Kinds of readers

Books can be an interest, a hobby, a passion or a compulsion. Of course, to many people, perhaps most people, they can also be irrelevant.

Thomas Wolfe

I was reading about the novelist Thomas Wolfe, who according to Lawrence C. Powell, "read (books) insanely, by the hundreds, the thousands, the ten thousands." Powell describes "a ravening appetite in him" that demanded that "he read everything that had ever been written."

Wolfe wrote the same way he read, compelled to put everything down on paper. His novels were still monstrously long even after Maxwell Perkins, his editor, cut out much of them.

Others have a book compulsion expressed in a different way. They don't necessarily read books, but rather just hoard them, accumulating as many as possible with little regard to their contents.

Those with just an interest in books usually express the wish that they could read more than they do. They may read an occasional best-seller, perhaps during a summer vacation or while on a plane, and they may have a few books in their homes. Mostly they regard reading books as a worthwhile ideal that can never be achieved in their own lifetime. There are simply too many other things to do.

Books are a hobby to collectors, those with an interest in certain books by certain authors. If they have enough money, they will be willing to pay high prices for these books. Collectible books lose value when they are handled, so if those who collect books also read books, they read less valuable copies.

A passion for books is what I have and have had for most of my life. There are many others like me. We are the ones who keep bookstores in business, although in the general population we remain a minority. We usually have at least one book in progress. We like to talk about books with others. We love the appearance of books on our shelves.

We aren't as crazy as Thomas Wolfe, but sometimes we come close.