12 Bookworm Confessions
I’ve been a reader for as long as I can remember.
One of my earliest memories of reading was on a long train trip (from Wisconsin to Washington State) with my mom and sisters when I was about six. My mom had brought along Number the Stars, which had won the Newbery a few years earlier, and I picked it up and started flipping the pages.
My mom 100% thought I was just pretending to read it and when I announced that I was done, she asked me some questions about it. To her surprise I actually HAD read the whole thing and was able to tell her (in probably much more detail than she wanted to hear) all about it.
Since then, I’ve done my best to never be without a book, and reading has been one of the great joys of my life (hence twelve years of writing about books here on Everyday Reading).
But behind that love of books, I also keep some bookworm secrets.
And a chilly Monday morning seems like the right time to spill them here. Here are my 12 bookworm confessions – you might be able to relate:
12 Bookworm Confessions
- I take my library books on vacation. So far, I’ve never lost a book on vacation (although we did have to go back to the Boston airport one time to retrieve a library book Bart had left in the seat back pocket).
- I don’t care that much for Dr. Seuss. There are a handful of his books I like, but overall, I kind of don’t get the insane love for him (and most of his picture books are SO. DANG. LONG). It’s like they were trying to pretend some of his books are picture books when they’re practically chapter books.
- I almost never take notes or mark up a book when I’m reading. When I see books that are filled with underlines and notes, I love the idea of having my books so personalized like that. But I never take the time to actually do it myself.
- My idea of a bookmark is the library receipt they used to mark my holds. I actually own quite a few lovely bookmarks. But who has time to go dig those out when you’re reading? That paper gets the job done.
- I have no real organization system for my books. I get asked all the time about my organization system for my books and . . . I don’t really have one. The librarian in me is cringing. Most of our picture books go in the big bookcase for our playroom and they are roughly divided into fiction and non-fiction, but there are also board books and a couple of shelves of my books and young adult and middle grade books. I keep most of the board books in the nursery, and the adult books scattered between the upstairs bookshelves.
- It never gets easier for me to start a new book. No matter how many thousands of books I read, that first page or chapter is almost always a little bit of a slog until I’m into the story and the characters. When I do start a book that grabs me from the first page, it feels like an extra special treat.
- I never sound out character or place names that aren’t obvious. I just recognize the name by sight and how it’s pronounced isn’t part of the equation at all for me. Which is only a problem if I’m going to talk about the book in person afterward. In fact, one thing I love about audiobooks is that I know how tricky names of people and places are pronounced and I get a weird satisfaction for knowing the correct pronunciation (but not enough satisfaction to do it myself, obviously).
- I hate to borrow books from other people. It’s too much pressure! I want the freedom to return a book to the library unread or to hate a book and not have to report back to the person who loaned it to me that I think the book they raved about was totally boring and I only finished it out of obligation (I learned this lesson the hard way with Eat Pray Love).
- The worst part about reading on a Kindle for me is that the text location keeps changing. I’m a pretty visual reader, so I can often remember where on the page something was located, but whenever I read on a Kindle, it’s always changing (I don’t know what that is?) so it’s basically impossible for me to go back and find something.
- I lay my books face down with the pages open. I actually didn’t even KNOW this was bad for a book until I did it with one of my books when I was a school librarian and my aide was horrified
- I’m a fast reader, but I am not a speed reader, nor do I have any interest in learning how to speed read. I read for fun, not to crank through as many titles as humanly possible and to me, speed reading sounds 100% not fun.
- I totally eat while I’m reading (including my library books). A long time ago, a friend told me in great detail about how careful she was with her books, including putting them in ziplock bags when she traveled, and I make a promise to myself right there and then to never borrow books from people who cared deeply about the condition of their books. I’m careful, but I can’t guarantee the book will come back pristine. So it’s just safer not to.
What are your bookworm confessions?
Hello, my name is Jenae [hi, Jenae] and I dog ear book pages. Even library books… even borrowed books. Im just that bad a**.
I love that someone else returned your books for you!
Once at a career fair a company left a box full of these bookmarks that have a a bunch of those skinny book flag stickers on them (hard to explain, just think of a bookmark with post-its attached). I grabbed STACKS of them and they’ve been so great for reading library books that I want to mark up but can’t. I generally only mark up/flag non-fiction books, but sometimes in a fiction book there are passages that are so poignant or beautiful that I want to record them.
I don’t know if this is a confession so much as a practice, but I almost never buy a book I haven’t already read….even cheap books at the thrift store. Why pay for a book when I can get it for free from the library? Sometimes I’ll be reading a non-fiction book that I mark with a million flags, so then I’ll buy my own copy before I read further so that I can mark it up as I go.
I’m so glad to read #6 especially. I thought something was wrong with me! I love to read, love to buy books and I have stacks and stacks of books waiting to be read. But I just hate starting a new book. I feel such dread that sometimes I will just read something I’ve already read yo calm my mind! So bizarre!
I definitely take library books on vacation. Back when I read a lot less than I do now I’d always pick out and buy a new book from Target for each trip but then that came back to bite me too many times with buying ehhhh books so now I take MULTIPLE options, including rereads that I own and library books. I also need A LOT more than 1 book for most trips now.
