The Myers-Briggs of Reading
Choosing a book to read reveals a bit about who we are. It can be a window into our soul, shining light on our hopes, dreams and fears.
But is there a pattern? Can our reading personalities by distilled into a category?
This week’s Friday Findings attempts to determine your reading personality.
The quiz, published by Oprah’s Book Club, will categorize you into one of eight personalities:
- The Philosopher
- The Judge
- The Lionizer
- The Starry-Eyed Romantic
- The Aesthete
- The Endurance Reader
- The Pundit
- The Mirror
It is only 10 questions long so it shouldn’t take too much time.
Keep in mind that this quiz is not just about fiction. This wasn’t clear to me when I took the quiz and it clearly skewed my results. (Though I am happy with what I got)
What’s your reading personality?
I was categorized as “The Lionizer.” This reading personality seems to be pretty spot-on with regards to my fictional reading habits. As mentioned above, I answered the questions focused on my fictional reading choices.
This is one criticism I have of the quiz — fiction and non-fiction choices are made differently. Though, if you’re someone that reads only fiction or only non-fiction this quiz may 
be more illustrative of your reading personality. For those of us who read both, this quiz may not be as illuminating.
I’m aware that my non-fiction reading is in pursuit of a particular goal — my academic research. Non-fiction reading for me is a work; it is my job. Although, there are non-fictional books I’ll pick-up now and then separate from research projects. Keeping this in mind, the reading personality quiz determined my for-pleasure reading style.
“The Philosopher” would have been more appropriate for my non-fiction reading.
The Lionizer
The quiz describes “The Lionizer” as:
You bring an element of fiction to the way you see the world and the way you see yourself. To you, life is an adventurous novel that you create and change, day by day, taking inspiration for your own path from the actions and journeys of brave, determined people you know, or read about. The Goldfinch will intrigue you as much as A House for Mister Biswas; and for you, the slums of Behind the Beautiful Forevers or a biography of Thomas Jefferson will hold as much allure as the towers of Hogwarts in the Harry Potter series. For you, a book is a passport to another place and time. Whether you travel much in your real life, you like books that transport you to terra incognita, like Land of Love and Drowning or Absurdistan. In your dreams Cloud Atlas is your diary. Nonfiction books hold your interest when they describe personalities and situations that demonstrate the mutability and drama you crave. You likely harbor a passion for classic children’s literature, too—that’s the Lionizer’s wading pool.
The ” 17 Books That Will Transport Lionizers to Another World” were hit and miss. Of the 17 books only 6.5 of them sounded interesting to me. The .5 is because one book talks about Midwestern history and, while the premise doesn’t sound all that fascinating, I cannot pass up reading about my home region.
What is your reading personality? Does it describe you well?
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