What Kind of Book Reader Are You?

[Michelle]

There are a couple of articles here which try to classify different types of readers.

http://m.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2012/08/what-kind-book-reader-are-you-diagnostics-guide/56337/

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2012/08/many-more-types-book-readers-diagnostics-addendum/56425/

 

I struggled to decided which was me, and then I found the following, which I think I have to go for:

The "It's Complicated" Reader. You are a combination of many of these things and yet completely different, too. Each book means a new type of reader exists in your soul; you refuse to be defined or categorized. You are a freeform, wild, woolly entity. You do whatever you want. You're probably a pisces. You're definitely a reader.

 

(And yes, I am a Pisces! lol)

 

So - do you fit into any of their categories?

[ian]

It looks like I'm a...

 

The Chronological Reader. Slow and steady wins the race, dear reader. You are the tortoise to the promiscuous reader's distracted-at-any-turn hare. You buy a book, you read it. You buy another, you read it. Perhaps you borrow a book at the library. You read it, and then you return it, and you get another, which you will read. You may not remember where you began, what the first book that kicked it all off was, and you likely have no idea where you'll end, but the point is, you will go through each book methodically and reasonably, until it is done. You might discard a book, but only if there is very good cause, and it will bring you a sense of deep unease, so you'll probably pick it back up and finish it anyway. You are very good at puzzles, and the most reliable of all your friends. Suggested chronological reads: It doesn't matter; you'll get to them all, eventually.

 

....all too true!

[Kidsmum]

I think i'm most like the All Timer/Voracious/ Anything goes Reader as i tend to read whenever i can fit it in while i'm eating or cooking in the kitchen, on the bus i take my book everywhere i go as you never know when you you'll get the opportunity to read a few pages

[bree]

This is me, most of the time.

 

The Cross-Under.

You are a grown-up who reads Y.A. or kids books, or a kid who reads adult books, and there is a place for you in society, finally. Your existence acknowledged after so many years, you no longer have to feel shame at your questionable reading habits but can instead bask in the admiration of book blogs and feel a part of the vanguard. You are not ruled by categories; you are a free thinker. When you were in elementary school a librarian told you a book was "Too old for you." You read it anyway, and there's been no going back.

Suggested cross-under reads: For kids, Dickens, Fitzgerald, Salinger, Vonnegut, Harper Lee.

For adults: Collins, Rowling, Alexie, Chbosky, Lowry.

 

My school librarian would always tell me that the book I was picking was for the older students!

And now I pick books which are mostly for children, or YA, at best.

 

And my best reads this year have included, Dickens and Lowry )

[julie]

I'd have to go with The Conscientious Reader ,with a little bit of Book snob and Easily swayed thrown in . The older I get the more I like nonfiction or fiction in which I am learning something new or maybe how to handle a situation in real life .

I'd have to toss in Book Snob because I usually take note of the latest popular books that sell lots of copies. I figure they must be good or they wouldnt be so popular. I am easily swayed if I hear someone else gushing about a book, I want it too . Sometimes I find out there is no way I would have chosen the book on my own,so this situation doesn't always end well for me .

[Peacefield]

I would say I'm a combination of many of these categories as well. First and foremost I'd probably say I'm a Hopelessly Devoted reader, since I'm always on the lookout for new book news on my favorite authors. I'll read something even though it might not get good reviews, simply because I'm a fan of the author and their other works.

 

I'm also a bit of an Easily Influenced reader, which I think goes hand in hand with being a Sharer. I love other people sharing books/authors with me and I love introducing others to books that I have loved. It's very satisfying!

 

Count me in as a Re-Reader and that's pretty much me, in a nutshell. If I love a book the first time I will always re-read it down the road.

[Kylie]

I guess I'm part Bookophile, part Delayed Onset Reader #1 and part It's Complicated. My cat is, well, The Cat. I never leave books laying open, but he does like to stare at my bookshelves, pull books off the shelves (if I don't stop him in time), lay on top of them, smell them and occasionally lick or bite them (again, if I don't stop him in time).

[Little Ms Stitch]

I suppose that I'm a combination of them, although the following two are probably most like me:

 

The All-the-Timer/Compulsive/Voracious/Anything Goes Reader. Wherever you go, whatever you do, there's a book with you. It doesn't matter what it is, really, so long as there are pages with words on them, or an e-reader with words on it. We can't really suggested anything here because you took it with you to the grocery store or subway or library or laundromat or coffee shop, and you're standing in line or sitting down and reading it right now.

