Filipino Fridays 2013 #1: Hello, Reader!

Filipino Friday is an online meme which started in the Filipino Book Bloggers website, but is now used as an online activity in preparation for the Filipino ReaderCon.

This is the prompt for this week's Filipino Friday:

Hello, Reader! Let’s get to know you, and more importantly, what kind of reader are you? Laura E. Kelly released an infographic about Reader species — under what Domain/Class/Family/Genus/Species do you fall under? Give examples, and feel free to talk about why you belong to that species. Who knows, you may find readers in your own genus. ;)

From Laura E. Kelly

I've never liked being labeled, even though I may be the easiest person to label. I recall seeing this infographic before. I went through it and found too many cross-overs that seem to be addressed by the over-all term "cross bred reader mutt." I frankly think most readers are mutts.

But in the interests of finding something within the species, I'm going to go with the Free Range, "It's Complicated" Reader, which is described below:

You are a combination of many of these things and yet completely different, too. You refuse to be defined or categorized. Beg, borrow, steal, devour. And do it all again.

Having said what I said earlier, I think it's pretty self-explanatory why I chose this. But let me explain further what kind of reader I am.

• I used to be a Chronological Reader and a Compulsive Book Buyer. No longer. Age may be the culprit. I no longer feel the need to finish a book series if the first book did not impress me. Why waste my time? I also no longer feel the urge to go inside every bookstore I pass, due in large part to ebooks. I'm sorry, but the thrill of the book hunt, a main reason why I used to enter all bookstores in within my immediate vicinity, has waned. The culprit: ebooks. Where is the fun in the hunt when I can just use Google's search bar and in a couple of clicks, I can get the book? 

• I work in ebooks, and I love the convenience they bring. But frankly, the personal downside is that I'm not as excited about the hunt anymore. Maybe that's why I look for rare or new titles now, because those pose more of a challenge.

• That said, I am still a Hoarder. My physical book shelf might have decreased, but that's because I hide a lot of my books under my desk. And in several folders in my Kindle.

• I'm a Book-buster, Underliner & Scribbler, and a Promiscuous Reader. I also have more respect for Book Abusers than Book Cherishers. I love print books, I do. But I internally roll my eyes when I hear or read about someone who says that they prefer their books super neat, unmarked, spine unbroken, and that the death of print books mean the death of civilization, blah, blah. 

• I am every kind of Situational Reader except Book Swagger and The Audiobook Listener. 

• I am every kind of Social Reader except the Evangelist. 

• I'm all kinds of Free Range readers.

• I used to be some kinds of Prestige readers, but I'd like to think I'm not anymore. Mainly because, though I do have very strong book preferences, I don't care what you're reading as long as you're reading.

• I am also somewhat of a Conflicted, No-Time-to-Read Reader, though I try really hard to sneak it in somewhere. Mostly in the bathroom or when I wake up at dawn.

And now looking at all these kinds of readers I am, I'm going to question the usefulness of this classification. Like seriously, if you fall within so many of these categories, how useful is the entire infographic? Sure, it's colored and pretty and you recognize yourself in many of them, but classification systems should be helpful in the sense that you can clearly delineate among the categories. If there are too many overlaps, might as well use a tagging system or something, and not a family/genus/species kind of thing.

Did I mention I tend to be overly critical when I read? Not always, but when you get me started...

Anyway, I do hope you join this and the rest of Filipino Friday. Don't worry if your post is late. Mine is. And I hope you also come to the Filipino ReaderCon. It's going to be a blast, as always.:)

Come to the Filipino ReaderCon 2013!