What Kind of Reader Am I?

I finally have to hop on the reader bandwagon. I am a smorgasboard reader. Grad school made me that way. I may be reading 5 or 6 books, magazines, etc. at once. Typos and misspellings drive me crazy. If it's really bad, I'm not above quitting a book and never returning. If it's a great book, I'm not above reading it a few times every year. I'm not too proud to put a few great books on my shelves that I'll never read, just for my image.

I devour fiction and other for fun reading very quickly. I can read several hundred pages in a couple hours. If I start a series and I like it, I compulsively read all the books in the series in about a week and then spend a year cursing that the next one isn't out yet. I've been known to start reading a book on the toilet and an hour later realize, "Oh yeah, I'm sitting on the toilet." I've been late for class a couple times because of that.

If it's reading for school, I barely do it. The grad school skim is my trademark. I miss a lot of really great thinking and writing because I can b.s. my way through papers on books I never read. I think the academic world revolves around such shallow scholarship, and I perpetuate it. I hate graphic novels, except maybe Maus. Too much effort to look at all those pictures. Besides, I like my own made up images better than the ones any artist can draw.

As I'm writing this, I guess I'm realizing I'm quite narcissitic in my reading style. It's all about me. Maybe that is why I have such a hard time reading the Bible.

I enjoy sociopolitical nonfiction almost as much as fiction. My favorite fiction is young adult. Sometimes I think I'm stuck in adolescence. I like sexy lusty trashy novels. I used to steal my mom's Harlequin romances when I was like, 9.

I exist mostly sleep deprived because at midnight I think, just one more chapter...then one more..then, I'm almost done...then, holy moly it's 3am and the alarm goes off at 6. I've been known to cheat and find out the ending of a novel by reading the last few pages, but I don't do that so much anymore. As I get older, I appreciate the mystery a little more.

Oh, and my husband knows his and MY library card number by heart...and I think that's sexy.