Yay! Another discussion post! XD I hadn’t thought I’d be able to find the time to write this one for today, but I’m glad I did, because it was lots of fun to write this one. Let’s get into it…
If you’re a bookworm, chances are you’ve fallen in love with a book before. You know; the book you can’t help but squeal about TO EVERYONE (and I mean everyone), the book you relentless and consistently defend against haters, the book where you refuse and ignore to see the flaws, your go-to book for everthing—basically the book you forever love. (Don’t even deny it! You all probably have at least one book that fits this description.) One would think that once you fell in love with a book, persay, you’d forever stay in love with that book, right? Well… not exactly the case.
The ideal situation would be that you suddenly wake up one day and realize that you no longer adore a certain book that you had loved, and after a few minutes, you’ve accepted it. But alas, that’s not the situation most of us find ourselves in. Most of the time we don’t even realize when we’re falling out of love with a book—or if we already have. Am I right? Even right now, most of you are probably thinking in your subconcious, What?! This is ridiculous, I have never fallen out of love with a book. Well, either you’re in denial.. or you just haven’t realized (or maybe you’ve just been really lucky). Not matter what your case may be, here are some signs that you might be falling out of love with a book—or if you already have. You’re welcome. You may give me chocolate as payment.
Note; The Book refers to the book you fell in love with (but may be falling out of love with). Not sure if that makes enough sense, but just roll with it. Yes.
Signs you’re in the process of falling or have already fallen out of love with a book.
1. Thinking about The Book doesn’t make you feel as happy anymore.
You know those times where you’re absolutely adoring something, whether it be a song, an outfit, a specific desert, and every time you think about it, you feel, I don’t know, happy? Cheerful? Excited? It makes you feel a positive emotion, let’s say. This positive emotion is what you associate with the thing you’re loving. In our situation, a specific book. One of the key signs that you’re NOT in love with a book anymore, is that, obviously, you no longer associate a positive emotion with The Book. Whether it be because you replaced the positive emotion with a negative one, or because… well, I don’t know, either way, the book is no longer your go-to for happiness, you know? Or whatever emotion that it made you feel before. (Sorry, I hardly make any sense in these discussion posts sometimes.)
2. After re-reading The Book, you either feel…
a) Indifferent OR b) relief at finishing the book and being done with it. Both emotions signify that you’re no longer in love with this book. Ahem. If you tell yourself otherwise, well… TIME TO FACE REALITY, MATE.
Just kidding. It’s perfectly fine it this is the case, but really, common sense dictates that once you no longer feel deliriously happy (exaggerating a bit, but you get my point) or excited finishing your re-read of The Book, and instead you feel indifferent or simply glad because it’s over, then… you’re not exactly in love with the book anymore, now are you. (Well, I might be wrong, but most of the time when you’re in love with something, you don’t usually… well, feel.. INDIFFERENT to it. But you know, I might be wrong.*
*Pff, as if. I AM ALWAYS RIGHT. Well, almost always. And this is one of those times where I am. Yes.
Or…
3. You no longer feel the urge to re-read The Book, period.
Okay, I know some people might play the whole ‘well, I’m not a re-reader’ card, but I doubt that if anyone seriously loves a book, they wouldn’t ever re-read it. Like, no. When you love a book, most of the time you end up re-reading it, for whatever reason. But maybe that’s just me.
POINT IS. You know you’ve fallen out of love with a book when you no longer want to read it. I mean, come on. I don’t have to explain the reasons behind this, right?? Good, because I have no idea what else to say. I think it’s pretty self-explanatory.
4. You start noticing more flaws… or start judging them when you didn’t before.
One possibility is that you’ve suddenly become a hella of a lot more perceptive and judgmental.. but if not the case, the alternate possibility is that, of course, you’re falling out of love with The Book, or you already have. Oftentimes, I’ve found, through my own experiences and what I’ve read and heard of others’, even if you’re generally critical about a book and hard to please, when you fall in love with a book, all the potential flaws that you would’ve noticed otherwise suddenly go unnoticed, or at the very least, not cared about. So when you start to pick up on the flaws, the things that aren’t so perfect about The Book (when you hadn’t before), you can probably take that as a sign that maybe you’re not loving The Book as much as you may have been before. Or maybe you just taught yourself how to be more critical when reading. I dunno. Depending on the situation, it’s most likely the former.
5. You become less defensive of The Book against haters.
So if someone was, say, talking about how much he/she disliked The Book, for example, maybe instead of secretly being defensive or miffed that someone didn’t like the book you loved (come on, admit it, this has happened to you before), suddenly you don’t care as much. Perhaps this isn’t the strongest sign out there (maybe someone just happens to not care much about what other think), but if you’re a person who generally takes others’ opinions to heart, and you’re suddenly not as defensive of The Book as you were, you can credit that to the fact you’re falling out of love with The Book.
6. You don’t NEED The Book anymore.
With so many books, it’s hard to pinpoint which of them you actually NEED. As in, the books that you love so much that you can’t live without. And if The Book is no longer one that you consider to be a part of the list, well… let’s use our brains here; you’re not in love with The Book anymore. It can be hard to accept—and the question why definitely comes to mind. Why does this happen? Why do we fall out of love with books? Well, that’s the next thing to talk about.
Why do you fall out of love with books?
Ah, the million dollar question. Why and what causes readers to fall out of love with books? It’s hard to pinpoint all the reasons, but I suppose there are a few I could come up with:
- The reading tastes might’ve changed. This is definitely one of the biggest causes. The types of books we read and the style we like is always subject to change, especially if we’re in the age where we’re transitioning from young teen to adult. For example, as a teen someone might’ve adored Twilight, but when they got older, their taste in books might’ve become more sophisticated or refined. I don’t know. But our changing reading tastes are definitely one of the biggest reasons for why we fall out of love with books, don’t you think?
- The reader has been separated from the book for too long. Maybe this will sound silly, but like, if, say, we forget about The Book for a long time, maybe afterwards when we go to pick it up again, a while later, since it’s been such a long time since we read it, we might no longer be interested in it, which will lead to falling out of love with the book. Unfortunate, but I think it’s one of the possibilities/causes.
- Too old. I suppose this kind of ties into the first point. With age, the types of things we read (sometimes/possibly) changes and this can definitely affect the falling in/out of love thing. When you get older, you find that there are a few things that you don’t like anymore, things that you perhaps liked as a child or something, but aren’t interested in anymore. So being too old for a specific book is definitely a reason I think.
Last minute babbling…
The important thing is, when (or if) you fall out of love with a book, don’t deny it! It’s okay when it happens. And now you have a few ways to identify how far out on the scale you are. XD Basically, if all of the signs I mentioned above apply to you, well.. hate to break it to ya, you’ve fallen in love with a book. But that doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing! I mean, sure, you don’t love a book as much as you did before, but it happens. Especially if the ‘why’ of the situation is related to reading tastes, well, there you go, that’s even more measurement that it’s okay because our reading tastes CAN CHANGE. And that’s fine. I promise.
Book Snacks 