What kind of book reader are you?

I can not read.

Well, for grad school, I necessarily have to be a promiscuous reader. I was talking with a friend yesterday and we both said we can’t remember the last time we read an entire book for school. It’s unfortunate, but it’s what we have to do, because there is just so damn much to read.

One of my biggest challenges (still, after three years!) in grad school is remembering to read differently depending on the intended purpose: reading enough to talk about a book in class when I will never have to write about it and it’s not that important if I remember it, reading enough to write about a book that’s not in my major field, reading a book for a class in my field where it is important that I remember the arguments and methods, taking notes on a book for a paper I don’t care much about but have to write anyway, taking notes on a book for my own research or a grant proposal, or reading a book to teach to undergrads…

For fun reading, I guess I’m mostly a sleepy bedtime re-reader.

I like to point at each word with my tongue sticking out & stare at the lovely pictures.

I’m none of those. I read every day and typically have at least three books in progress at one time, often more, as well as a magazine or two, but I don’t fit any of those descriptions. This classification scheme is just for fun, as they say, but it sure missed the mark for me.

I am…

The Bibliophile (not Bookophile. That’s just stupid)
The Hopelessly Devoted
The All-the-Timer/Compulsive/Voracious/Anything Goes Reader.
The Sharer
The Re-Reader

…and probably, possibly along with @Jeruba,

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.

All of the above listed on the link, minus the Hater.

I don’t really like any of those categories as a description for my book reading, although

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.

is partially right, as well as

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.

(What the hell is with “Bookphile”? Seriously, they’ve never heard the word bibliophile?)

and perhaps a bit of

The Re-Reader. You know what you like, and instead of branching out and possibly finding something new that you don’t like, you focus on what you do. You read the same books over and over again, returning to them as if they’re old friends, which, pretty much, they are. Your book-reading motto is, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

I was a Chronological Reader who was Hopelessly Devoted to a long list of science fiction writers. I would usually add one or two new writers a year. I probably read fifty to 100 books a year in those times.

Then I got sick, and I turned into a Anti-Reader. I might read five novels a year now.

Five!

I need my information now. I need my internet. I can’t sit still for novels any more. I need more information, now. I need to find out about this and that. I need more information, now.

Oddly, I now know less than I ever knew—having learned more about reality from stories about imagined worlds than I now learn by being in touch all the time. And yet, I need my information now. What’s new on the elections? How are my teams doing? What’s happening in my neighborhood? Tell me! Now!

Alas poor novel, I knew it.

Bookaphile!!! I love them, people bring them to me all the time, I never buy them, I keep the old or unique ones, I treat them very well though, I’m a speedreader and my husband thinks I need professional help because sometimes I simply get addicted to a great book for the night/weekend. I LOVE THEM!!!

I don’t fit any of those categories. I love books, I have many on the go at once for a variety of purposes, I read a bit here and a bit there and sometimes I read for long periods. I dip in and out of some books. I re-read non-fiction, rarely fiction. I am a sleepy night reader. I have never really got into audio books but there are some books I imagine would be better read to me. Trainspotting for instance. I loved the film. I want to read the book but (sorry @Flutherother) I can’t make it through the accented writing. I think this would be an idea book for me to listen to.

The closest I saw was Delayed Onset Reader #1. I buy a book, but may not read it for a year or more. I am often reading several books at a time.
I just finished 11/22/63, and am now reading No Easy Day. I need to finish this before the new JK Rowling book comes out next week.

Mostly, I’d have to say I am in the “It’s Complicated” Reader category. I’m a combination of the Hopelessly Devoted, the All-the-Timer/Compulsive/Voracious/Anything Goes Reader, the Sharer, the Delayed Onset Reader #1, and the Re-Reader.

I love reading and will read whenever I have time to. I’m looking forward to getting a lot of reading done in the next few weeks while I’m on maternity leave. I have several authors that I read all of their new works because I’m rarely disappointed with them. Once I read something, I will share it with anyone I think would enjoy it as well. Sadly, I do have a habit of going into a bookstore and buying a lot of books all at once and some of them have to sit for a while before I can get a chance to read them. They all get read eventually though.

A lot of different types, apparently.

The Chronological Reader One at a time, anything and everything.
The Book-Buster This particularly grabbed me: You are a destroyer of books, but you love them so. You just want to hug the books, squeeze them tighter and tighter, you adore them so much… Honestly, most of my books have broken spines and dogeared pages, and that’s just the way I like it. On the other hand, I am also…
The Bookophile Bibliophile I collect beautiful antique books, and wouldn’t dream of harming them. I’d also never ‘over love’ a library book, or one that belongs to someone else.
The Cross-Under When I was a kid, I read adult books. Now, I read quite a bit of YA.
The Hopelessly Devoted My love for Stephen King knows practically no bounds. Yeah.
The All-the-Timer/Compulsive/Voracious/Anything Goes Reader I read shampoo bottles in the bathroom, if nothing else is available.
The Re-Reader This is more about me being a compulsive reader than about not risking new books.

TLDR: It’s Complicated