15 Slightly Embarrassing Habits That Every Single Book-Lover Has

Look, books smell good! That's just a fact! I don't know if it's the paper or the ink or the author's hopes and dreams, but books (especially old books) smell like comfort and knowledge and overstuffed armchairs and crackling fireplaces. Every book-lover has to take a whiff now and then.

You might be frugal when it comes to unimportant things, like rent or groceries, but books are serious business. Very few book-lovers are able to enter a bookstore without buying a book or five. And I'm not saying that buying books is a bad thing, but here's a PSA to save both your wallet and your crowded bookshelves: the public library is still giving out books for free, guys. Free.

You're already running out of shelf space. You already have at least ten books on your nightstand, just waiting to be read. And yet, here you are, writing out a meticulous list of the several dozen books you can't wait to read, because you can't stand the thought of ever running out of reading material.

No matter how long your TBR list, and no matter how many new books you've just purchased, no book-lover can resist the siren song of the re-read. You can't just let your favorite book languish, un-read, all year long! You have to shove all those "To Be Read" books aside and pick up Pride and Prejudice again, because half the joy of reading is re-reading.

If pressed, a book-lover will find a way to read anywhere. Trains, buses, math class, you name it. But, if you have the time to sit down and leisurely read in your very own home, you will instantly create an ultra-comfortable warren of pillows and tea. Or a warm bath with scented candles. Or even just your good ol' reliable bed.

You just can't help it. As soon as your friends start talking about the new It movie, or the latest season of Game of Thrones, you are compelled by unseen forces to say, "Well, in the book..." and then explain a vital point that the adaptation got wrong while everyone else's eyes glaze over.

As book-lovers, we try not to judge a book by its cover... but we absolutely judge people by their bookshelves (and we also sometimes judge books by their covers). The first time you go over to a new friend or lover's house, the first thing you do is zero in on that bookshelf, to make sure you're not about to get involved with someone who thinks that Patrick Bateman is just misunderstood, or that Lolita is a beautiful love story.

Reading while walking. Reading while running. Reading while entering and exiting public transit. Reading while your mom is talking to you. Reading while cooking. Reading while your cat plots her next attack on your toes. Sometimes you just can't put that book down, even if you probably should.

Sure, you like to go out and be social... sometimes. But most of the time, you'd really rather be at home with your book. And on at least one occasion, you've actually pretended to have plans, just so you could stay in and read (I mean, technically staying in and reading is a plan).

OK, so you'll be out of town for two days... so you'll probably only need two books, right? But what if you finish them both, or what if you're more in the mood for a historical drama instead of a comedic memoir... you'd better take seven, just to be safe.

Or making too many literary references that no one quite understands. Or just plain talking too much about books. Woe to anyone who asks you "Oh, what's it about?" unless they're prepared for a twenty minute lecture on story structure and why your favorite character would definitely date you if they were real.

Does anyone else start reading all the copyright info when they finish a book? Or the acknowledgments? Or immediately Google the book even though you literally just read it because you're not ready for it to be over? Or, you know, you just start crying. No matter how many times you do it, finishing a book always feels like saying goodbye to all your beloved book-friends.

Who says you can only read one book at a time? Sure, you might start to mix up a few plot points (there are no dragons in Wuthering Heights, right?), and it might take you a tad longer to finish both books, but there's no reason not to read two (or nine) books simultaneously.

I'll admit, I'm guilty of dog-earring the odd page. But I'm pretty sure that even the staunch bookmarkers of the world find themselves sticking the odd receipt or business card into their books every once in a while. A few brave book-lovers might even be in the habit of just remembering their page number, which is a next level reading skill that I do not possess.

Every book-lover knows what it's like to be lying in bed, bleary-eyed, at three in the morning, unable to put that book down and go to sleep because you need to know what happens next. Yes, you might be exhausted at work in the morning, but it's worth it if you get to finish your book (and then immediately start another one).