Well look at this! I’m actually posting my Top Ten Tuesday on Tuesday! It’s a world gone mad. Especially since the ladies of The Broke and the Bookish don’t post until tomorrow, given that they live across the pond and 24 hours in the past. But this TTT looked like too much fun to wait until tomorrow. This one is all about the bookish problems we book nerds face in our nerdish careers. Here are my top ten:
- The constant battle between wanting to reread and wanting to explore new worlds
Does this happen to anyone else? Your TBR requires so much pruning that rereading just isn’t an option. I have wanted to reread Harry Potter and The Hunger Games and Beautiful Creatures and The Infernal Devices for ages but my TBR list just never seems to end! I guess it’s my fault for not being able to resist the lure of shiny new books and their intoxicating aroma. But goddamn, it’s been years since I’ve sat in the Great Hall with Harry for the first time! - When a series you already own releases new covers that are more awesome than the ones you have
This happens way too often to me. When I first bought Hunger Games, I bought the garish ones that look like the covers of various video games from the 80s. Days later I saw the classy, understated covers that were black with the simple Mockingjay symbol in three different colours for the three different books. That pissed me off!
And then there’s the fact that publishing companies sometimes release series in the same covers, but different sizes! This happened with The Infernal Devices. I couldn’t believe it! Why not leave all the books the same size until we have them all?
And then there’s the fact that sometimes the publishing companies decides to change the book covers halfway through the series’ release! I’m looking at you Artemis Fowl! - Organising bookshelves
Whenever I move house, I have to unpack all of my books. And maybe some people can just chuck their books on their shelves higgledy-piggeldy but I am not one of them. Not only do my series have to stay together, in chronological order, but I organise them in genre too. I would not put Divergent next to Harry Potter any more than I would put More Than This next to Eleanor & Park. And my books have to be organised by size. - Trying to find a comfy position in which to read
Is it even possible? You lie on your stomach, your neck hurts. You lie on your side and you get a cramp in your hip. You get your pillows squished into the perfect position and actually get comfortable, only to have the light in the wrong
A book seat!
position. And when you add food or coffee and have to sit upright? Just forget about it. If anyone feels like buying me one of those awesome book seats for my birthday next month, that would be great!
- Being so overwhelmed by choice that you walk out of a book shop empty handed
I have walked out of countless bookshops without buying anything just because I see so many books that I want to buy and can’t actually choose between them. So instead of choosing, I walk out. That way no book feels under-appreciated or unloved. - Being too worked up to read
If I am too angry or worried or depressed I cannot read. It is
George Tucker: the only reason you need to tune into Hart of Dixie
terrible! I need complete focus in order to read, so that I can focus on the story. If I’m too emotional, I get sidetracked and will read pages, paragraphs, and phrases over and over again without actually taking anything in. So I give it away and watch TV instead. At the moment, it’s Hart of Dixie. I swear, it’s like watching Gilmore Girls all over again. Except in the South and there isn’t a mother-daughter duo as the main protagonists.
- Accidental spoilers
You know when there’s a series or a book that you absolutely love, and all of your friends love it, that you just kind of figure that everyone else loves it too? I was recently chatting to a friend of mine about The Infernal Devices and accidentally gave away a massive spoiler, thinking that that friend had read Clockwork Princess! I felt so bad! I feel like I should ask people about the books they have and haven’t read before every conversation. It would save a lot of heart break. - Having the compulsive need to reread an entire series before reading the latest instalment
So The Ruby Circle came out the other day. It is the last book in the Bloodlines series. I have it sitting on my bookshelf waiting to go. Only problem is that the rest of my Bloodlines series is sitting in my mum’s granny flat back in Ballina. I didn’t have room in my car to move all my old books with me, so I had to settle for the ones I haven’t read yet. Ordinarily this wouldn’t be a problem, but I must read The Ruby Circle. And I can’t actually afford the $60-ish in fuel that it would cost to go home and get them. Which means avoiding a whole heap of my favourite blogs until I have been able to read this book! Which may not be for a few months! My compulsions are slowly killing me.
This is also the reason why I haven’t read Written in My Own Heart’s Blood, the latest Outlander book yet. Have you seen the size of those books? I would need about two months just to get through the reread, let alone the book itself! One of those books is over 1000 pages! - Paper cuts
This photo makes me wince, just a little bit.
Does this one need explaining? You’re in the middle of a reading sesh and all of a sudden one of those pages embedded with beautiful words decides to draw blood. It is not fun and bloody hell it hurts. And makes me put down my book for a least a few seconds, which means that I lose my flow a little bit.
- Noise levels
If I am home alone, I cannot read for an extended period of time. Why? Because the house becomes too quiet and I not only get scared of every single little groan and moan made by the house, but I start to scare myself into thinking that because the house is so quiet, someone may think there’s no one home and decide to break in. Only when the thieves discover that I am home, they’ll decide to kill me rather than go to prison. See? Overactive imagination.
But I can’t read if it’s too noisy. Some people can read if the family is watching TV in the same room, but not me. I can’t even read if a good song comes on over the radio. I’m like the Goldilocks of reading noise levels. I get so infuriated with myself sometimes!!!
So, my fellow bloggers, what are your biggest bookish issues? Do you share any of mine? Are you already in love with the wonderfulness of George Tucker? Let me know!
My Infernal Imagination 
Like you said, the whole to-read-list and then the compulsion to reread books. And then there’s when you never have anymore time. And then Book Hangovers, don’t even get me started there. Oh and yes, when you read the book or series first and no one else has and your just dead from the feels and no one else gets it. Ah, alas. As you said, the woes of being a book nerd.
Thanks for reading.
Best of luck,
The Time Traveling Writer.
Ohhh book hangovers! I forgot about those! Man, those are hard! I usually just start the series again to postpone the hangover!
Thanks for stopping by 🙂
Unless I’m reading on commute (e.g. standing up usually), I think I change reading positions every few pages (or at least every chapter). I don’t even think it’s a conscience decision…it just happens haha.
Cheers,
Joey via. thoughts and afterthoughts.
I know right? It’s just one of those things us bookworms do!
This is a fantastic post Bec! I can totally relate to most of them, especially not being able to pick a book at the bookstore and the annoying new covers/inconsistent sizing for books. Oh gosh, I have those same Hunger Games covers as well, they were so ugly and random lol! But yeah, I’m glad I read mostly on the commute now where there aren’t many other distractions. It’s hard for me to sit down and concentrate on reading at home lol.
Wow, thanks Jeann! I hate how publishers decide to do our heads in with these weird sized books!
It is hard to read at home. I always feel like reading all day is a lot lazier than watching TV all day when I’m pretty sure it’s the other way around!