What kind of reader are you?




I’ve been thinking about reading habits and whether you can you make judgements about a person based on the way they behave around books. I think the answer is probably 'Hell, yes!'
Take this quiz and find out whether you are a biblio-star or a biblio-slut.


Answer this question. ‘I keep my books...’
a) ‘Alphabetically arranged or by author. It’s important that my shelves are neat.’
b) ‘Not in any particular order but I usually know where things are.’
c) ‘I have to negotiate my way round the teetering piles in order to locate the washbasket and find my clean pants.’

You ask to borrow a novel from a friend. What best sums up his/her inner reaction?
a) ‘Oh, it’s always a pleasure lending a book to you. You always look after them so well.’
b) ‘No problem. I know I’ll get it back some time.’
c) ‘Oh God, maybe I can change the subject and distract her. Hmm...maybe I will lend it but insist she keeps it in a plastic bag. I’ve seen the inside of her handbag and no book of mine is going in there without protection.’

When you’re reading a book do you:
a) Take care not to open the pages too much, so you can ensure the spine remains unbroken.
b) Stay pretty relaxed about it, but prefer to keep your books in good condition.
c) Like to get comfy when you’re reading. Your idea of bliss is to have a book flat on the table so you can read and eat at the same time. You can always get the ketchup off if you’re quick enough.

You’re reading something you’re not enjoying that much. Do you:
a) Soldier on. Once you’ve started something, you will see it through to the end.
b) Force yourself to read 100 pages before you make a decision. If you’re still not enjoying it, you’ll put it to one side.
c) Think ‘bugger this for a game of soldiers, life’s too short’. The book’s going in the Oxfam pile if it hasn’t grabbed you by page 30.

Where do you read?
a) In bed at night. Your current book is on my bedside table [this also holds some tissues in a chrome case and one of those nice blue bottles of spring water].
b) On the way to work and in bed mainly.
c) Everywhere. Bus queues, bank queues, on the toilet, in the bath. In bed. The bath is your favourite place, even though you often drop your reading material and have to dry it on a radiator afterwards.


Mostly As
To say you’re anally retentive would be an understatement. You probably have a special duster for your books and take more pleasure in keeping them nice than you do in reading them. Live dangerously...go and put something back in the wrong place just to see if you can bear it.

Mostly Bs
Congratulations. You’re a very normal, balanced person. Award yourself a Biblio Star. Just don’t bore yourself to death first.

Mostly Cs
Face it – you’re a Biblio Slut. You’re probably the kind of person who bends pages back or uses old bus tickets as bookmarks. Hey, you know when you ask to borrow a book from a friend and they say, ‘Oh I think I’ve just given that to someone else? Here’s a newsflash...they’re lying. Your punishment is to go and live with the Mostly A person for a week until one of you murders the other.

[*Sadly this example comes from real life.]

16 comments:

sonia said...

I am mostly C's unless I have borrowed a book. With a borrowed book I am A's. I have used a small plastic bag as a book mark(it was very thin).

Debs Riccio said...

Great Fun, Caro! I'm a mostly B person with a slight edging towards C - which I kinda like. Balanced but bordering on sloppy. I like that. Oh, and I couldn't work out where the *taken from real life* part came...?

Caroline Green said...

Hee hee, well I have to confess that a friend once said she would only lend me a book if I carried it around in a plastic bag!
As you can tell, I am Mrs C :)

Gillian McDade said...

I'm an A reader. Should I be proud of it?! (I realy hate people who fold the corner of books - use a bookmark!)

Caroline Green said...

Gillian, if I ever ask to borrow a book from you, I hereby give you permission to scream, 'NOT ON YOUR LIFE!'

Fidelity said...

I was once reprimanded at Nott. uni library when I handed a book over with an apple butt stuck between the pages! It was only there though because I would never drop an apple butt in public space, and I'd never drop one in my bag if there was a book in it. Consciously an A though I appear to be a C.

Caroline Green said...

Fidelity, that is so funny!
My sister claims she once found a boiled sweet stuck to a pair of spare knickers in my handbag, but this is is a scurrilous lie.

I'd really LIKE to be an A though...

Fionnuala said...

I'm a B - though going to deliberately seek out a boiled sweet or apple core today to see if I can break the habit...

Susie Nott-Bower said...

I'm a B, only with A and C inclinations. As a child I was a C - I've begun re-reading childhood books and they're covered in drawings and cartoons, and often have pages missing...
Susiex

Emily Gale said...

I'm equal parts Normal and Sluttish with a brief nod to A because I very rarely manage to leave a book without finishing it (getting better at that though...and also not counting the hundreds of manuscripts I didn't make it all the way through...).

Thanks, I love quizzes!

Helen Black said...

I knew before I even did the bloody quiz that I was going to be a slut.
HB x

David said...

Oh dear, that wasn't the answer I wanted. Am off to iron the slight curl someone has left in one of the pages now...on a low heat of course!

Karen said...

I'm a B. No, really I am!

Mary@GigglesandGuns said...

2-A's
2-B's and a C to break the tie!
Great fun but oh so true--we all know some of each.

Maribeth
Giggles and Guns

Harry Markov said...

Great, I am normal again... 4 B's and a C at the last question. Oh, but I do not want to bore myself to death.

Caroline Green said...

Thanks for your comments, everyone!