When compared to the list of Mr. Hornby, I can only assume that I am not a reader. Or, maybe he's just never met a reader like me
Maybe I'm the odd one out, but I really don't think so. My response to his list is as follows:
1. I'm a book reader that likes to read. I don't read in spite of, nor because it is on bound pages, but because it's there.
2. I have books that I've kept since I first purchased them. Nothing prevents me from purchasing them as an e-book and adding them to my reader if I need or want to and I have no issue with doing so. Nothing says, that it is, has to, or will be one over the other.
3. Seven per person per year? There are more months than not that I buy that and more and run out of material. A 3 for 2 deal would cover me for a few days, possibly a week in most instances.
4. I'm one of those oddities again I guess. I'm a techie, I'm a reader. I Love new gadgets and toys
I love to read. Finding something that fits both parts of my personality has me turning in circles giddily.
5. Cereal boxes, food labels, someone else's newspaper (when my vision was better...
), signs, brochures, the free handouts at various stores... in desperate times, I've read anything that has words on it. My reader means that I now have something to read no matter where I am.
6. My tv was off for about 3 months until recently. It wasn't broken, I'm just not all that into it... and even when it is on, I've usually got something in hand that I'm reading while looking up at the screen occasionally. Don't get me wrong, I have shows that I enjoy watching when they're new and I'll rarely pass up one of the crime story shows, but while the tv may get a bit dusty over there in the corner, it's a rare day when I'm not reading.
As for the poll he mentions, that is quite depressing. Growing up, a trip to the bookstore was as exciting as a trip to the toy store for me if not more so. While we couldn't always afford toys, there was always enough for a book.
I'm a reader. My dad was a reader, my mom still is one. Maybe that's part of it. My dad loved history, both World and US. Maybe it was by osmosis, but he instilled a love of reading and history in me that remains with me today. I started reading when I was 3 or 4, and by the 4th grade I'd read every one of his history books. I can remember sitting there with a dictionary on one side and one of his books on the other, looking up whatever word I didn't understand. I can remember asking him about Elijah D. Taft, about the Celts and about ancient Greek civilization.
I love music. I have an ipod, a pc (okay, more than one), a pda, an e book reader, a ds (
I like my games too!) and a cell phone. I've got a closet full of boxed up books that are keepers and that, from time to time, I go back and reread an old favorite.
I've read on every one of those devices, and while any of them will do in a pinch, I like the reader the best. It has found it's way into my bag every single day since I purchased it. It comes out at the store when I'm waiting on line, at lunchtime while I'm waiting for a friend to show up, it has come out while I'm at a total standstill in 5+ mile traffic jams and when I've been waiting to be seen at the doctors office. It comes out after dinner, and during if I'm eating alone.
I
Am a reader. Long after the printed page is but a memory and the prototypical readers of today are interesting gadgets from the past, I will
Be a reader and I feel sorry that I seem to be such an anomaly in his experience.