What kind of a reader are you?

Around the planet, there are millions of people who dig into books every time they get a chance to (glad I’m an active part of that creed). Some are held captive by the likes of The Silence of Lambs, whereas some keep themselves amused by taking a fleeting glance at the picture belts in Tinkle & Archie.

A chunk of readers like to say the dialogues out loud to experience what they read whereas some just manage to grasp the essence of the book by flicking through the words.

Even as a common thread runs through the reader community, so do some traits that differentiate each of us from the rest of us. Librarywala fan, Arshia Dar, tells us about the kinds of readers she has come across and what class she identifies with.

“So well! Getting down writing about the various kinds of readers, I need to first understand the kind of reader I am! After having studied the various kinds and categories, I have identified myself as a ‘skimmer’ and the fiction preferring one!

Beginning with the criteria that measures according to the ‘attention and time lending’ yardstick, we have 3 groups:

Sponges, skimmers and the picture peekers!

With the names being highly suggestive, it’s more than easy to place each!

Those who read every single letter and retain decently well are the sponges!

Those who usually just give a glance and manage to get the hang of it become the skimmers!

Picture peekers, very clearly are those who’re hardly interested in the textual portion of what’s actually supposed to be read! They’ll give as much as a look and move on to the images - these are the ones who generally prefer comics.

Then readers may also be segregated on the basis of their respective reading speeds;

Motor, auditory and visual.

Motor readers are characterized by lip movement or vocalization while reading, enabling themselves to grasp better.

Auditory readers just mentally say the words they read; they are known to be more skillful and rapid.

Visual as can be perceived, would just look at the words and move on! The eyes and minds are at a great point of sync in this case!

Then of course we have the better known category-- the genre readers--who likes what! It differs with age, profession even gender. For every different piece of literary work, there is a corresponding different reader who devours that piece like none other.

Even within the genre itself, there is a scope of sub-genring the books. Lets take romance for instance,  a reader may be inclined only to love stories & feels overwhelmed by Love Story invariably every time, whereas a teenager may prefer dark romance like The Twilight Saga. 

When seen with respect to age, Sweet Valley Junior High series are loved by preteens & early teens, they are conveniently replaced by Harry Potter series when they enter their mid-teens.

A boy’s reading journey probably begins with the comedy genre - “The Catcher in the Rye” & Catch -22 & later they go on to read more of adventurous material like The Hardy Boys”

Hmmm...quite an analysis isn't it? What's your thoughts on Arshia's categories? Which one do you fit into?