Book nerds are a different breed in themselves. They treat books better than they treat people. Their living space is slowly being taken over by piles and piles of unread and over-read books. More often than not, they choose to spend time with their books rather than attend a social gathering. And these are only few of the several book nerd problems that book lovers are guilty of.
Suggested read: The Ultimate Guide On How To Read More Books
Unless you are absolutely, totally, irrevocably obsessed with books, it might be difficult for you to relate to these book nerd problems, which might seem super weird and super abnormal to normal people with normal lives. However, if you are like me, and tend to get lost in the fictional world of the character that you keep reading about more often than not, then you might get a crick in your neck while nodding in agreement to the various weird things that all book lovers are guilty of doing! Here are a few examples:
1. You SMELL books
Image source: Pixabay, under Creative Commons License
People who are basically book nerds don’t think anything is weird about smelling books. That is what I thought too, until I interacted with a normal person who saw me smell a book. Yeah, she thought I was a complete weirdo.
But there is just something so comforting about smelling old and new books, isn’t there? In fact, sometimes you even judge books by the way they smell when you are in a bookstore! You know exactly what your favorite book smells like and smelling a new book or any book before you start reading is just the most normal thing in the world.
2. You overspend on books
So you don’t have money to eat or buy shampoo to wash your hair? The answer to all your problems is to buy new books. Does that mean you have to starve for a week because you spent money you don’t have on a book that caught your eye while you were passing a book store? Maybe.
While most people have trouble controlling themselves in front of things like clothes and gadgets and toys and food, you tend to lose your cool when you are surrounded with books. You momentarily forget that you don’t actually have enough money to spend on books and buy it anyway and then regret everything afterwards; until you start reading, of course.
3. You carry books to parties
Image source: Google, copyright-free image, under Creative Commons License
A lot of people think book nerds don’t go to parties, but once in 6 years, we do, okay? Sure we like going out and having “fun” and talking to real people with real life narratives…uh…I mean stories to tell. But that doesn’t mean we won’t have a backup plan at social gatherings.
Book nerds generally tend to carry their books everywhere. By everywhere, I mean even to parties. It’s not because you absolutely need to read at the party. But what if things get hella boring and super awkward and you have nothing to do?
4. You are constantly eyeing what other people are reading
You are a book nerd. Therefore, is it possible for you to mind your own business when other people are reading around you? Obviously not. Whether you are at the library, at a café, in the subway, in the park or anywhere else, you are constantly eying what other people are reading and silently judging them for their taste.
You know the genre and the author and the kind of book just by looking at the cover, and you have trouble keeping yourself from going over and giving them advice on their choices.
5. You read more than one book at a time
Image source: Google, copyright-free image, under Creative Commons License
Have you found yourself reading 4 books simultaneously? Then you definitely qualify as a book nerd. Your idea of entertainment and keeping things interesting is reading more than one book at the same time, so that you can be obsessed with the lives of several fictional characters at once. While you might find this completely normal, others might find it super weird. But you do your thing because life is too short to be reading one book at a time.
Suggested read: Here Are The Best Books Of 2018 That We Are Looking Forward To Reading
6. You get a book hangover
While most people of your age, and any age really, tend to indulge in alcohol and get drunk and get a hangover, you seem to do the same with books. You “emerge” after reading, and for days on end, you are trapped in the world of the book, either imagining your life was exactly the same as the protagonists or over thinking about the fate of the characters in the book.
Just like people have trouble getting back to real life after binge-watching an entire show, you have trouble getting back to your life after finishing a great book. While for book nerds that is a completely normal sensation and the solution is also pretty simple (starting another book, duh), for people who might not be as obsessed with books, this might seem a little strange.
7. You are super obsessive about certain book habits
Image source: Google, copyright-free image, under Creative Commons License
Is the picture on top making you want to scoop your eyes, or at least making you cringe super hard? Yeah, same. Book nerds have this thing where they have to read in a very specific way, because the mistreatment of books is something that can simply not be tolerated.
However, the definition of “mistreatment” varies from nerd to nerd. While some people go batsh*t crazy when people dog-ear their pages instead of using bookmarks, others have the same reaction as nails on a chalkboard when they see someone fold a book backwards. You might also want to mentally murder people who write inside books. Book nerds treat their books like friends, and it is completely normal. This is probably why people are so afraid of borrowing books from you (or because you hate giving away your books).
8. You have an extreme reaction when someone starts reading your favorite book
Here is something you do for sure- you keep nagging your friends till they read a book that “changed your life” and when they finally do, you either have a full-blown melt-down or ask them 39 times a day which section they are in. While this might make the reading process slightly intimidating for the person reading the book for the first time, it is one hell of an experience for you.
You go through a spectrum of emotions, starting from ecstasy and ending in envy, because you are happy they are reading a great book but also jealous that they get to read your favorite book for the first time.
9. Your definition of “weird” is people who don’t read
Image source: Google, copyright-free image, under Creative Commons License
While people find you weird because you read too much, you, on the other hand, find people who don’t read super frikkin’ weird. I mean sure, there are a lot of people who don’t do a lot of things, but how can people not read, right?
You are a super book nerd if you have been practicing keeping a poker face in front of the mirror when people tell you they don’t remember the name of the last book they read.
10. You don’t think of fictional characters as…well…fictional
When you are super into books, you don’t really see a difference between what is real and what is not. Your investment in the lives, fates, decisions and circumstances of fictional, imaginary characters can be called borderline psychotic, but you feel no shame in it.
You think about their lives, you think about their choices, and sometimes, you even project these thoughts and feelings on real things and real people, which might or might not get awkward.
11. You don’t have a favorite book
Image source: Google, copyright-free image, under Creative Commons License
Because you love reading, people just expect you to know off the top of your head what your favorite book is. But when someone actually asks you what your favorite book is, you can feel your mind falling down the deep, dark vortex that is the knowledge of all the wonderful books you have read. How are you possibly expected to choose one ultra, indisputable, unchangeable, ultimate favorite from all of that?!
Suggested read: “Once I Touched The Cover, I Was No Longer A Human Of This World”: My Love Letter To Books
12. You spend way too much time obsessing about your books
Not only are you super clingy about our books when it comes to letting people borrow from your extensive collection, but you are also super possessive about your books and disturbingly obsessed with them. Almost like a cat lady, but for books.
You spend hours taking the perfect picture of your books to post on Instagram and watch people smash that like button. You organize your books according to your taste and preference- color wise, author wise, height weight, genre-wise, publishing date wise, etc.
Basically, you might have 99 book nerd problems, and loving books like you love very few other things in life isn’t one of them! Tell us about your weird and unique book-loving habits in the comments section below!
Featured image source: Google, copyright-free image, under Creative Commons License
Facebook
Disqus
Google + 
