10 Bookish Challenges Only Bookworms Have To Deal With

Book lovers seem to have it all sorted out, don't they? They never seem to have any boredom problem. They never mind waiting in long queues. Many of them, in fact, actually LIKE lengthy commutes. They never seem to stress over weekend-plans. They don't care if the Cable TV is not working. Or even the internet. Wherever they are, they simply pull a book out of their bag or the bookshelf, and time seems to just fly for them.

Totally zen, right?

Wrong.

Book lovers also have challenges. A very UNIQUE set of challenges, as a matter of fact. Listed below are 10 bookish challenges that only a bookworm would know and understand, for these are 10 challenges that only a book lover ever has to face and deal with.

10 Bookish Challenges Only Book Lovers Can Relate To

1. Budget management

   They keep releasing new books (that you want to read) faster than your salary.
   
   Every month, you tell yourself - "I won't buy any new books next month." But come next month's paycheck, and once again, you end up buying more books than your budget would allow!
   
   You go to the store to pick up "only five" books from your wish-list, and you end up bagging 15 more that just "caught your eye".
   
   You don't have any savings, but you HAVE a house full of books. Ain't that the story of your life now?
   
   

2. Space management

   At first you run out of shelf space for your books. So you buy more cabinets.
   
   Eventually, you run out of cabinet space too. And before you know it, you need a bigger house, just to accommodate your insanely expanding home library.
   
   But you can't afford a bigger house, 'coz of point number 1 above.
   
   That's when you grudgingly decide you need to start using Kindle! 😜
   
   

3. Time management

   (My personal nightmare.) You have your entire day's "to-do list" in front of you, but you just want to finish this "one last chapter".
   
   Oh but the plot is hanging on such a major suspense point.
   
   So you try to sneak in one more chapter, on the sly. And then one more. And... oops!
   
   No work done in the house. Nothing to eat. Sleep has become an elusive lover. And you're constantly eyeing your TBR pile. And wishing you had 4 extra days PER DAY just to read.
   
   

4. Fantasy and escapism

   (Another personal nightmare.) You get so involved in the book's story-line that you are unable to separate fiction and reality.
   
   Are you here? Or are you there?
   
   You are like a zombie. The characters of the book seem more real to you than the people you live and work with. You seem to get trapped in THEIR world, THEIR adventure, THEIR life's drama.
   
   And your own family members?
   
   What family members? Oh you mean these strangers? I wonder why they are always nagging me! [shakes head in incomprehension and goes back to book]
   
   

5. Emotion management

   Managing your emotions can be a serious bookish challenge if, like me, you are a sensitive and imaginative reader who tends to get completely absorbed in the fictitious world of the plot. There are -
   

   • Embarrassing "public-giggling attacks"... in local trains, buses, office cabs, cafeterias... you name it!
   
   
   • Angry outbursts... when you realize that the book you just finished has a sequel that's not yet been published, so you'll have to WAIT... to find out how the story ends.
   
   
   • Week-long depressions... when you finish a long series, like Lord Of The Rings... because you just weren't ready to say "Goodbye" to your new friends yet.

   Oh, and Heaven help you if one of your favorite characters dies in a book! (I went into shock when Dumbledore died in the Harry Potter series.)
   
   

6. Book hangovers(?)

   Ok be honest now.
   
   After reading Harry Potter, how many times did you try to use the "Accio" charm to summon random objects to you, because you felt too lazy to get up from your bed?
   
   Or tried to research the history of ancient Egypt on Wikipedia, after reading Wilbur Smith's Egyptian Series?
   
   Or tried to be Mark Watney (of The Martian) and grow potatoes in your own sh*t? 🤣🤣🤣
   
   Ummm no, I don't think any of you would have done that! 😜😜😜
   
   Or did you? 😁😁😁
   
   

7. No social life

   Because you're a social snob.
   
   You judge people on whether they read or not. You even judge them on their choice of books.
   
   On top of it, you're ALSO a social recluse.
   
   You'd rather curl up on the sofa with a good book than attend some long-lost cousin's wedding, or get drunk at the local pub with a bunch of noisy friends, or watch some sweaty, over-aggressive players chase a ball over a field (or kick one, it's all one and the same anyway)...!
   
   Bottom-line: You'd rather be with a book than with a real person. Period.
   
   

8. Relationship management

   First of all, you don't HAVE that many relationships, 'coz that would require you to pull your nose out of your books once in a while.
   
   But the few who're just mandatorily there... i.e. your immediate family and close friends... you can never figure out how to NOT get irritated at them for interrupting you in the middle of EVERY SINGLE BOOK you read!
   
   And if a friend borrows a book from you and loses/damages it?
   
   What friend? Whose friend? Who needs any friends? Huhh! [jerks head in anger and goes back to book]
   
   

9. Dealing with crappy movie adaptations

   Because you have read the original masterpiece.
   
   You KNOW what happens in the plot. You know EXACTLY what each character says and does. You even know exactly what s/he THINKS and FEELS!
   
   So you find it very irritating when they omit half of the book from the movie, 'coz then every time you see the movie, you have to read the book again to fill in the blanks, no?
   
   And you hate it when they change a character so much that you can't even recognize him/her from the book. (Like they did to Frodo in Lord Of The Rings.)
   
   

10. Bookish choices

    You spend an hour at the bookstore, shortlisting books you want to buy... and then ANOTHER half hour, deciding which ones to leave this time, 'coz you only have so much money that day.
    
    You stand in front of your bookcase like a statue, wondering which book you ought to start on next -- one from your TBR pile, or one of your old favorites again.
    
    And if someone asks you to talk about your favorite book?
    
    Whaaattt? ONE favorite book? ONLY ONE? [opens mouth to speak, closes it without saying anything, repeats... repeats again, and again... scratches head in disbelief and goes back to book]
    
    

Now you see? The life of a bookworm is not so easy after all. It is full of weird bookish challenges that only book lovers would be able to understand and relate with.

So, are you a bookworm too?
How many of these bookish challenges have you had to deal with?
Which one of these is your biggest personal nightmare?
Have you faced any other bookish challenges, apart from the ones listed above?

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