The Broke and the Bookish runs this business.
This topic calls to me. I have a lot of problems, clearly. Here are ten of them.
1. I have this weird quirk where I read the last line of a book first. It's a big problem that I've been working on. I don't do it as much now. Before I start a book, I fight the urge to flip to the last page and read the last sentence of it. Most of the time the last line means nothing to me out of context, but I have ruined a good number of books this way.
2. My backpack destroys the bottoms of paperback books. The bottom of my backpack is a tire. Like on the outside it looks like a rubber tire and on the inside it's a rubber mesh. No protective lining or anything. The rubber just eats up paper, it's actually horrible. I just got a new backpack.
3. The library only allows for 3 holds!! I mean, you can be sneaky and have 9 (3 requested, 3 in transit, 3 ready for pickup), but that's still not enough! Luckily my roommate lets me use his slots.
4. Strangers don't approach me to compliment my extraordinary taste or request that I befriend them. I just don't understand why the book I'm reading doesn't spark conversation with strangers on the subway or in a bookstore or library. I guess it's a romantic notion that isn't realistic. Maybe 2 or 3 times has somebody commented on the book I'm reading, but it's never amounted to anything. Oh well, maybe one day.
5. Similarly, I coordinate my nail polish to the book I'm reading, but nobody notices.
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| It looks black, but it's a DEEP BLUE with GREEN SPARKLES to represent the ocean. Get it? It's subtle. |
Ok, I don't do this all the time, but when I do I want it to count for something.
6. Most of my reading is limited to my commute. I've gotten better about making time for reading outside of commuting to and from school/work/internship, but sometimes I feel too guilty about homework to read. Reading on the subway is just a pain. It's not a long enough period of time and sometimes people don't let you sit down. Similarly to how senior citizens and pregnant women get consideration and seats near the doors, I think there should be a section of seats for people who are at a REALLY GOOD PART of their book.
7. I always end up with a huge mass of tiny scraps at the end of a book. When I'm reading, I use a receipt as a bookmark. When I see a sentence I like, I rip a little piece off of that receipt and stick it in the book. Once I'm done with the book, I go through to the tiny bookmarks. If I remember what it was on the two pages that I like, I write it down. If I can't find it, it clearly wasn't that good. It's a pretty good system for me, except for the pile of tiny scraps I end up with once I'm done.
8. I get really bad headaches from screens...which means ebooks. I don't know what it is lately, but I've been getting a lot of headaches making it impossible to stare at screens. That means I can't really do my homework, I can't really watch The Bachelor, and I certainly can't read my ebooks on my non-e-ink tablet.
9. We can't display ebook covers in a meaningful way. I amass ebooks and often just forget about them. I don't even want to display them to show them off to people. I just love looking at my books and moving them around and whatever. I'm just waiting for the day when there's a reasonable way to look at all these ebooks at once, because scrolling through them on my tablet isn't good enough.
10. I am constantly crying and it frightens my friends and family. Ok, not constantly. But I'm pretty likely to cry because of a book, if not just tear up. I remember when I finished The Killing Moon, I had one page left, but I was already sobbing. That one hit me really hard. And at that moment, there was a knock on my door. I opened it, tears streaming down my face, to find my horrified boyfriend. I couldn't say words, I just held up the book. I don't know if he was more or less startled.