One of the more obvious facets of my personality is that I read. A lot. It shows when I use big words, like sesquipedalian (a word with many syllables), when you come to my house and see books pushing out of the windows, and when you see a tiny copy of Pride and Prejudice sticking out of my purse. Most of my friends share this interest, and we often compare notes when reading the same books, or empathize when someone’s arms hurt from holding up a book for so long the night before. I’ve compiled a list of some of the main things we’ve talked about, plus a few of my own that I hope will make you say, “Yes! I totally get it!” Without further ado, here are 15 things bookworms will know to be true.

1. Back Pain

Let’s start with an easy one: the struggle to find a comfortable, long-term position. So many problems: your legs cramp, your arms get tired, your back hurts, your neck gets stiff, the book gets heavy—you name it. Even the comfiest armchair or—if you’re lucky, window seat—can’t work forever.

2. Sleep Deprivation

“Just one more paragraph.” “Okay, well, I’ll finish this page then.” “No, I’ll finish the chapter and then go to bed.” “Wait, I can’t sleep with that cliffhanger! One more chapter, really.” You know how it goes. Sleep just isn’t important, regardless of having to wake up for work at 6:30 in the morning.

3. Deteriorating Eyesight

Because I’m writing this article while wearing glasses, you can probably guess that this one is a biggie for me. I read just about everywhere, in bright light or no light. In a moving car or completely still. All day long. That’s a lot of work for my eyes (evidently), and they’ve started rebelling against me. So my eyesight isn’t exactly 20/20 anymore. I need my grannie glasses for close-up things (like more books).

4. Unanswerable Questions

“You read a lot.” Why, yes I do, how very astute of you to notice. “What’s your favorite book?” The more I read, the more favorites I accumulate. My favorite of which author? Which genre? Which time period? Which style? Many things must be considered, far too many to actually whittle a list down to one top book. Maybe one day I’ll whittle it down to 100. Someday. So, yeah, please don’t ask that.

5. Difficulty Packing

I need this book for the trip, and then this other book if I get tired of the first one, and this one as a last resort if I don’t like the other two. And then I need a book for the evenings before bed, and one for the morning to wake up to, and a small book to fit in my purse if I need to go anywhere. Plus, the return trip will need three more books, and… Well, you get the picture. And I don’t like e-books that much, sadly.

6. No Space Whatsoever

When I get paid, I spend that money on a few select things: one of them being books. I go to bookstores, Goodwill, library sales, flea markets, anywhere there might be a tome or two. Because of this steady accumulation, my bookcases are quite full, to the point where I have two rows of books on each shelf, a row around the bottom of both bookcases, and a couple stacks on the floor. My father thinks I’m insane. I think it’s pretty.

7. Unrealistic Standards

There’s a lovely song by Carrie Hope Fletcher called “Boys In Books Are Better,” and she sums up this point very clearly. Because authors are creating these characters, they can be whatever the author wants. Unfortunately, many authors want a male protagonist who is snarky and sarcastic at first but then realizes how to be thoughtful and gentle and caring and vulnerable and considerate and…okay, I’m fantasizing now, but seriously, guys in books are too good. It’s not fair to the guys I expect to live up to those ridiculous standards. Sorry, guys.

8. Attachment Issues

When I finish a really good book, I go through the five stages of grief. If it’s a fictional story, I have a hard time remembering that the world of the book is not the world I’m in (as unfortunate as that realization can be). So I’ll go around pretending to be Hermione Granger or Louisa Clark or Christine Daaé. If you promise not to tell anyone, I’ll tell you a little secret: when I read "Twilight" in middle school, I started stuttering and acting like a scared little faun for a few hours. And then I thought about it and realized how stupid Bella Swan is and then I stopped.

9. Becoming a Library

I own somewhere around 250 books, probably more, and I get more every holiday/birthday and buy more every payday. So when people come over to my house, they tell me they’re looking for a book to read and I happily look through what I have and let them borrow one they like. I’ve basically turned into the Katie Greene Friends & Family Library.

10. Paranoia

However, a large part of being your own library is the fear that your books won’t find their way back to you, or that the borrower will dog-ear the pages or drop the thing in the bathtub. So I run the Katie Greene Very, Very, Very Close Friends & Family Whom I Trust Library. Whom I know the addresses of and can track down to get my books back from. Just in case.

11. To-Read Lists

I use Goodreads to keep track of books I’ve read, want to read and what I own. (Pro-tip: it’s a godsend and I love it.) I update my Goodreads almost every day with new books I like, which I find anywhere from word-of-mouth to the Recommendations Page on Goodreads to a Buzzfeed article. Currently, my To-Read list consists of 591 books. It used to be around 700, but I whittled down some of the books I added four years ago that I no longer care about.

12. “Just Kiss!”

Here’s to those moments when you just want to shove their faces together. The suspense is titillating, sure, but enough is enough. We know you like each other, you know you like each other—just do it!

13. Never Knowing What to Read

You know how I was saying my To-Read list has almost 600 books on it? Well, it’s like I’m going to watch something on Netflix and don’t know what I want—action/adventure, sci-fi, romance, so many choices! So I end up reverting to an old favorite, which, while enjoyable, isn’t broadening my horizons any.

14. Inadequacy

I didn’t get my Hogwarts letter at 11, I didn’t get to choose my faction at 16, and I haven’t been picked to participate in the Hunger Games. I haven’t saved the world as we know it, prevented an alien invasion, or stopped a tyrannical government. Our lives are just so dull compared to all that—you can’t help but feel a little wistful, even for something as awful as a society in which kids fight to the death.

15. Martyrdom

I touched on this with number 14, but is it so wrong to secretly kind of want to be in the Hunger Games, even if I’d almost definitely die? Or choose Dauntless as my faction and then completely chicken out? Or want to face Voldemort knowing that he’d most likely tell Peter Pettigrew to “kill the spare"? It’s probably very wrong, but my brain works in strange ways.

Here is my by-no-means complete list of what someone who reads a lot of books goes through! Although, really, anybody who’s ever read a book can probably relate to most of these. If you want to vent about something I’ve mentioned and how much you hate/love it, let me know! If you have an additional point, let me know!