18 common characteristics of book lovers

Are you a book lover? Do you have friends who also like reading? Do you seem to have some similarities? Book reading has become something like a cult whereby there is no sole leader but only the thirst for reading that leads all of us to searching everywhere for books to read and thus cultivating some similar qualities as bibliophiles. Although there are a few topics such as whether paper books are better than eBooks  where book lovers find difference, they are still bound together by the fact that they are still book readers. Having read books again and again over a period of years, book lovers start showing some signature characters that can relate with each other. Check out this list to find out how many you possess.

Solitude for peace

Bookworms may be mistaken for being introverts when they are just people who like to sit down and just get to consume a few pages of a book alone without any distractions. They like to get lost into the author’s world and temporarily forget about what is going on around them. Which is one of the advantages of having a good reading habit. It releases the stress imposed on your mind by your daily activities. One may think that a bibliophile sitting in a dark room is a total loner. This is not always the case; you are not always there alone. A bibliophile sitting alone with a book makes up to at least two people, accompanied by the author, leave alone the other many characters that a book lover engages with.

Reluctant to lending books

Lending books is one of the best ways to get rid of used books for those who have more to give or would like to get another second-hand book in exchange of one they have not read. While this is a nice idea, we as book lovers tend to be reluctant when lending our second-hand books. We are worried about trivial matters such as will the new owner of the book take good care of it. We all have that one book that has created a bond with us for a longer time. Perhaps you read the book while you were the lowest in your life and it shed light on your path. You may find it hard parting with such a book.

Books as bibliophiles’ gifts

Gifting is one idea that has been embraced by book lovers over a long period of time. There are different gifts that you can give a bookworm but gifting him/her with a book might be one of the best options if you have no option to choose from. Gifting a book does not cost you anything in the first place for you have to buy nothing apart from something to wrap your second-hand book gift in. This gives book lovers a chance to bond with others in a much more meaningful way.

Non-judgmental bookworms

Reading a book over a long period of time enables you to have different views of different situations in a different way. Different authors talk about the same idea but on a different perspective. This teaches book lovers that one’s opinion of himself or another should not enable them to judge another. It is like a six is a nine when turned upside down. They understand that everyone has a reason to back up their theory and they entitle to make any judgment. Every situation or theory may be right based on how it has been conveyed.

 

Judging a book by its cover

We have all heard of the saying, “do not judge a book by its cover”. I it is right in terms of its literal meaning but when it comes to book lovers, this becomes a different story. You might wonder that this idea about book lovers is becoming controversial because we’ve just learnt that book lovers are non-judgmental. Book lovers have that innate skill of just looking at the design of the cover of the book, read a review from the back and they already start feeling the taste of the book. By just checking the intro, flapping a few pages and reading one or two lines, then you hear “Let me try this out!” They almost never get it wrong!

Having a preference of books over movies

It is hard to convince a book lover to watch a movie of the same story in a book. Books give the suspense needed for enjoyment more than movies whereby when watching a movie, it is easy to skip some parts that are not as enjoying as you wanted. When it comes to books, there is no forwarding, every sentence you skip will make you lose some important information you need for later chapters. Book worms would rather read a book before watching a movie rather than watching a movie before reading the same book.

Going back to exact pages or chapters to reread

Bookworms have that ability to locate the exact page that they need some information from after reading it three weeks ago. This might seem as an exaggeration but they can easily locate the areas around the information they need from a book. Belike something happens in their life that needs guidance or if it is a feeling of just wanting some more test of the story, they find it no big deal in reading again. Just the same way a movie lover will replay a scene several times, so do book lovers.

Running across book related encounters

A book lover may be aware of a lot of characters than the loudest extrovert downtown. Books have several characters and if read over years, these become just too many that they can see a reflection of a book character in people they interact with. Books go in detail when the author wants you to get a good picture of who they are trying to convey. Perhaps its just a life lesson from a self-help book and within a second, they start relating. This is in fact of importance to them for they can learn to control situations or avoid something awful that may happen, without experience.

Following your favorite author on the internet

Bibliophiles get to know their favorite authors well enough just like a brother. They surf across the internet to know what book the author might be releasing next or what book the author might be working on. Some have websites where book lovers subscribe to their newsletters and get useful content such as blogs. Other book lovers follow their favorite author’s on social media just for curiosity’s sake; they want to know how this guy with this amazing knowledge lives. Others go all the way to watching videos of their authors on different platforms such as YouTube.