And yes to it being hard to start a new book! ALWAYS. Which is why I always read the jacket copy first, I feel like I need my bearings before I dive in.
I wouldn’t say I’m super picky about my books, but I haven’t had the best luck with loaning them out. One was lost (and replaced), but another I loaned out to a high school student in my ward and she returned it in appallingly horrible condition. I think I just threw it away. It was dirty and torn and I couldn’t fathom how it got that way.
I loved reading these! When I was younger, through high school even, I would never ever dog ear a page and got so mad when my dad did that to the books I shared with him (the only person I’ve lent my books to). Now? I dog ear, I eat, I spill in cookbooks. I’ve read in the bath every single day since I was a toddler.
The names thing got me, too! When I first read the Harry Potter books, I thought Hermione was pronounced her-my-own-ee, and when my friend Caitlin said something to me about her pronouncing it correctly, I was all, “Oh, yeah, Hermione is awesome!” But on the inside thinking “… oh. That’s how you say it. I’m a giant idiot.” Ha! So I can definitely relate!!
Omg Dr Seuss!!! Thank you for that, I thought it was just me! And I always borrow books from people but recently I’ve been stuck with a couple of books that I don’t feel like reading anymore but I don’t know how to just return them =/
I relate to lots of these actually!
I’m guilty of boring people with great detail of the book I’m currently enjoying or an app or device that has to do with reading.
I always carry a handag that’s big enough to fit a book.
I’ve been a bookworm for as long as I can remember, and when I was younger, I was a major introvert. So I’d read a book when people came home and leave my sister to entertain them.
The names! I’m such a visual person. I’m terrible at getting the names mixed up when talking about the book. But not while reading!
I am super picky about books on vacation. When the book doesn’t match the location it’s too much of a distraction for me. It’s like being on two different planets. And I don’t enjoy either. It is amazing when the book fits the feel of the place. Like reading The Secret Garden in Copenhagen. Lonesome Dove on a trip out to west Texas. Christmas with the Kranks audiobook while driving across a few states on a winter road trip.
If someone wants to loan me a book, I’ll ask if they want me to return it or pass it along when I’m done. If they want me to return it I will 100% not read it. Just return it ASAP and tell them I didn’t get to it. I just cannot enjoy a book while I’m thinking about what the book-loaner thought about the book. It feels like wearing someone else’s shoes.
I have the hardest time getting into many books written by men with a female lead or narrator. It is such a peeve of mine if they get something essential about the feminine perspective wrong.
matts super careful with his books- mine look like the velveteen rabbit ( well loved) so I’m not allowed to read his or lend them out.
Ha! This is why we are friends.
Yes to pretty much all of these! Except Dr. Seuss 😉 He won my heart as a child and I love reading rhyming books to my kids. My confession: there are a few classics that I want to love so badly but can’t get into. One is Little Women. I have attempted reading it 4 times(including audiobook) and cannot get past the second chapter. 😬
I love some of his books, just not the LONNNNNNNG ones. 🙂
Love these! I can relate especially to 3, 6, and 7. As an English teacher, I am a bit ashamed my books aren’t marked up as I instruct students LOL. Also, I LOVE LOVE reading but I HATE starting books and it hinders me from reading as much as I would like. I always thought this made no sense, so I am SO glad that you put this into words!! 🙂
I feel like I’m one of the few bookworms who thinks it’s possible to own too many books. I borrow almost everything from the library, I rarely go to bookstores, and I only buy a book if it’s (1) a biography or history book that I want to really study and be able to refer back to later or (2) a book that I love so much that I’m on my third time reading it.
I love eating while I read! It’s my favorite way to enjoy dessert!
This is such a great post! I LOVE a worn book. So I have learned who NOT to borrow from (my sister). Me on the other hand, I practically beg people to borrow my books so I can add their name to the inside cover (I like to keep track of who has read them). I too, take library books anywhere I would take a book that I own.
I agree with you on all of these, ESPECIALLY feeling obligated to read books from other people. I’m 35, I don’t need homework. My confession is I bring books into the bathtub all the time. I typically exclusively get books from the library, but when I’m traveling on a plane my ritual is to treat myself to an airport novel and an iced coffee.
I’m currently a first year law student and everyone complains about how much reading is required. On the other hand I love it! On top of the approximately 350 pages of textbook reading a week, I make sure I still read for pleasure every day. My pleasure reading involves both audio and regular books.
I use random things as bookmarks too (despite having many proper ones). I love using thick clothing labels for bookmarks. Neon Buddha’s are my favorite lol
Have you tried using book darts vs highlighting/written notes/dogears? A very bookish friend turned me on to them. – so good for non fiction!
Number 7- yes! I’m a teacher and when I read aloud a book the class has been reading with someone else you KNOW a child is going to call out and correct your pronunciation 🤦🏻♀️ 😆 I use it as a teaching point exactly as you said – *it doesn’t matter!!!*
This is me. Every. Single. One of Them! I haven’t lost a library book on vacation, but I have accidentally dropped a library book into the lake on vacation…whoops! I bought that book from the library when we got home 😀