Readers be warned; reading is a dangerous hobby. Yes, you read right, forget base jumping, sky diving and go karting reading is a hobby riddled with potential wobbles, trials and tribulations. Don’t raise an eye brow at me, there are many quibbles that come with being a reader. If you’re still a little confused read on.
(Although I must admit base-jumping, sky diving and go karting are all very dangerous and potential life threatening activities: Be careful out there)
Looking up what you’re currently reading on Goodreads/Twitter/Facebook
*SPOILERS* are alllll over the internet, don’t be fooled into thinking that you can just avoid said spoilers by avoiding certain hashtags or not searching for the book you’re currently reading. Stay away, turn off your phone and stick your head in that book; everything will be okay. I think.
Getting too many books out from the library
Afajgajhjah library fines get me time, after time and it’s no longer discount charges as they used to be as with your university library. No more Mr Nice Librarian. Fines are pricey and if you forget to renew or take those bad boys back it’s only going to get worse. Period.
Telling Somebody What You’re Reading
Luckily my friends that read the most are also book bloggers so they understand the pain of discussing a currently read book, but once you mention you’re reading the new John Green or J K Rowling book you can be sure to hear the terrifying words ‘have you got to the part where….’ Before you can scream ‘goddamn it stop it,’ they’ve told you ***** or that *** ***** (no spoilers from me, I’m a nice blogger you know.)
Get (and keep) a bookmark
This is the one I fall for every, single, time. You start reading a book very happily and then you have to stop and think I will 100% remember that I am currently on page 1865547. Then you come back to said book and you have skim forward a couple of pages and then back a couple. Before you know it, you’ve realised that the killer was the young girls mothers, aunties sister and that you’ve ruined the final plot twist right before you got to it. Rookie mistake. Carry multiple story savers with you to avoid said awkward situation.
Forgetting to bring a book to a festival/beach/coffee shop
This one could also be labelled as forgetting to charge up your Kindle or E-reader, but make sure that wherever you are going you bring your trusty, currently reading book. I’m sure we’ve all been in the situation when you sit down to open up your current tale of adventure and you’ve left the damn thing at home. You never know when a train will be late, a friend will not turn up for coffee, or you’ll wake up the earliest at a festival, having a trusty book will always save you in these awkward or mind-numbingly boring situations. There’s nothing worse than thinking you can just turn to the next page and continue on the tale to find you’re book-less.
Number five and our final bookish warning is potentially controversial but
Finishing Every Book You Start
This used to be me, but readers you need to stop saying that it’s not okay to put down a book and leave it. If it’s not that good you need to put it down. Yes, give it a couple of chapters, pop it down have some tea, try again but then leave it. Do not toil through till the cows come home and when done think, thank god that is over, it’s unhealthy, a time waster and a big mistake. I can vouch for this. Take your pride and buy a new book and devour that one instead.
Reading is a dangerous task but with these little tips you should be onto a healthy relationship with your beloved books *cheers.*
mylittlebookblog 
I am so with you on spoilers! I hate, hate, hate it when practically the whole plot is divulged in the blurb too! What’s that about? However I then realised how difficult it was to write something compelling while still giving nothing away when it came time to write my own blurbs 🙂
Spoilers are so annoying especially on Goodreads!! It’s like cmon…. let us all enjoy it! 🙂
Blurbs are so difficult to get that perfect inbetween – too little versus too much! Thank you for commenting 🙂
This is one of the reasons I’m very careful about reading any reviews Lizzy. It’s one of the arts of reviewing – managing to say what you want without giving too much away.
Totally agree with not having to finish ALL books!! There are too many good ones to spend time reading not good ones.
Amanda.
Definitely! It’s taken me so long to realise that but you really must move on from books that just aren’t that great! Xx
I’ve given up reading blurbs. I tend to open up the book and read the first page. Sometimes it only takes a sentence for me to know I don’t want to go any further – and I absolutely won’t waste time finishing a book I don’t like. Too many other lovely books out there clamouring for my attention. I really enjoyed this Lizzie. Many thanks:)
I get what you mean, but if I did that for the books I pick up, I probably wouldn’t of read Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone because the first few pages aren’t the most gripping.
There will always be books like that, I guess order of the phoenix was a little like that for me…and little women which I actually really enjoyed when I finally finished it. Maybe, just if you have a guy instinct you just have to say no?
Gut instinct plays a big part of whether I read the book or not, that is probably why I haven’t read some t
of the more popular book series nowadays. And I read Little Women a while back and I loved it!
It’s a tricky one, isn’t it? I just so very fed up with starting a book, already knowing the main plotpoints in the first quarter of the story. But you are right, sometimes books start slowly. I’d like to think that I give the ones I discard a fair chance…
I seriously hate summaries long enough to fill the back cover. Nice short summaries are the best in my mind and if you are writing summaries that WAY too long that is a turn off, but I still try to read the first few pages of the book just in case.
Reblogged this on Brainfluff and commented:
I thoroughly enjoyed Lizzie’s amusing article about the risk of being an avid reader – so thought I’d share with you.
This was a very funny and very ACCURATE article. Whenever I see a spoiler on the internet I always become so in denial about what I read like- No, I didn’t read that, they are probably talking about something else-
So glad you enjoyed, I really like to write these posts! I know, when the paper towns trailer came out I was a little like whaaaa, there are so many little giveaways there… but it was my own fault because I’ve been meaning to read it for agesssss.