15 Problems Unique to Book Lovers

Books take up all of your disposable income (and sometimes a little more than that, too).

Let's be honest: Buying the latest Meg Wolitzer and Lauren Groff novels is much more important than stocking up on food for the week.

You can’t watch book-to-screen adaptations without getting at least a little angry.

Or occasionally very angry. The Golden Compass movie is a wound that will never heal.

No. More. Shelf. Space.

Stacking your books on the floor is supposedly chic nowadays, but once you have 6-7 piles you look like a potential candidate for Hoarders.

Moving is hard enough ... boxes and boxes of books makes it harder.

One day I'll just need a separate U-Haul.

You get way too invested in the lives of fictional characters.

While touring the Scottish Highlands, a friend kept having to tell me that, no, Jamie and Claire Fraser had not stood on that particular hill or road because they don't exist. Each reminder was a revelation.

You constantly lose bookmarks, and wind up marking your place with whatever you can find (because dog-earring just isn't an option).

This is one of the many reasons e-readers are spectacular—I don’t have to use the lint-covered gum wrapper at the bottom of my purse! (Note: I'm too busy reading to clean my purse.)

You loan someone a book, and then they don't like it.

There is one novel that I've given to several family members, and not one of them has appreciated it. I feel personally attacked.

Or you loan someone a book, and they return it to you in bad condition.

Why are there purple splotches on pages 34-56? Were they eating out of a jam jar with a spoon? 

When you fall in love with an ongoing series, only to have to wait several years for the next installment.

There is patience, and then there is waiting for The Winds of Winter. 

You finish reading a book that was just so good, and you have no idea what to read next.

The reading slump is a terrible curse, but on the flip side: There's no greater miracle than finding a book that pulls you out of it.

Your bedside table is stacked with books—and yet you can’t resist buying something when you go to the bookstore.

At this rate, you could build my mausoleum out of my TBR pile because I'll never get through it.

You've considered naming an animal after your favorite fictional character. And possibly a small human.

As far as I'm concerned, anyone would be lucky to be named Galadriel. 

People seem to think that you + reading = best time to strike up a conversation.

This math doesn't add up.

When you see someone reading one of your favorite books in public, and you can't not flail all over them.

Consider this my formal apology to any reader I've accosted on the subway.

It's 1:00 A.M., and "one more chapter" inevitably becomes "...I'll just finish the whole book."

It's always worth it!

Featured photo: Clay Banks / Unsplash