If you’ve ever caught yourself doing any of these, rest assured: you’re not strange — you’re just a reader. Here are the habits we all share but rarely admit out loud.
- Talking or arguing with the characters.
We’ve all done it. When one of our favourite characters is about to do something completely stupid, we yell it out loud — as if they can actually hear us. “Don’t go in there!” “Why would you say that?!” If only they could listen… we’d have saved ourselves so much heartache and pain every time a beloved character gets hurt. - Rereading the same paragraph 3–4 times.
Sometimes the plot takes such a wild turn that you simply can’t believe what just happened. You read it once, blink, read it again, and maybe even a third or fourth time — just to make sure you understood it right. It’s not that you weren’t paying attention; you’re trying to burn that moment permanently into your brain. - Keeping books you’ll probably never read.
We all know the struggle of the never-ending TBR pile. And let’s be honest: there are books sitting on our shelves that, deep down, we know we’re never actually going to get around to reading. But do we get rid of them? Absolutely not. They look too pretty lined up there, and they stay as a little reminder of all the stories and adventures that could have been. - Talking about characters as if they are real people.
In my opinion, this is the ultimate sign of a great book: if the characters hit you right in the feels, then they are real people. When your favourite lead is hurting, you’re hurting too. So of course you talk about them just like you would a real friend — as if they walked right beside you and lived through every moment alongside you. - Refusing to DNF a book out of principle.
This one is a real struggle for me. I know some readers can put a book down the second it stops working for them, and that’s totally fine! But for me? I keep pushing through, even if I’m bored or it’s taking forever. In my two years of reading, I’ve only DNF’d two books. I just need that closure — to know exactly how it all ends. That’s all.
Would you like me to also make a shorter, social-media-friendly version of this for Instagram/TikTok captions, plus some matching hashtags?
Do you share some of these habits?
Let me know!
Love&Pages
J💛
Books For The Soul 