Allison's Book Bag

Do you start a book and not finish it? Will you chase after anything in a dusk jacket? Do you read so many books you can’t keep track of them? Atlantic Wire recently published a diagnostics guide to types of readers. Because for as many books as exist, there are also any number of different reading types a book lover might demonstrate. Is it a scientific guide? Of course not! But, it was still fun to analyze myself.

Books (Photo credit: henry…)

One thing I learned is that some of my habits have evolved or changed. I used to be some of these types:

• Chronological Reader: I used to start at the A’s on my shelves, read each book faithfully, until I had reached the Z’s. This is also how I borrowed books from the library, except I allowed myself to just pick those which looked most interesting to read.
• Sleepy Bed-Time Reader: Once upon a time, I used to read regularly before bed. Then I grew up. Now it only takes a page or two to send me into a slumber, although there have been rare exceptions. For example, this past summer, I stayed up until after midnight reading Cinder by Marissa Meyer.
• The Book Snob: Until I met my husband, I refused to buy anything but the best books. I might read others, which would cause the real snobs to reject me, but my shelves held only the best.
• The Book Swagger: Until library book sales, I accepted any free book given to me. Especially if it was a hardcover edition. Now there are so many books that I can buy for pennies, I can afford to reject books. Gasp!

Over the years, I have held onto some habits or developed new ones. This is now how I see myself:

• Delayed Onset Reader#1: Bookstores are dangerous! Libraries are almost as bad. I can’t walk into them without stopping, looking, and picking up at least one book to bring home with me.
• The Multi-Tasker: A friend of mine introduced me to the concept. He always had multiple books in progress. I tried it, didn’t like it, but returned to it when I became a book reviewer. Now I might read one book during the week, another during the weekend, and yet a completely different one while about town.
• Hopelessly Devoted: If I like an author, you’ll find pretty much everything that they wrote on my shelves! And if you don’t, you’ll probably find their books listed on my wish list.
• Re-Reader: My husband rarely reads a book twice and doesn’t know if it’s such a good idea to along children to read a book a million times. Me, if I like a book, I have read it multiple times. That’s who I am!

What about you? How would you categorize yourself as a reader? Read the diagnostic guide and let me know in a comment. 🙂

• What Kind of Book Reader Are You? A Diagnostics Guide