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coalescentGwenda Bond asks, "So. What kind of reader are you?" Various people have answered.
I am:
A greedy reader. I want to have read everything, all of it. Not just the sf, actually all of it. Just most of the time, I want to read the sf first--although saying that, I've barely read any sf for the past month (and I haven't read a new genre sf novel yet this year, although of course that allows for me to have read old genre sf novels, new non-genre sf novels, and new genre short fiction, all of which I've done).
A planning reader, like Jonathan. There is always a pile of things waiting to be read. At the moment it's an actual literal pile--remember how I asked for suggestions of things to read back in January? I've read, er, two of them. But I haven't forgotten--in times past it's sometimes been more theoretical. But it's always there.
A contextualising reader. This is a more recent development, and one of the reasons I'm reading more non-sf. It's still the sf I want to write about, but increasingly I don't feel qualified to do that unless I know the non-sf context as well as the sf context. When I know neither, as in the case of River of Gods (not read Stand on Zanzibar; not read Midnight's Children, although I've tried), and have to discuss a book entirely in its own terms, I get distinctly uncomfortable. It's why I am at the moment reading, for instance, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe; Dan suggested it might make some interesting comparisons with Air.
A stubborn reader, and a forgiving reader. It's very, very rare that I don't finish a book, because in most cases there's something I like about it and in the rest I just don't want to admit defeat, dammit. Pride and Prejudice and, as mentioned, Midnight's Children have both defeated me, but I can't think of much else. This ties in with the planning reader, though--I will resist starting a big project, like The Baroque Cycle or ilium/Olympos, until I know I have a clear run at completing it. Which can mean that I never start.
An evangelical reader. I love recommending books. I love recommending many things, actually, but the buzz when someone reads a book at least in part because I talked about it is pretty cool (two today for River of Gods). Heck, it's a large part of why I ever started writing reviews of anything in the first place. I lend books easily; I'm not a collector. I may wince when I see that the binding on my hardback of River of Gods is falling to pieces, but I'd rather know that it's been read by eight (I think) people who like it than have a pristine copy sitting on my shelf wrapped in plastic.
So, that's me. What kind of a reader are you?
I am:
A greedy reader. I want to have read everything, all of it. Not just the sf, actually all of it. Just most of the time, I want to read the sf first--although saying that, I've barely read any sf for the past month (and I haven't read a new genre sf novel yet this year, although of course that allows for me to have read old genre sf novels, new non-genre sf novels, and new genre short fiction, all of which I've done).
A planning reader, like Jonathan. There is always a pile of things waiting to be read. At the moment it's an actual literal pile--remember how I asked for suggestions of things to read back in January? I've read, er, two of them. But I haven't forgotten--in times past it's sometimes been more theoretical. But it's always there.
A contextualising reader. This is a more recent development, and one of the reasons I'm reading more non-sf. It's still the sf I want to write about, but increasingly I don't feel qualified to do that unless I know the non-sf context as well as the sf context. When I know neither, as in the case of River of Gods (not read Stand on Zanzibar; not read Midnight's Children, although I've tried), and have to discuss a book entirely in its own terms, I get distinctly uncomfortable. It's why I am at the moment reading, for instance, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe; Dan suggested it might make some interesting comparisons with Air.
A stubborn reader, and a forgiving reader. It's very, very rare that I don't finish a book, because in most cases there's something I like about it and in the rest I just don't want to admit defeat, dammit. Pride and Prejudice and, as mentioned, Midnight's Children have both defeated me, but I can't think of much else. This ties in with the planning reader, though--I will resist starting a big project, like The Baroque Cycle or ilium/Olympos, until I know I have a clear run at completing it. Which can mean that I never start.
An evangelical reader. I love recommending books. I love recommending many things, actually, but the buzz when someone reads a book at least in part because I talked about it is pretty cool (two today for River of Gods). Heck, it's a large part of why I ever started writing reviews of anything in the first place. I lend books easily; I'm not a collector. I may wince when I see that the binding on my hardback of River of Gods is falling to pieces, but I'd rather know that it's been read by eight (I think) people who like it than have a pristine copy sitting on my shelf wrapped in plastic.
So, that's me. What kind of a reader are you?
