What Kind of Reader Am I?

In class, this question was brought up. I've been thinking about it for the past couple days, and I choose to explore the question:

What kind of reader am I?

What made me the avid reader that I am? What made me fall in love with reading and literature?

In middle and high school, I was a typical teenage student who just completed the assigned readings. I did not LOVE books; I just read them as an assignment. My family encouraged me to read certain books, so I would read books that were recommended to me by those I respected. I did not start to love literature until I came to college here at SUNY Cortland.

I took a class with Dr. Faulkner, Introduction to Fiction, and I became obsessed with reading. He taught us to read text in a new way I had never been introduced to in middle or high school. I was taught several different ways to analyze a text, which we are all well aware of, and this new ideology really turned me around from being an occasional reader to a constant reader.

Now, I read everything I can get my hands on. I like to read different kinds of texts so that I am not limited to only one genre/subject. I read every month's addition of Rolling Stone Magazine. I love reading about new media/music/entertainment, but that magazine is a sophisticated source.

I read a different genre every time I pick up a new book. I always transition from one book to the next so I am continuously reading. I read short story anthologies to memoirs, classic Dickens to YA Lit. I read more than I watch television, and I read often.

I read during my lunch breaks at work on my job. I read on airplanes, under trees in my backyard, on the beach, or before bed. I fill my spare time with reading because there is so much I want to read in so little time.

I want to be able to give this experience to others, be it my students, friends or family. I want to share and give this love for reading to everyone, because it touches us each in our own way. Every person needs to discover what kind of reader they are, what genres they enjoy, what texts intrigue them. I hope to help others find their own path so they can be lifelong readers like I know I will be.