In my everyday life I am not OCD at all. Farthest thing from it. But when it comes to books? All sorts of strange things start to surface.... Which comes to my bookish question. Do you have book OCD? Some sort of OCD tendency that only comes to light when you read? Or is only related to books? Allow me to confess my book OCD for all to read. (this is starting to sound like an AA meeting or something..... >.<)
Confession #1
I can't speed read. Or skim. At all. Well unless the book is REALLY boring (aka: text books) and even that's questionable. I'm going to have to take a speed reading class for college and I'm not gonna lie, I'm scared of it. The basis of these speed reading classes is that not everything in the book/essay/article is of equal importance so you only need to read what IS important. This is where my brain starts to yell "THAT'S NOT TRUE! ITS ALL EQUALLY IMPORTANT!!!!" D: I can't even skip words or mess up a sentence while I'm reading. If I do, I have to go back and read it over correctly. OCD much? I know, I'm a closet crazy pants. >.<
Confession #2
Once I start reading something I can't stop. I discussed this in another bookish questions post awhile back. Basically I must finish a book. Its as simple as that. This probably has less to do with OCDness and more to do with the fact that I hate thinking of myself as a quitter, but still its fairly odd.
Confession #3
I don't think I could ever seriously own a Kindle or another eReader. Why? Because if I own a book, then I have to own the physical copy. If I just had a digital copy I wouldn't feel like I really owned it because it wouldn't be palpable. I would have to own the digital copy AND the physical copy.
So those are my 3 OCD book confessions. Do you guys have any? Are you unable to skim like me? Or maybe once you start a series you can't read anything else until you finish the whole series? I'd love to know I'm not alone in my book reading craziness!!! We could all form a club or something. Haha.
Julia :)
You do not have OCD. The "D" stands for "disorder", and if you actually had it, you'd know it because it would affect your life in many negative ways.
ReplyDeleteIt's okay to say you have obsessive reading tendencies or that you're a compulsive reader. But full-blown OCD is a real, devastating disorder and it's painful for those of us who suffer from it to see the term "OCD" used so flippantly.
Answer to all you questions: Yes! I feel exactly like you in all these regards! I cannot speed read and if I mess up I have to re-read the sentence. And like you I simply cannot (at all) skip a book once I start it. I have to finish it. Or if I start a series I have to see or at least try to read all the books. I also don't think I could own a Kindle... I really love having a paper copy of a book, otherwise I feel like I miss the whole point of reading. Then again I have read some PDF's but that was only because I couldn't get a physical copy :( So I am crazy with you!! :P We should totally start a club!! lol Sorry for the long comment!
ReplyDeletexoxo Lulu
www.lulu-bookaddict.blogspot.com
Book OCD twins! I feel the exact same as you on all of these three points. I'm lightening up a little bit on ereaders because I can at least see that they're good for the environment. But I most definitely cannot put down and stop reading a book no matter how much I'm disliking it. And I absolutely cannot skim. I'm a very slow reader but I manage okay despite that handicap for the most part.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I have OCD for real and it's not a fun thing (checking, counting, repeating...) but I understood what you were trying to say. For me, I can only read a book at the same time. And if I'm reviewing it, I have to do the review and then start another book because I'm afraid I'll forget about how I felt about the last book I read. :)
ReplyDeleteYay for book OCD! I am your total mirror, I just had to finish a book. And although I read fast, it does not mean I'm skimming, I just read fast. But that leaves me with more time to read the book again and again after I've finished it :D
ReplyDeleteHaha, this is so interesting!! I'd love to do something like this. I think I can skim some-what if the book is really just not working for me, and sometimes I don't notice if I'm skimming or not, I'm too involved in the book! I don't like quitting books either, but I've done it before. I think starting a book can sometimes be (surprisingly) tough because I know I'll have to finish it and I have more 'pressing matters' lol. totally with you on the ereader thing! Though as shallow as I sound, I think the kindle is so pretty ;p it would make a fab accessory... shhhh
ReplyDelete