i am neurotic.

I cannot stand when books are opened too much or enough that the spine is cracked or lines are formed. Pages also cannot be bent in the corners to mark their place. If this happens I usually have to buy a new book to replace it.

Turning pages in books. I rub my fingers far too hard against the pages to make sure that I’m not accidentally turning two at the same time. What if I didn’t notice and the story suddenly didn’t make sense? Then I would have to go back a re-read, and then it would get to that weird point where I’m just reading letters and words and sentences, rather than thoughts or ideas. And I can’t stand that.

every time i fly, i MUST be reading something during take-off and landing. if not, the plane will crash and/or explode into a fiery ball of destruction, killing all onboard. so therefore, i read as a public safety service.

I buy new books all the time, sometimes spending up to $250.00 at a time, and I havent had a steady job in a year. But I never read any of them. I just look everything up online, but I need to have them because I feel like I might need to refer to them one day when the world is ending.

I am terrified of Dr. Seuss.  It’s not the poems or the stories that scare me, but the images and pictures that do. I cannot even stand to look at a Dr. Seuss cartoon drawing, and I have no idea why. I would rather watch 100 or the scariest movies than read 1 Dr. Seuss book. I was not always this way, and I am not sure why I am now, but those images put a terror in me like nothing else can.

When I start reading a book and get distracted and consequently fail to finish reading it, I can never read it again. I just get so freaked out by re-reading the beginning when I haven’t read the ending, and I can never remember where I left off. So when I start reading a book, I have to make sure I can devote at least an hour to it, so I can get far enough into the plot and be able to finish it later.

I can never read more than one book at a time. I’m always afraid that I’m going to mix up their story lines and then the books will never be the same and I won’t enjoy them as much as I thought that I did and that would make me more upset than anything else I can think of.

When I’m reading something (anything), if I feel like I’ve skipped a word I have to go back and read and re-read the word(s) before I feel comfortable going on. I get instant anxiety if I feel like I’ve skipped something and I have to go back more than once to make sure I’ve read something properly.

I go to great lengths to protect my paperback books from getting creased covers. If they get bent, creased or worn I look at them as damaged goods with disgust and try to hide them in the bookcase so I don’t have to see them.

Before I begin reading a new hardcover book, I always have to take off the outside jacket to see what the hardbound cover looks like.