The top 20 struggles that every bookworm truly knows

Being interrupted when reading

You’ve finally found the perfect position to settle in with your book, are just starting to get really lost in the pages, warm cup of tea in hand when…the peace is ruined. Someone comes in to watch TV, the doorbell rings, any number of distractions pulls you away from your little piece of paradise and nothing is more frustrating!

When the books come with an unpeelable sticker

You’ve got this stunning cover on a book you’ve been waiting to come out for ages and when it finally arrives in the mail after weeks of anticipation, the gorgeous cover design is ruined with a big promotional sticker on it, reading something like ‘Now being adapted into the hit Netflix show!’. It just ruins the whole look of our personal library!

Reading a series before the last book is out

We’re so attached to these characters and the storyline and the second to last book is building up to an incredible finale…that we have to wait over a year for. The anticipation can sometimes make the read all the sweeter, but God, these cliffhangers kill us!

Getting obsessed with characters and having to say goodbye

You know what’s even worse than not being able to finish the series immediately? Finishing the series and realising we’ll never hang out with these characters, never hear anything new from them again. It’s like a loss, and we ask for privacy at this time, thank you.

Wanting to throw the book when a character messes up

We just knew they were going to screw it all up! We love and hate those characters, the ones who fall for trap, the miscommunication trope, the one who plays right into the villain’s hands by sacrificing themselves. They make the story all the juicier, but it’s so frustrating to watch it happen!

Getting frustrated with the slow burn romance

If they glance across the room at one another or brush fingers one more time without doing something about it, we’re going to burst – which is half the fun anyway! Waiting for the penny to drop that they both like one another and the anticipation building is one of our favourite romance tropes!

Being team dog ear vs team book mark

Are your books scrawled with notes, dog ears and stickers, or kept utterly pristine with bookmarks and careful shelving methods? Whichever team you fall into, we all love books at the end of the day. (But the pristine team are doing it wrong.)

Wanting a book tattoo, but not knowing which one

Do we get the Harry Potter wand? The stag from Throne of Glass? The mockingjay from The Hunger Games? Our favourite quote? How do we even pick a favourite quote? You probably have a Pinterest board filled with them, but can never decide which one to get so never end up getting on at all!

Knowing a ridiculous amount of information that’s not totally relevant to the real world

You may not be the top of the class, but boy are you handy for the literature round of the pub quiz! You have all this insane knowledge in your head about fantasy worlds, characters and maybe even a little niche history knowledge if you’re into your historical fiction, but it’s rarely relevant for real life.

Having a personal library that you just can’t stop adding to

Some people collect stamps, others collect coins – we collect books. It’s an expensive hobby to be sure, but it’s worth it to see the beautiful colourful shelves bursting with hundreds of different stories and characters just waiting to be discovered!

Having a TBR list as long as your arm – and never getting through it

It’s one of life’s great impossible goals, to reach the end of your To Be Read list. The Holy Grail of bookworm-ing, if you will. There will never come a point when we have simply ticked off every book we want to read, every recommendation we’ve heard. And we’re not mad about it.

Feeling a sense of failure when we DNF

‘Did Not Finish’. The label of a failure for many of us, though it’s perfectly natural to not be able to trudge through 300+ pages of something you’re not enjoying, Reading should be pleasurable, not a task. This isn’t to say don’t expand your boundaries by reading the same things over and over, but sometimes, you and an author just won’t click and that’s okay.

Wanting all the latest merch from your latest favourite series but being broke

The cool t-shirt, the pretty tote, the full on fangirl merchandise – we want it all, but we’re so broke! The pretty pieces would add to our library and show how mildly obsessed we are with all our favourites!

Dreaming of owning a peaceful and personalised library some day

The window seat, the cushy armchair, the shelves upon shelves upon shelves of books, so many that no one could ever get through them all – and you. Curled up in a cosy corner, with a book on your lap and shaft of sunshine coming in the window – what more could anyone want? Some people want a pool in their future home – we want libraries.

Always having a book to hand somewhere on your person

Because just in case, right? You never know when you’ll have time to dive into something particularly gripping, on the bus, in the waiting room, a bench in the park – it’s always good to be prepared.

Staying up til 2 in the morning to finish because the story is just that good

Yes, you’re exhausted the next day, yes, your eyes have major bags under them and yes, you did fall asleep into your coffee twice so far, but it was so totally worth it!

Identifying just a little too much with Belle in Beauty and the Beast

There’s a lot of arguments for Stockholm syndrome in this particular Disney classic, but honestly, we’d stay too if we had that library and no people around to bother us while we read.

Not being able to pass a bookshop without checking it out

Because you never know when they’ll have something new and exciting in! Plus, there’s just something so comforting and quiet about a bookshop. The smell of fresh books, straight off the printer, the quiet murmurs of fellow shoppers – it’s a haven on every high street.

Never being able to pick a favourite

It’s like being asked to pick a favourite child! We could never, because every story offers us something different new and they can’t really be compared.

We miss people we’ve never met

Turning that final page can feel like waving goodbye to a friend that’s never coming back. We’ll miss them, now that no new stories are coming our way featuring them, and they’ll stay with us long after closing the book.