The Nevers and Forevers of Readers

Posted on by Lashaan Balasingam @ Roars and Echoes

Isn’t it wonderful that we find great joy in picking up a book and devouring it from cover to cover? It makes it all even more wonderful when we get our hands on a book that makes us feel things that nothing else could ever provoke in us.

But with great joy comes great pain.

It’s when you realize that readers are also confronted with a couple of misfortunes that you understand that there are things beyond our control. There’s nothing like living on with those facts deeply buried within our minds.

1. To never being able to read all the books you have on your TBR list.

We all know how that list loves to grow exponentially. For every book you strike off that list, there are at least 10 that are added to it. After a couple of years of reading you simply realize that there is no way to ever read every book on it in a lifetime. The horror.

2 . To forever be surrounded by non-readers who don’t understand you.

From their astonishment at the amount of reading you do to their obsessive tendency of calling you a nerd for reading, you will always be judged and misunderstood for the love you have for literature. Hmph.

3. To never remember every detail of the books you’ve read and loved.

If only we could use our brain at their full potential to circumvent this issue. Of course you could always re-read to solve this issue, but is the first read and ever like the subsequent ones? And for every book you re-read, there will always be a new book you won’t be reading. Argh.

4. To forever feel empty and betrayed upon reaching a cliffhanger.

Cliffhangers are killer, but let’s not even talk about those series that have yet to be completed after so many years of wait. What a painful and miserable moment of agony!

5. To never have enough room for all the books you want to have in your house.

Building up your ultimate collection is space-consuming. It would take a batcave to even get close enough to how much room you need to satisfy your needs. But… Where can I get one of those? Help.

quoteseuss

6. To forever wish you could live in a fictional world.

I doubt you’ll ever deny how scary, dangerous and depressing real life can get, especially in 2018. Being able to escape to that one fictional world where everything seems like a utopia is just one of those subconscious (and sometimes very conscious) desires in all readers.

7. To never have enough sleep because reading is a much more important priority.

Sleeping is great and all. But there always comes a time where it can wait a bit so that you could get a little more reading done. Does it even matter that you’re sleep-deprived if you get to experience one of the greatest fictional moments of all time? I don’t think so.

8. To forever hunt for the next high.

It’s a mind-numbing and beautiful experience to find that one book that makes you forget about all the problems in life and makes you gaze at it with pure love. But what comes next? The hunt begins, and it is no easy journey.

9. To never stop reading.

Once you find your groove, it’s simply impossible to stop reading. You want to experience every story possible with your favourite characters and life wouldn’t be the same anymore if you quit reading.

10. To forever love reading.

I think you get it. 🙂

What do you think of our fate as readers?

Do you have other nevers and forevers?

Until next time,

lashaansignature

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Published by Lashaan Balasingam @ Roars and Echoes

Reader. Reviewer. Researcher. Criminology Ph.D. Candidate. Montreal, Quebec (Canada). Want to know more? Connect with him!

66 thoughts on “The Nevers and Forevers of Readers”

  6. Our fate as book lover is both sad and uplifting. I wish for a neverending bookcase in a personal library with no limit that fits in a fairly small but cosy house. I would love to remember the details of all the books I love and to be surrounded by other book lovers exchanging book titles at least once a week. 🙂

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    1. Exchanging thoughts about books with folks is one that I find blogging solves a lot. Before blogging existed, I can totally relate to that. It’s one of the reasons why I didn’t read a lot of fiction way back then because I knew I had no one to talk about it to.

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  7. I wouldn’t give up ANY of those things! Yep, I’m totally running out of space for books but that doesn’t stop me from buying more. Someday I want to have my dream library, a girl can hope, right?

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  9. Lol…this was such a fun post…and if there is one thing in this list that is so true it’s never being able to read all the books on my to read list. If that were to ever happen I’m probably jobless and spending my time locked up in a room 😂😂

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  10. Hahaha. This is brilliant. I am with you the MOST on number 3. I wish I could remember everything I read. But alas. I do enjoy re-reading books… but what about all the books I’m not reading?! Okay. Okay. Calm down, Jackie.

    My favorite forever? Being able to have new cultural, ethnic, and personal experiences through reading. Reading helps me understand the world and build empathy.

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    1. With how “relatively” slow I read, I can’t even contemplate the idea of re-reading right now even if there are so many books I so want to re-read right now.

      Yas! The benefits of reading are undeniable. I really can’t see why one wouldn’t, except… it’s time-consuming. 😂

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  11. Defo get it! 🙈
    Most of my non reader friends are actually amazed by my reading habit ans always ask me about my books.
    I recently recommended an author to a friend who does like the idea of reading but usually spends around 2-3 months on one book. I think she’s converted… she’s reading her third book by the author within the same month 😍

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    1. Hahaha friends who come over are usually stunned by my bookshelves and think I’m crazy 😂

      So cool that you got her converted. I tried the same for comics with some, but the moment they realized it was expensive, it sort of slowed down their integration into the reading world 😂 Hope your friend doesn’t give up on reading!

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  13. Love it!! All of them are so true…! I will add something that, sometimes, makes me feel so sad: when you finish a book, you’ve finished it forever. There are a few books (not all of them), that I wished they would never end, I slowed down reading on purpose so it will take longer to finish it. Don’t know if I’m the only one experiencing this, but I hate finishing very good books (or the ones you’re sure the end will be a disaster). When you read them, they’re just perfect at the precise moment you’re reading them. And when you end up finishing them, they leave you so empty and purposeless! 😥 The worst is when you really want to know how the story will end but at the same time, you wish you could keep reading it forever!

