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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 701-750 of 922 (922 new)
I never read in the tub! Here is one not on the list: Kindle, Nook, I-books being the reason for the closing of book stores, especially used book stores. I prefer the REAL book; it won't run out of "juice" in the middle of that Can't stop reading spot..
Ha ha! Number 8. I hate when that happens. I think I'll keep a glove on the night stand. I work in a library, so reading at work does not look bad. I am so lucky!
Vanessa wrote: "Going to the library and finding out they have the first 2 books in a trilogy but DONT HAVE THE LAST ONE!!!!"I agree especially if it's a school library.
How about when you finish a book and you run to tell someone about it and they read it and disagree with you about how much you love it! 😠
What about this one: There is a book you're burning to read next, but you're still on a book that has turned out to be dreadful, but for some dogmatic reason you feel you can't abandon the dreadful book just yet because maybe it will somehow redeem itself (had so many 5-star reviews, and the author is so acclaimed), and you've invested so much time in it already but it's droning on and on and you just wish it would hurry up and end?
"Having a book fall on your face because you're reading on your back while holding the book up." Manuel CedilloOMG so true and embarassing!
Hello, my People! I share the feels with you all :) So much truth here <3
Shelf space! The pain that comes when you realize that your reading the final pages of the final book in the series you love.
When all the publish dates of your favorite authors are months to a year away and you need to find something to read in between
Nonreaders!!!!!!!!!! (Who can't seem to understand "why you READ so much?")
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""Story of my life i take the train a lot and trying to speed read at the last stop before my stop. Why does it always seem like you get to a good part when you have to put it down.
DOES NOBODY REALIZE THAT 7 AND 10 ARE POSSIBLE???? Literally! I read books at breakfast and lunch, only to sadly find out that no books are allowed at the dinner table. It's awful. *cries*
I'm actually not allowed to read on the bus anymore without a partner in crime or a timer as I would always miss my stop because I would get too involved in the book I was reading. 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""
I have a few major conflicts:1) Other responsibilities take up my time ;( .
2) I stay up WAY past my bedtime and can't put the book down because in the moment, the book is more worth it than sleep. The next day I am so tired my brain is barely functioning, and then I do the same thing over and over again for weeks at a time. Astoundingly, I still can't make myself regret any of the reading part!
3)I feel like I have to carry the book I'm reading with me everywhere I go wether I read it or not.D:
Reading an email regarding a new book, and realizing you had forgotten you'd gotten a WIP of the same book, and forgotten about it
I have fingerless gloves just to keep my book-holding hand warm!
It is all soo true! So glad im not the only one suffering with these problems. lol
I go through every single one of these!! Especially #8 and #5! With #12, I almost always end up spilling a little food on the book, and half the time the book I'm reading is a library book *sheepish* don't tell anyone though
When someone says they read a big classic, but every bookworm knows they just read an annotated version when you show them the dense novel.
Okay so honestly I hate when I am so immersed in a book and every other second someone comes up and interrupts me. While I am reading probably the most important part of that book! The nerve.
Kyra wrote: "I go through every single one of these!! Especially #8 and #5! With #12, I almost always end up spilling a little food on the book, and half the time the book I'm reading is a library book *sheepis..."and forgot to mention, reading and doing fifty other things at once (folding clothes, listening to music, etc). And I have books from the library, books that I already own, and ebooks from my school library and end up reading 3-4 books at once. It's always torture for me when I forget the due date for one book while I'm reading two others because then I have to order it again when i run out of the renewal limit....
I've been out of shelf space for years now. Thanks to that I've found out that there are many different ways of piling books.
1, 5, 8, 19 remind me of myself sooo much although I can relate to all on this list! It's hard when everything is cold except for the hand holding the book!
I identified with all the comments except the bath one (I'm a shower person) and #19 (having a book fall on your face? I would be on my side) but completely identified with the 3 a.m. comment, which happened to me a few weeks ago -- I had to get up at 7 a.m., but it was such a good book I couldn't stop reading even though it was ridiculously late. Finally stopped at 3:30 a.m.
And my husband thinks I'm crazy! Nope, you all have just given me proof...I am not the one crazy it's HIM for not loving to read as much as we all do here! READ ON!!!
Jasmine wrote: "My to-read list is growing faster than my read list! Too many books, so little time!"I am right there with you on that one. I will bring a notebook and a writing utensil with me to either the library or bookstore and will write down the names of new books or new authors I have never read to add them to my to-read list, even though I already have a 1,000 books or so on my read list! AAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHH!
