Reading styles

My wife Carolyn and I are avid readers but probably couldn't be more different in our reading style. She may check out 3 or 4 books from the library but will read each one in turn until she finishes it before going onto the next. I'll often have 10 to 12 books checked out and be partially through half of them at any one time. She will read almost exclusively fiction and has particularly favorite authors. I read almost exclusively non-fiction and only rarely the same author. Her selections come from the main shelves. Mine come from the "New Books" shelf. About the only thing we agree on is the idea of using the public library to order, catalog, and maintain our books for us. Not that that has stopped us from collecting more than 1,000 books of our own in the bedroom we pretentiously call our "library" (a small portion of which is shown below).

But the biggest difference in our reading styles is that Carolyn listens to books on cassette tape or CD while I read the old-fashioned way, page by page, book in my lap, reading lamp over my shoulder.

This difference has some interesting consequences. Carolyn can read while she's simultaneously performing other tasks such as cooking, driving, gardening, or even falling asleep at night. I'm limited to reading only as a focused activity and can't multitask. Carolyn (and others) might be put off or intimidated when I am reading and not want to interrupt me. I, on the other hand, have sometime talked to Carolyn for several second before I realize she has her headset on and hasn't heard a word I said. When she wants to share something with me that she's read, she can simply play it the next time we're in the car together. I share something by reading aloud the passage that I wish to share.