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Jul
01
What Makes A Reader?
2008 at 2pm Posted by Rebecca Joines Schinsky
While surfing other book-related blogs last week, I encountered the following question from Booking Through Thursday:
What, in your opinion, is the definition of a “reader.” A person who indiscriminately reads everything in sight? A person who reads BOOKS? A person who reads, period, no matter what it is? … Or, more specific? Like the specific person who’s reading something you wrote?
Here’s my response, which I originally wrote as a comment to the Literate Housewife’s post.
The question about what makes one a reader reminds me of a scene in one of my all-time favorite (and thoroughly embarrassing) movies, Sister Act 2. Whoopi Goldberg explains to a young Lauren Hill that she will know she’s meant to be a singer if the first thing she thinks about when she wakes up in the morning and the last thing she thinks about before going to bed at night is singing. I feel this way about books, so I am reader. In my mind, it’s an exclusive club, and you have to put forth some effort to gain membership. Reading a few fluffy romance novels by the pool each summer or a James Patterson book in the airport does not make you a reader–it makes you a sunbather or traveler or whatever else you are who just happens to appreciate a temporary distraction. A reader craves books–good books–the way a “foodie” craves fine cuisine or a music lover craves their favorite tunes. Not everyone is a reader, but anyone can become one, and that’s the beautiful part about it.
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