Finally today we come to the fourth and final distinction C.S. Lewis makes between readers, between what he terms the few and the many. To review, he says in An Experiment in Criticism that:
1. Most people read a book just once. The few think nothing of rereading favorite books multiple times.
2. Most people read only as a last resort, because there is nothing more pressing or more interesting to do. The few make reading a part of their regular routine.
3. The lives of most readers are unchanged by the books they read. A few readers, however, can sometimes notice a profound change in their lives and in their thinking because of what they read.
The fourth distinction Lewis makes flows from the third. What they read, he says, "is constantly and prominently present to the mind of the few, but not to that of the many." That is, the experience of reading isn't over after the final page for some lucky readers. The story and characters, if it's a work of fiction, or the facts or ideas presented, if it's a work of nonfiction, continue to percolate in the reader's mind. The more one thinks about a book, the more insights one gains. And this is often what leads to a rereading of the same book, sometimes immediately after the first.
These are the kinds of readers who seek out other people who have read the same book to compare their experiences. These are not necessarily the kind of people who join book clubs, but they are the kind of people who join book clubs hoping for serious discussions about the books in question, rather than primarily to socialize.
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