I suffer from all the above symptoms...and i must say...they were well phrased...To add to it..i feel pained to see some of the films which are made based on some books...which disturbs the whole aura and impression the book had...
These movies just disappoint....and i am filled with this weird evangelic zeal..to save my fellow bibliophiles from this disappointment...by advising..never watch the film before reading the book...because then you will never know the feeling the words on paper can make you feel....
Sujata wrote: "I suffer from all the above symptoms...and i must say...they were well phrased...To add to it..i feel pained to see some of the films which are made based on some books...which disturbs the whole ..."
That is a good point, Sujata. Well put. Some of these from-book-to-film movies were pretty good, but I feel like telling people that the book is ALWAYS better!
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..."Yes......I also have owned many editions of my favorite novels. This includes "Sweet Thursday" and "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck, and "The Blue Castle" by L.M. Montgomery
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""...and the time about missing your train stop because you were so immersed in the book and had to call someone to pick you up from the next town. Oops.
Jeffery wrote: "Sujata wrote: "I suffer from all the above symptoms...and i must say...they were well phrased...To add to it..i feel pained to see some of the films which are made based on some books...which dist..."
Ofcrs some of them..were really good...but some others were so not upto the mark...
You own a lantern for the specific purpose to read at night after a power outage plunges several counties into hours long darkness.
Listening to an audio book in the car, then getting to where you're going and wanting to keep listening.Having three books going at once in three different formats, (eBook, paperback, audio,) then getting stuck somewhere you can't read any of them.
The real problem is that there isn't a book smell perfume. We have cupcake perfume, but no new book smells?!
Hailey wrote: "The real problem is that there isn't a book smell perfume. We have cupcake perfume, but no new book smells?!"I would so buy it, if that was possible... :D
When a book utterly destroys you and everyone around you just carries on with life as if nothing even happened!!
I have just about every issue listed here.
Reading on the bus/subway and looking up and realizing you're going to be late for work again because you are 2 or 3 stops passed your bus stop/station and will have to double back to get to work. I can't tell you how many times this has happened to me.
Souhaila wrote: "being obliged to continue reading a book even though it bores you to death but not being able to stop because you HAVE to finish every book!"Me too!!
Felicia wrote: "I have no shame in saying I suffer from all the above-stated problems."me too!!
My problems are all of the above and:1. When you want to go to the library in your school and just look at all the books, but your friends get annoyed with you.
2. When you get a series as a gift, but some of the books are hardcover and some are paperback.
3. ( Also relating some to 2) When you have a series, but the covers are in different styles. Like if one is a movie cover and one is not.
4. When you really don't want to keep reading a series, but you feel like you have to stay loyal.
Hailey wrote: "The real problem is that there isn't a book smell perfume. We have cupcake perfume, but no new book smells?!"They actually do have a perfume like that!
http://www.chroniclebooks.com/blog/20...
Felicia wrote: "I have no shame in saying I suffer from all the above-stated problems."Me too!!! LOL! And I also have more books on my Kindle and my iPad and I keep buying more and more! I am addicted to books.
Felicia wrote: "I have no shame in saying I suffer from all the above-stated problems."Me too. So thankful I'm not alone!
The solution to #12--finger foods. You must be able to hold the book while eating, so make sure the food can be picked up and eaten with one hand. Finger foods for the win!
18. "Packing for a trip and never being able to bring enough books." Erika GallionThanks to e-books, that is no longer the problem.
Now it's: do I have enough charged battery back-up packs? Conversion plugs for European outlets?
Did I download all the books I might want to read?
Wondering where you're going to fit in another bookcase in an already overcrowded room.
I' ve had a friend purposefully ruin a book of mine because she thought I was reading too much ( it was my third time reading it, but still.) She and I were on a trampoline a few days later, and when she said that she was glad I didn't have the book anymore, I pushed her off. Justice.
No more shelf space. Well that's silly what is the floor for anyway.
Also my problem is that your reading a pretty average book. Then you get a book out the library/buy it/other options and that book is better than the one your reading. You really want to read the new one but don't want to miss the old one. Do you read book in how much you want to read them order? If so what happens if your reading one then you get another that would be higher up the list? You could end up reading ten books at the same time!
This is a problem that causes me lots of difficulties since I am v impatient!
😜