Defying Labeling: The Reader Edition

What Kind of Book Reader Are You? A Diagnostics Guide - Entertainment - The Atlantic Wire

The above link is to an amusing article about different kinds of book readers (and non-readers). It got me thinking first about how my reading habits have changed over the years, and then about how much I dislike being labeled. Pick a categorization tool, quiz, or breakdown, and I will defy placement.

So what kind of reader am I? When I first graduated from college, I was a committed reader. I'd read one book at a time, and always finish it, no matter how bad a fit it was for me. That continued long after I became a writer, when I read more widely to determine what kind of writer I was and where those books could go. I paid for the books, I'd finish them, or the money would be wasted.

Then we had kids. I had a full-time job, a baby with me 24/7, and a fledgling writing career that was all about stolen moments. Time became more important than money, and it was a huge relief when I gave myself permission NOT to finish books. This was helped along by attending my first writers conferences where they gave out tons of free books. There was no loss there when I didn't finish one. I just passed it along to someone who'd appreciate it more.

Until recently, however, I was still a serial monogamist. I *might* have two books going at a time. One upstairs, one downstairs. One print, one Kindle. But I'd usually focus on one of those for long chunks of time before going back to the other.

Then I loaded the Kindle and Nook apps on my iPod, and things have been wild and crazy ever since! I grab a print book from the shelf in the bedroom to read while I eat dinner. I have one going on the Kindle for portability, reading while I dry my hair in the bathroom, cook in the kitchen, wait for traffic. The iPod is great for unexpected moments of down time—picking up one of the kids somewhere, waiting while they try on clothes at the mall, on hold because my computer is slow to boot up, with the TV show on pause while my husband hangs up his laundry. If I get a book from the library, I might have FOUR going at once! Which one I grab depends on my mood, how grabbed I am by any of them, and my co-reading activity.

Back to that article: I'm never a hate reader anymore. I'm a chronological reader at times, definitely a book buster (but not to the extent described), a combination instant gratification/delayed onset reader (I buy books ALL the time and then wait months or even years to read them!), a bookophile because nothing beats the feel and smell of a book, a DEFINITE cross-under because I read tons of YA as well as some fantasy and SF (even though the vast majority is romance), a multi-tasker (as described above), and yeah, it's quite common to find me making up the rest of the story with my eyes closed because I'm trying to finish the chapter at 1:00 a.m.

So what kind of reader are you?