book readers – Zezee with Books

One for the Books — Available on Amazon and at your local bookstore.

I totally enjoyed reading this one. Queenan is hilarious and very sarcastic. I chuckled so much while reading this book on the train that quite a few times a fellow passenger would inquire of what I was reading. This book is like a tribute to books. Queenan discusses his weird, bookish quirks and all the places that books have brought him and that he has brought them.

This is one for book-lovers. A wealth of bookish topics are discussed as Queenan recounts his experiences with books, such as how to read books, whether or not to write in them, e-readers, organizing books, and book clubs (the section on book clubs is one of the funniest parts).

I hope to re-read this book in the future when, I hope, I can understand all the literary references stated in it. Being quite young, I haven’t read as much as Queenan who has thus far read about 6,128 books in his lifetime. I do wonder if he really has read that many books or if he’s just throwing out a random number. Anyways, I have no idea of how many books I’ve read thus far in my life. I know it’s quite a lot since I have never went without a book or stopped reading them since the day I discovered books, which was pretty early in life since my mother was an English teacher, but I do hope to top that number.

I discovered this book on the Wall Street Journal‘s website where I read an excerpt of it. I love reading books on books and since it was hilarious, I dashed to Barnes & Noble to get a copy. Check out the excerpt here.

Quote from book: “A reading life, a friend once told me, is an adventure without maps where you meet unexpected soulmates along the way.”

‘Books, I Think, Are Dead’: Joe Queenan Talks About ‘One for the Books’ (artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com)
One for the Books (handstitch.wordpress.com)
Joe Queenan’s List Of Must-Read Books (larahentz.wordpress.com)
‘One for the Books,’ by Joe Queenan (sfgate.com)

I came across this hilarious article on The Atlantic Wire‘s website. It was posted back in August and was inspired from a blog post on The New Yorker‘s Page-Turner blog. In this article, Jen Doll lists a number of possible book reader types along with suggested reading for each.

I identified with them all. For each one I read, I kept saying, “Oh my gosh! That’s so me!” I began to despair that I am just too weird a reader to be able to find a description that totally matches my reading personality. For this reason, it’s good that I’m reading Doll’s article a few weeks late because at the end of the first article, I saw a link to a second one which lists additional book reader personalities.

I was finally able to find my match, at the end:

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.

Yes, I am definitely an “It’s Complicated” Reader and it’s true, I am a Pisces; thus my inability to go strictly with any one type. Anyways, you should check out both articles and see which ones you identify with. Let me know when you find your match!

Here are the links to the articles by Jen Doll:

What Kind of Book Reader are You? A Diagnostics Guide

Many More Types of Book Readers: A Diagnostics Addendum