not since I do too.
I mostly agree with all of the problems but e-books are the best invention yet. It's like taking a library wherever I go and sitting alone in a cafe or hospital waiting room (being a diabetic it's a regular thing for me) or journey in public transports become the times to look forward to.
Anty wrote: "I mostly agree with all of the problems but e-books are the best invention yet. It's like taking a library wherever I go and sitting alone in a cafe or hospital waiting room (being a diabetic it's ..."Oh Anty we could be long lost twins. Since space is at a premium in my home most of my books are ebooks. I love having my mobile library with me wherever I go.
For #10, you can laminate your favorite book page by page.
can't start a new one because- still too immersed in the last book to move on :)
Yes all of them. Another problem I have is that when I go to the library or bookshop, I just want to buy and haul books.
Yes, I totally agree with you on that one! Can't people see that I have a book in my hand? I don't just carry a book for the hell of it!
Omg this is THE most relatable thing I have read in my whole life
All of them, more of the buying the book but being on one still and yeah know... just all of them xD
When people say the movie was better. Seriously?
When you never have any money because you spend it all on books, and when your Mum finds out that all of the books lined up on your windowsill are actually library books, so returns them all. And when she just tips your bookshelf in to a bin because you were caught reading instead of doing your chores once too many times. :(
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."Yes! I was revising and decided to take a short break and read the first chapter or two of a new book (that I didn't know anything about but it looked cool and was in a buy one get one half price deal). The next thing I know the book is done and it's 6am... oops!
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."Every night :')))
Yes, yes, YES! Except I've never read in the bath. Should I try that, too???
Reading in my bed, looking at the clock, already midnight. Hm 200 pages before the end.... just a little more, let's just finish this chapter and be reasonable, I've got to wake up at 6 for work tomorrow. Ooh I finished it but it shouldn't be so late. Looking at the clock again... 3 AM...
Starting a great book and feeling simultaneously excited and sad because you know it will end.
Love the one about freezing while holding a book on top of the covers! So true!
When somebody want to borrow a book you own but haven ' t read until now. When I buy a book, I want to be the person reading it first. But I am a nice person. Dilemma!
Ebookreader solved this problem too.
Another problem: I cannot stand if people try to read my book over my shoulder.
Maybe I am a terrible and selfish person.
In June, 2015, I checked Your Ticket to the Universe out of my local library. It's a short book -- only 240 pages -- but about 50 pages in, the text made no sense going from one page to the next. Checking the page numbers, I found that some VANDAL had removed two of the Hubble telescope photo pages! This happened multiple times -- eight pages were removed at one point -- so I used Post-It notes to mark where pages were missing and inform the librarians that the book had prior damage when I returned it.Seriously? Who DOES that? Mutilating a book is like pulling wings off a butterfly, destroying something beautiful on a personal whim! Grrr ... it still upsets me when I think about it, almost two years later!
When they talk and you're in the middle of something serious and you pretend you're listening- ONLY IF you UNDERSTAND somebody IS talking to you.
Nasim wrote: "When they talk and you're in the middle of something serious and you pretend you're listening- ONLY IF you UNDERSTAND somebody IS talking to you."Non-readers don't understand this: If we're reading (which we usually are), and somebody speaks to us, it's just background noise, easily ignored. They have to GET OUR ATTENTION first! Otherwise, they're just talking "at" us, not "to" us.
I will admit here for the first time I walked through life with a blue nose. Why? Because I was reading and my kindle fell on my nose because I fell asleep.
Angie wrote: "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 n..."I use a spreadsheet in Excel with ALL the details on it. Each line has the obvious (Title, author, category), but I also have the ISBN/ASIN, the paid price, how much I saved, where I bougth it or got it for free, publisher, year, # of pages, and what kind (hardcover, massmarket, electronic...). It's all color-coded so I know which ones (of course more than one, more like 6-8...) I'm reading right now, which ones I read, with the # stars, and if/where I put my review. I also have a column to let me know where in my house I put the book; for electronic it lets me know Cloud/Kindle... and that's about it. There's more color-coding to this but I won't bore you with the details...
I can relate to many of these. A couple of other problems:-When I request a book from the library, and it's a large hardcover version, not an easy to carry paperback.
-The book I am currently reading is too big to carry around with me. (I read on my commute.)
-I'm so close to finishing a chapter/paragraph while on my commute, and it's my stop before I can finish.
-I have a long wait for a bus, but its raining or too dark, so I can't read my book.
(Late to replying, so I have not yet read other people's comments.)
Amr wrote: "One of my most annoying Problems/Nightmares is "Reading on the Bus, and the Station appears around the Corner, with 2 or 3 Pages still left on this Chapter""Yes! So frustrating when you're so close to finishing a chapter, but it's time to get off the bus/train.
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."
Yes, one of my problems too. I once dropped a book in the bath because I fell asleep. But it was a terrible book, so I didn't care all that much.
But let' s be honest: when other people are annoyed because they have to wait anywhere, someone with a book or a reading device enjoy just a little bit more pleasure time with books.And of course I would never leave the house without a book. Never. Period.
Nicole wrote: "Angie wrote: "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 hom..."I actually use an app called BookBuddy to keep track of all of that. It's pretty indispensable for me. It also helps me to keep track of series, and it helps prevent me from buying doubles when I go into used bookstores.
I hate it when I remember a great quote from an earlier point in the book. But when I backtrack to try and find it, I can't!!
Tammy wrote: "My other comment is needing to have all the book covers of your favourite book, resulting in multiple copies of the same book. Also, the book covers in a series need to match, so when they change t..."This. It's just so screwed up. And messes with my OCD. I want all my book series'/trilogies' covers to match.
I can relate to all of them, they might be watching me.The one of the freezing hand, and the one of the book falling off were the funniest, but yes, I had experienced all of them.
Reading in bed with glasses all crooked in your face while on your side. Every time