 

The Cross-Under. You are a grown-up who reads Y.A. or kids books, or a kid who reads adult books, and there is a place for you in society, finally. Your existence acknowledged after so many years, you no longer have to feel shame at your questionable reading habits but can instead bask in the admiration of book blogs and feel a part of the vanguard. You are not ruled by categories; you are a free thinker. When you were in elementary school a librarian told you a book was "Too old for you." You read it anyway, and there's been no going back. - I should say that I'm almost 30 and totally love reading YA books.

[lauraloves]

I'm definitaly a mixture of a few, hehe

 

The Bookophile. More than reading, you just love books. Old ones, the way they smell, the crinkles and yellowing of the pages; new ones, the way they smell, too, the crispness, running your hands over a stack of them at the bookstore. You like books rescued from the street as much as signed first editions; you like drugstore paperbacks, you like hardcover new releases, you like it all. You just like books. To you, they are an object of beauty, and you would never, ever hurt them in any way

 

The Cross-Under. You are a grown-up who reads Y.A. or kids books, or a kid who reads adult books, and there is a place for you in society, finally. Your existence acknowledged after so many years, you no longer have to feel shame at your questionable reading habits but can instead bask in the admiration of book blogs and feel a part of the vanguard. You are not ruled by categories; you are a free thinker. When you were in elementary school a librarian told you a book was "Too old for you." You read it anyway, and there's been no going back.

 

The All-the-Timer/Compulsive/Voracious/Anything Goes Reader. Wherever you go, whatever you do, there's a book with you. It doesn't matter what it is, really, so long as there are pages with words on them, or an e-reader with words on it. We can't really suggested anything here because you took it with you to the grocery store or subway or library or laundromat or coffee shop, and you're standing in line or sitting down and reading it right now.

[chesilbeach]

I think I'm also ...

 

The "It's Complicated" Reader. You are a combination of many of these things and yet completely different, too. Each book means a new type of reader exists in your soul; you refuse to be defined or categorized. You are a freeform, wild, woolly entity. You do whatever you want. You're probably a pisces. You're definitely a reader.

 

 

I thought I might be ...

 

The All-the-Timer/Compulsive/Voracious/Anything Goes Reader. Wherever you go, whatever you do, there's a book with you. It doesn't matter what it is, really, so long as there are pages with words on them, or an e-reader with words on it. We can't really suggested anything here because you took it with you to the grocery store or subway or library or laundromat or coffee shop, and you're standing in line or sitting down and reading it right now.

 

... but it does matter what it is!

[Talisman]

I am probably The "It's Complicated" Reader. You are a combination of many of these things and yet completely different, too. Each book means a new type of reader exists in your soul; you refuse to be defined or categorized. You are a freeform, wild, woolly entity. You do whatever you want. You're probably a pisces. You're definitely a reader. Suggested "it's complicated" reads: We dare not to go there.

 

I am not however a Pisces, but it is my rising sign.

[karen.d]

I think I'm a mixture of:

 

The Cross-Under. You are a grown-up who reads Y.A. or kids books, or a kid who reads adult books, and there is a place for you in society, finally. Your existence acknowledged after so many years, you no longer have to feel shame at your questionable reading habits but can instead bask in the admiration of book blogs and feel a part of the vanguard. You are not ruled by categories; you are a free thinker. When you were in elementary school a librarian told you a book was "Too old for you." You read it anyway, and there's been no going back. Suggested cross-under reads: For kids, Dickens, Fitzgerald, Salinger, Vonnegut, Harper Lee. For adults: Collins, Rowling, Alexie, Chbosky, Lowry.

 

and

 

Delayed Onset Reader #1. You are without a doubt a book lover, and when you walk into a bookstore or any place books are available, you can't help yourself, you buy one or many. When you get home you put them aside, often reverently, as if they were art, displaying them on a bookshelf or propping them up on your bedside table, pages ready to meet your eyes as soon as you have the moment. But you're very, very busy, and days, weeks, or months may go by before you actually crack open one of these books. It's not for lack of trying! When you finally do, you will be overjoyed by all the learning and emotional depth and humor and writing quality that exists in this book that's been sitting within reach all along, and you will be amazed that you waited so long to ever open it. Suggested delayed onset #1 suggestions: The Imperfectionists, by Tom Rachman; The Princess Bride, by William Goldman; Lolita by Nabokov; Anne of Green Gables, by L.M. Montgomery.

