Book Lovers Inc.
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Bookish Rave: What Reader Species Are You?
Here at BLI, we often ask how one can differentiate between a Book Lover and mere Reader. It turns out we were thinking to small. Laura E. Kelley realized there is an entire taxonomy of Readers and Book Lovers out there, and set out to identify and distinguish each individual species.
As you do.
Today we acknowledge that our International Book Congress requires more than simple geographic and genre diversity to be fully representative of the needs of Book Lovers. We may need to bulk up our ranks. Diversity hires, if you will.
And so, without further ado we present The Linnaean Hierarchy of Readers.* (Seriously, we did not create this. It is amazing, but also requires a scientific devotion to detail and organization that we can only aspire towards.)
Take your time to properly classify yourself. The Book Lovers will self-identify below.
Jackie: I think I fit into a bunch of the beginning categories, lol.
Marlene: I’m a few of them too. Mostly the Omni, the Hoarder and the Compulsive. The Omni-Compulsive-Hoarder?
Alisha: Definitely the Chronological Library Lover who Re-reads for Comfort after a Delayed Onset. Yeah, that one for sure.
Wish it weren’t so with the chronological reading part…but indeed, if I don’t read a series chronologically, I feel like I’m breaking the law.
Cass: Hah! You and my mom. She also can’t stop a series once she starts it. Even if she hates it. She’s been dutifully plowing her way through all of the In Death books, despite not really enjoying it since Book 10 or so. I have managed to shield her from the continued publication of Anita Blake series, but it’s only a matter of time.
However, I appear to be jumping class. Is it even possible for creatures from different classes to cross-breed? I’m more than a hybrid – I’m a Book Schizophrenic!
Amanda: I’m an OCD, Compulsive Buyer and Hoarder who is also a Traveling, Chronological, Omni, Comfort Reader who chucks in Spoilers for fun amongst my Rereading and all the while Worshiping every book I have.
Stella: I’m an OCD and Immersive Reader, Book Preserver and Hoarder of course (what book lover/blogger/bookaholic isn’t??) and a die hard re-reader. I have some favourite comfort books I have been re-reading since childhood and that always make me feel great 🙂 So a Re-Reader and Comfort Reader. Besides those I’m also an Omni-Reader, Spoiler Lover, Kindle Convert and…..I’ll stop.
I recognize myself in too many. Except the Abuser. I take care of My Precious Ones, no dog earing or scribbling in my books!
Marlene: After giving the categories a thorough read (of course), I’ve decided settled on…. It’s Very Complicated. Well d’uh.
- Definitely an “It’s Complicated” Reader.
- But also an Omnireader (back of the cereal box, that’s me).
- Absolutely Kindle Convert. I don’t even pretend to be in love with the smell of books and paper, since I’m surrounded by it all day. I love my iPad. I adore my iPad. I look for the ebook version first, and I’ll take print if that’s the only way I can get something. Or if I’m buying an author-signed copy. That’s different.
- Library Lover — hello, let’s just take this one as a given, shall we?
- Hoarder — yep, that’s me. So many books, so little time. If I stopped borrowing, buying and picking up ARCs from Netgalley and Edelweiss this minute, I’d have enough for the next two years. And I read 250 books a year. But of course I won’t stop. See, over there, shiny!
- Bits of both Chronological and Immersive. I do read series in order, but I also DNF books. If I hate something I will stop reading it, but if I love it, I will commit and the universe can go hang itself for all I care.
Like I said, “It’s Complicated”!
Cass: Damnit Stella, why did you have to discover this? Now I am having a Bookish Identity Crisis. Am I simply an extremely rare hybrid? Or suffering from a Bookish Mental Health disorder?
Okay, I am definitely an Immersive Book Worshipping Preserver. But also a Thieving, Multi-Tasking, Re-Reader (I justify the stealing because I know they were only going to read it once. Which is just a waste).
I am most assuredly an App Happy Kindle (iPad) Convert – largely due to their ability to facilitate Spoilers and Swagger. Hell, my paper-book collection is slowing converting into my Comfort, Delayed Onset, and Professional Reads.
And who here is not fully aware that I am absolutely a Love to Hate It Reader when the mood strikes?
How about you Book Lovers? Where do you fall? Hybrids? Is it just Too Complicated? Or are you on my Bookish Mental Health Disorder bandwagon?
*Visit Laura-e-Kelly.com for more about how this Classification Came To Be. She is still discovering New Species. Such as Cover Lovers. And has plans to make this graphic a poster to be displayed at a Library Near You.
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I am just too many!
This is fabulous! Thanks for sharing.
I see bits of me in most of the larger categories (except Prestige and Haters).
I laughed at the description of The Book Preserver, because that definitely describes me. My mother was basically the only person I’d lend books to, but she could be brutal on them (IMO). A book looks brand new after I’ve read it–spine perfectly intact, no scratches on the cover, no bent pages. So I used to terrorize my mother over her more casual approach: “Look at you! You’re bending the spine! No. Bending. The. Spine!” She pretty much ignored my tantrums. The cats conspired against me, as well, and I’d often pick up a book to see *tooth marks* on the cover. Little holes drilled right thru. I learned to take deep breaths, thinking how much I loved them, and then just bought a replacement for any book mutilated beyond my ability to bear.
Ebooks liberated me from that–another reason to love them.
But I still have many more quirks so, yes, I definitely merit a first-class ticket on the Bookish Mental Health Disorder Bandwagon. 🙂
You’re welcome, we had such a blast recognizing ourselves in the different categories 😉
Great post! I do lend my books out and am always disappointed in how they are returned, but I want to share the books I love.
I love my books, and try not to get food on them, but I do crack the spine if I can’t read easily enough. I worship my books, as they are all displayed. Of course you need a ladder to see them all, and move other piles. Yes, I am a hoarder, yes I am a compulsive book buyer, and an immersive reader.
No, I never go to the library, you have to give the book back! Horror!
I am a re-reader, I read multiple books at the same time, I borrow books from my best friend and I do return them after I have read them.
I am a comfort reader, love ARCS from my favourite authors, of course I read while travelling, but I don’t read Kindle, I don’t listen to books, or read books with the purpose of falling asleep. When reading in bed, the light keeps burning till the book is finished, no matter what the alarm clock is telling me.
Abandon my books somewhere? Never! I only bought copies of a book that blew me away for other people once so far. Perhaps twice 😉
I am not a book clubber, and I don’t let people convince me what to read. I know what I like and dislike.
From the Free-range, everything except the first option. I don’t read just everything. Prestige? Nope, none of those options. With all the books I buy, I have to be a delayed reader.
Lol, Ana, what am I?
I was also horrified at the “setting books into the wild” suggestion. WHO WOULD JUST LEAVE BOOKS AROUND?! Anything could happen to them!
In Vienna, there were these “take a book, leave a book” kiosks around the city. Kind of a brilliant plan, especially since people seemed to be honest and use them legitimately. But yeah, leaving a book about town would feel a bit like abandoning My Precious!