Hello, blog readers! Once again, I must make an assumption about all of you. I’m guessing that you’re all pretty big readers. Why else would you be following the blog of a literary journal, right? Anyway, if you’re a reader then chances are you have a certain kind of relationship with the books that you read — both the stories within them and the physical books themselves. There are people who dog ear pages and there are people who consider that to be a cardinal sin. There are people who organize books by author and there are people who arrange them by jacket color. Books are a pretty serious thing for some people, but just what level of serious are you at with your books?
A recent blog post on Book Riot outlined The 4 Kinds of Relationships Readers Have with Books and I thought that would be an interesting and fun topic to discuss. In their article, Book Riot mentions people who are too busy socializing to read too much into the grand catalog of written works that exist in the world. There are people who have planned what they’re reading next…and probably what they’re reading after that, too. There are people who know their book tastes and don’t deviate much from those books. And then there are people who start and stop books willy-nilly.
Out of these types, I think I’m probably closest to what Book Riot calls the ‘Serial Monogamist.’ I do tend to jump from one book to the next when I’ve finished and I do always know what I’m reading next. I can’t imagine having an empty nightstand or having even one day without reading material. However, I will sometimes give up on books. There are some books that I never should have started, and I’m not afraid to put them down when they don’t suit my tastes.
So, where do you fall on the spectrum of Book Relationships? Read up on them at Book Riot and leave your thoughts in the comments!
– Jet Fuel Blog Editor, Mary Egan