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    1. I sooooo do the same. I’d take a solid week just to finish the last 50 pages of a book when I know the end is near and that there’s no more of it all afterwards. I calm myself down by knowing that I could always re-read them in the future when all details will be erased from my memory, but that isn’t enough. The first read of a magnificent book is always soooo magical!!

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  15. I love how you pointed out so much about readers. We are a rare breed in a computer world. I’m that reader that can’t remember the details as I’ve read too many! I have books that I read over and over again just because I love them so much!! And I have books that I go back to for inspiration when I write. And I always have a book on my night stand. Sometimes I might have 3 books going depending on my mood. To reading…..

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    1. Indeed! People spend so much time on social media (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc.) and don’t take the time to contemplate literature and discover all of its beauty. It’s sort of sad that we can’t remember every detail of those books we tag as favourites, but it’s definitely nice to know that you can always revisit them and relive the high whenever you feel like it. I’ve started reading multiple books at the same time too. It’s quite practical when you have one for each particular situation (one you bring out with you everywhere, one by the night stand like you do, one that can you easily digest without too much effort when you’re tired, like graphic novels, etc.). May reading never cease to exist! 😀

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  16. Aww this is such a brilliant post, Lashaan, I loved it! ❤ There are just so many books being added to my TBR all the time, I feel like I will never be able to read it all and it is stressful and makes me really sad, but… I'm also glad, in a way, to always have so many books to look forward to reading, eventually 😀

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    1. Thanks Marie, I appreciate the love you show for this post! ❤ Aw man, tell me about it. It really is a source of stress. You have to decide which ones to prioritize and which one to purchase too! And then which one to read first! Honestly, knowing that we'll never run out of books to check out is the only good thing about all this! May we both pick up great books forever! 😀

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  17. This is a great post Lashaan, and I so feel everything on this list as well! 😀 As much as I complain about always having too much on my TBR list I’d never want to reach the end of it you know, and I feel like for every single book I read (I read a lot of fantasy after all) I’ve discovered yet another world I want to live in.
    Yep, no matter what I’m never going to stop reading, and I’m never not going to love reading either!
    Great post. 🙂 ❤

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    1. Thank you so much Beth! For real though. I doubt we’ll ever be able to reach the end since there are ALWAYS new books from our favourite authors or even new authors that we just keep on adding onto our pile, and as bloggers, we seem to be stuck in that cycle of discovering great books, adding them to our TBR and reading them! All we can do is just keep on reading. After all, we love it, right? 😀 😀 Thanks again, Beth!! ❤

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    1. Gosh, aren’t you adventurous! 🤣 I could only do that during the week-end since work drains so much energy during the week days. I am however not surprised by your schedule with the amount of books you devour daily hahahah #truelove

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    1. Thanks Dani! It sure can be a bummer. It’s sort of why I barely read any fiction for a certain time after high school. Not having anyone with whom to share it with, I didn’t feel compelled to pick a piece of fiction up. I honestly just want that SO to acknowledge and appreciate reading at least, even if they don’t read as much or at all. 😀

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  26. This post was awesome, Lashaan! I can relate to every single one of these statements. Also going to a bookstore and can’t leave without a book. 💖 People don’t understand that you read for fun. One of my best friends asked me “why do you read so much Danielle when you are not in jail?” Also when you read an amazing book and find out after it’s part of a long series.💖 Also hearing someone talking about this great movie and they’re oblivious to the fact that it all started with an awesome book. LOL 😂 There’s so much fate for us as readers. I teared up because I had to box my books up to make some more space in the house.😢

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    1. I’m so glad that you enjoyed and connected so much with this, Danielle! And that best-friend thing easily falls in my number 2 point. Reading can be for everyone if everyone decided to give it a shot and the time to discover what exactly is their groove.

      Oh nooo, the day when I’ll have to box up books to make room is going to be an extremely sad one. I think I’ll just end up stacking them up on all four walls and turn all my walls into book-walls or something. And then slowly make furnitures out of books. No way am I splitting myself from them! 😛

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  27. The big truths for me are not remembering all the wonderful books I read from ages ago. Sure, I know the basic plots of the classics, for example, but the subplots and character details, for example, are buried in the archives of my memory bank. Anna Karenina and Hawaii, for example, are big books with so much going on. I enjoyed them when I read them at that time, but I couldn’t write a substantial book report on either today. I used to like to collect books until I realized I read too many and I couldn’t possibly keep all books I have or will want to read in the future. I wouldn’t fit in any of the rooms! Lastly, there is that opiate like feeling of being lost in the story . . . until it’s over and then I must feed my craving once again . . .

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    1. I sort of hate that we can’t remember the subtle details of our favorite books. I barely remember all the glorious character development in Crime & Punishment, for example. And yes, I fear I’m going to understand that book number issue pretty soon too. Argh. Absolute love that feeling. That addiction to stories is far better than what any drug could offer. Although I’ve never consumed any drugs to back up this statement. 😂

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  28. I don’t get why more people don’t read. Maybe it is just because I live in rural Alberta, but very few people read here at all. Many think I am weird for reading and not quadding and watching Netflix haha. We only have a used book store in town, but the selection isn’t very good. Gives me an excuse to go book shopping in the city though 🙂

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    1. It is unfortunate. Some people will never know what they’re missing out. I do feel bad for those who don’t have the reading level to be able to properly enjoy them too. I’m glad to hear you have ways to get books. Even good excuses to do so too. 😀

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