Timeless reading

One of the reasons book lovers travel with books is that any time they feel bored, motivated to read, or have nothing else to do, they can just pull their book out and get going. It is no doubt that some have set aside a specific time for reading, but this is not the case all the way. Secondly, they can read their book at any time anywhere. Even if the room they are in has very little lighting, they can still afford to read with ease. Be it sitting by the roadside while waiting for a but, under a tree in a forest or in the comfort of their room, they still find it worth to read a book any time at any place.

Wishing for a bibliophile partner

Book lovers learn about a lot of characters from the books they read for a longer period of time. They get to learn that different people have different emotions and people deal with emotions in a different way. They have learnt how to engage with others in a good way and thus can make good lovers if they come across each other. They imagine of sitting in a lonely room, together, in silence, just digging through their books. That is having something in common that you can do for longer periods of time, anytime, anywhere, creating a strong bond as they get to know each other.

Walking around with books

Books are small and do not weigh that much. Three books can be carried in a backpack with ease without taking so much space. Book lovers always have a book or two in the list of what to carry when touring somewhere or when just walking around the hood. Just in case they get themselves in a boring situation or in a room with no one to talk to, book lovers simply pull out their book and get going with their reading. Reading a fiction book under tree on an island is just heaven on earth!

Great time keepers

Book lovers are conscious of their time wherever they go. Wasting time is not in their vocabulary. They know that completing a book and becoming more knowledgeable takes much efforts than watching a movie of the same. The discipline of taking your time to read a book of 500 pages makes your time more worthy. You find some in a book library busy reading while a timer is counting on their wrist. The alarm goes off before they engage in any other activity. Next time you want to hang out with a bibliophile, make sure you have the date, time and duration of the activity. That is how much they value their time.

Bookshelf judging

This might seem as another controversy from what has been stated earlier that book lovers are non-judgmental. It is not a matter of judging someone’s behavior or something of sort but just getting to know how deep is this person’s understanding of books. Will he make a good person to have a conversation with? Should they engage in deep conversations about books? They also would like to get someone who may have read lots of books in another genre so they can exchange great lessons or ideas. If a person’s bookshelf looks messy, cannot consider the idea of exchanging books with the other person. Part of their world revolves around books!

Trying to view your life as a novel

Book lovers have learnt about the experiences of many different characters and some often show up in their life. Book lovers often experience a life that is a little bit interesting. Perhaps it is that girl you have been chasing, and the story seems to take the direction a certain character in your favorite romantic novel took. Some even have a plan of how they wish their experiences to follow. It is no doubt that they have total control over what happens but sometimes life just becomes interesting with its ups and downs. Wishing this could be a book about you.

An endless list of books to read

There is an endless list of books out here for book lovers to read. They cannot run out of books to read. The number of authors is increasing and authors are releasing more books each and every day. Book lovers for example get to choose a series of books from the same author. They have to read the books one by one until they exhaust the list. The list may never be exhausted for books are timeless which means there are all kinds of books for all kinds of people to read at any time. With this in mind, do not be surprised to find a bibliophile with a very long list of books to read.

Burning desire for knowledge

Knowledge is wide and cannot be exhausted. Book lovers embrace the lesson that learning is for a lifetime. Book lovers can read different books from different authors just to see how those authors approach the same topic. It is not a matter of who is right or wrong. Belike the other author may have a few sidenotes that really make a huge difference. They get a chance to hear from both sides and make decisions based on what they know better. You thought a bibliophile could now rest after reading a book for a whole month, then boom! There he needs another book to read, and the cycle continues.

Do not like the “why do you read much” question

Book lovers often find it hard to explain to other normal people who do not read how they benefit from reading. We all agree with the fact that reading gives us more knowledge. That makes it clear that the one asking such a question is not expecting such an answer because it is already known. Book lovers get in love with their books in such a way that one may just be unable to explain the feeling of dealing with books. The have all the advantages of reading books from the feeling of joy of reading books such as Travel and Culture to the peace of mind that books bring in their life. It is something that they cherish. They find it hard to explain such to a normal person who does no reading who finds it hard to understand.