[bookmonkey]

I think I'm mostly The All-the-Timer/Compulsive/Voracious/Anything Goes Reader except not quite anything goes. I'm always reading, and always have a book of some type with me so I can read in queues etc, but I do have some things I won't read.

[Alexander the Great]

I think I'm also ...

 

The "It's Complicated" Reader. You are a combination of many of these things and yet completely different, too. Each book means a new type of reader exists in your soul; you refuse to be defined or categorized. You are a freeform, wild, woolly entity. You do whatever you want. You're probably a pisces. You're definitely a reader.

 

 

I thought I might be ...

 

The All-the-Timer/Compulsive/Voracious/Anything Goes Reader. Wherever you go, whatever you do, there's a book with you. It doesn't matter what it is, really, so long as there are pages with words on them, or an e-reader with words on it. We can't really suggested anything here because you took it with you to the grocery store or subway or library or laundromat or coffee shop, and you're standing in line or sitting down and reading it right now.

 

... but it does matter what it is!

 

This completely goes for me as well. I'm not a pisces, by the way.

Edited September 4, 2012 by Alexander the Great

[Cookie]

I think I'm this one

 

The Multi-Tasker. This is the nice way of saying you are a promiscuous reader, but it's not that you don't finish reads. Instead, you just have a sort of hippie reading way about you, free love or some such. You might start the day out with a few pages from one novelist, then read something entirely different on the subway, and when you come home from work, another work as well. Your bedtime read, too, might be different, and all in all, when you count up the books, you've got quite a lot of irons in the fire all at the same time. Do you confuse characters or plots? Do you give more attention to some books than to others? Perhaps. The point is, you're not ready for a book commitment just yet, and you're doing a brilliant job dating them all in the meantime. Suggested multi-tasking reads: Short story and essay collections, novellas.

[Devi]

I'd definitely say I am the "It's Complicated" Reader

 

- You are a combination of many of these things and yet completely different, too. Each book means a new type of reader exists in your soul; you refuse to be defined or categorized. You are a freeform, wild, woolly entity. You do whatever you want. You're probably a pisces. You're definitely a reader.

 

[Ruth]

I am definitely The All-the-Timer/Compulsive/Voracious/Anything Goes Reader! Wherever you go, whatever you do, there's a book with you. It doesn't matter what it is, really, so long as there are pages with words on them, or an e-reader with words on it. We can't really suggested anything here because you took it with you to the grocery store or subway or library or laundromat or coffee shop, and you're standing in line or sitting down and reading it right now.

 

 

Yep, that's me!

Edited September 4, 2012 by Ruth

[dex]

It looks like I'm an All-timer, compulsive and voracious, Hopelessly devoted, Re-reader. Until someone writes a rubbish book and then I give them up. E.g. Mark billingham. I keep looking at Quintin Jardine and Michael Connelly and mean to do a full re-read

[Sofia]

Delayed Onset Reader #1. You are without a doubt a book lover, and when you walk into a bookstore or any place books are available, you can't help yourself, you buy one or many. When you get home you put them aside, often reverently, as if they were art, displaying them on a bookshelf or propping them up on your bedside table, pages ready to meet your eyes as soon as you have the moment. But you're very, very busy, and days, weeks, or months may go by before you actually crack open one of these books. It's not for lack of trying! When you finally do, you will be overjoyed by all the learning and emotional depth and humor and writing quality that exists in this book that's been sitting within reach all along, and you will be amazed that you waited so long to ever open it. Suggested delayed onset #1 suggestions: The Imperfectionists, by Tom Rachman; The Princess Bride, by William Goldman; Lolita by Nabokov; Anne of Green Gables, by L.M. Montgomery.

[emelee]

I am a combination of these:

 

Delayed Onset Reader #1

The Sleepy Bedtime Reader

The sharer

[pontalba]

OH Hilarity! Love it.

 

I'm a horrible combination of the promiscuous reader, the Bookophile, and Delayed Onset Reader #1. Obviously, no hope for me.

 

Great articles!