The Truth about Bookworms

Reading with a view - what else is there to want?

Booklovers

All my friends and family know that I love reading. As my blog title Book and Family Chat suggests I love all things book related. There's no doubt that Book deserves to be in the same sentence as family, though I probably should change the order of the wording of my blog to Family and Book Chat!

If I've got a lot on my mind I read 'easy' books that are quick to read and to settle into if I'm a bit more chilled I'll tackle some more 'challenging' books. I enjoy writing book reviews on all kind of books and all types of reading related issues. I enjoy writing bookclub questions for people in bookclubs.  In fact, I can't remember the last time I didn't have a book on the go. 

Being back home in Bangkok with Mick this trip has afforded me time during the day to spend some time reading. I have a bit of a passion for African literature which I'm indulging in right now.

​I do find, though generally speaking, that constantly having my head in a book can get me into trouble. Allegedly booklovers and bookworms have some quite annoying habits!  

Booklovers Annoying Habits

Booklovers don't think having books all over the house counts as being untidy!

• After spending hours engrossed in a book (where your only movement has been from your index finger turning a page) you finish the book, put it down and complain that your partner doesn't talk to you and has been ignoring you the whole day!
• You are in an openly loud and bad mood with your partner. When he gently asks what is wrong you eventually share that a male character in the book you are reading has not been treating his wife well.
• You are found with tears streaming down your face. After your partner finally discovers what is wrong he learns that something sad has happened to a character in a book you are reading.
• You talk to your partner about someone you are reading about and seek his advice about what they ought to do. Without the context he firmly believes that he is sharing life advice about a friend you have rather than about a  fictional character.
• You feel able to add to almost every conversation with an anecdote or reference to something that you've read. However you have yet to remember the title of the book, author, or character that the anecdote you are sharing refers to.
• You are an emotional wreck oozing with empathy through years of reading too much fiction.
• You book a lovely weekend away but don't fully invest in it. After all you are emotionally exhausted having by invested heavily in the book you are currently reading.
• You sit down to watch a TV show with your partner, but spend only a few minutes focused on the screen before picking up your book. Feeling guilty, you put it back down and try to concentrate. That's fine, but you then  go on and ask questions about what is happening on the programme at key points in the story, thus ruining the watching for your partner! 
• You are a tidy freak and constantly tell your partner off for leaving mess around the house. However, when engrossed in a book you become a sloth and slob leaving around cups, wrappers, plates, apple cores and peel adfinitum. You react like a bear with a sore head if this is pointed out to you.
• You behave throughtlessly to your sleeping partner by either switching a bright light on so that you can read in bed, laughing out loud at a funny section of your book and waking them up, or making them think that something terrible has happened after they awake to you sobbing into your pillow after reading something sad..
• You buy your partner and children the books for Christmas and birthdays that you would like to read.
• You ask for books for Christmases and birthdays only to return them. You say a polite thank you but quickly give a way that you've read them all before and they need returning. 
• You have been known to give away the ending of a book. You don't personally think this is such a big deal as you always read the end of a book shortly after starting it ... just in case ....
• You go on a road trip with spectacular views and miss the whole thing as you can't put your book down. 

Do you have Annoying Reading Habits?

I should say that I accept that some of the above may well be annoying reading habits, but I am sure that I don't have any of them - well maybe one or two! I have plenty to say about the benefits of reading but I'm sure that can't be annoying! I wonder, do you have any annoying reading habits? If so what are they?