7 Habits Only BookLovers Understand ...

This one is my personal favorite among the habits only booklovers understand. Smelling pages is the first thing I do when I get hold of a book, whether brand new or second hand. That smell of ink inscribed on paper brings back stories of dragons and kingdoms and witches and fairies that filled my happy childhood. It’s addictive! Every book that passes through the hands of a booklover is sure to get a thorough sniff.

Guilty as charged! Booklovers know they cannot read all those books on their shelves and tables and yet, they continue to buy more books. My mother used to ask me why I make this as a habit and my usual answer has been, "Books are investments. You can never go wrong with books." I am not sure if I gave her the right answer but well, that’s me.

Booklovers visit bookshops to buy more… crayons? Ha! Heck, what else? BOOKS! It's a mortal sin among booklovers NOT to visit a bookshop at least once a week. The bookshop is a booklover’s heaven in the same way as the restaurant (or cafe) is a foodie’s comfort place. Bookshops offer booklovers security and coziness, peace and serenity.

A genuine booklover cannot bear to fold pages of a book as a reminder of where she has left off the night before. So she collects (or makes) as many bookmarks as she can to preserve those beloved books. Bookmarks are treasures of their own too. To me, bookmarks are not just page holders; they are symbols of artistry, attention to details and even speed (because they tell me which page I am now on after five hours of straight reading).

You are not a booklover if you haven’t done this. A booklover can talk for ages about the book – how wonderful it is, how it made her see the world from different angles, how gifted the writer is for giving life to characters that never existed. The booklover embraces the magnificence of the book wholeheartedly and bows down to its supremacy over all other media. The booklover almost always ends up with a conclusion that the book is way better than the movie.

"Five more pages and I’ll go to the shower. Er, no, 10 more pages. Ah, never mind! I’ll take a shower later tonight." When confronted with a great book, the booklover submits. She doesn’t put up a fight. She willingly gives up her freedom and surrenders to the authority of the printed word. The idea of a warm shower and scented body wash is forgotten and the booklover would rather curl up under a blanket without any care in the world until the book says "THE END."

There are never enough books for the hungry reader. Books are the booklover's weapons against boredom and monotony. Booklovers love opening boxes and finding books inside them. There is no limit to the number of books you can give booklovers. I grew up wishing I was Belle in Beauty and Beast because she gets to have a huge library with all those books all for her own consumption.

With the plethora of books under my care, I am a step closer to the Ultimate Booklover’s Dream of having her own library. I now have a small reading nook. How about you? Are you a booklover? What are your eccentric, book-related habits?