Portrait of a Reader: Katherine R.

Welcome, Katherine! Please start by introducing us to yourself and your family.

There are five us – three great kids (16, 13, and 11) and two parents trying to keep up. There was only one dog, but, as of two days ago, there are two.

And the dogs!

Ah, yes. We went from one dog to two when our daughter moved home in December. It’s been a real adjustment for me, but then I’m not really a dog person. So when you first came to identify yourself as a reader? Do you consider yourself a casual reader, a sporadic reader, a serious reader or an all-out bibliophile?

I don’t remember not reading or not loving reading. I am an all out bibliophile. 🙂

Yes, I think it begins before our earliest memory for many of us. What do you most enjoy reading?

That’s a tough one and I’m not dodging the question. I read across so many genres and go to books for so many different things.

I know what you mean. I have a hard time pinpointing even my top “few” genres! What is the last book you finished and what are you currently reading?

I just finished The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis and I am currently reading The Marriage Plot. I also just finished Stones for Bread and am currently reading The Man Who Was Thursday.

Sounds like some good ones. I read The Man Who Was Thursday last year. Interesting book. Do you have a favorite time and place to read? 

I love reading in evening, but will read anytime… On a train, in the rain, in a car, under the stars… 🙂 And I must read before I fall asleep – part of the whole “going to bed” ritual.

Lol! Love it! And yes, who in the world can go to bed without reading something first! So what is the most unusual circumstance/place in which you’ve been found reading?

Under the stairs in my grandmother’s cottage. Oh… there is one more. I once “volunteered” to read in a bookstore window for an afternoon in exchange for a free book.

Oh my word! That’s the best “unusual” circumstance I’ve heard so far! But of course you’d read for a free book. 🙂 Do you read physical books, ebooks, or both?

Both, but I have found that I need physical books for those I use for reference or want to interact with/refer to again. I have no sense of the physicality of a story on an ebook, but I can pick out a scene by page almost every time.

I agree, although I am learning to highlight things in ebooks then copy them to a file in Evernote, which helps tons. Do you buy your books, borrow them from friends or check them out of the library? (Or all of the above!)

All, but I have promised my husband to explore the library more. 🙂

Ha! Book buying does tend to squeeze the budget. Even bargain books, for them I find that I just buy more of them so no real savings at all! Do you have any favorite foods or drinks that generally accompany your reading?

Chamomile tea. And if it’s a cold winter night and your sitting by a fire, one should consider port – in theory if not in practice. 🙂

Agreed! Port paints a prettier picture, at least in front of a fire in an English country house surrounded by ancient books and a couple of dogs. Finally, it’s true confessions time: have you ever forgotten something important (to fix dinner or that dinner was in the oven or an appointment, etc) because you were lost in the pages of a book? 

Not only have I done that on numerous occasions, but one book left me so within the story after the last page ended that I crashed my grocery cart through the glass doors completely unaware of my surroundings. Highly embarrassing!

Wow. Must have been an amazing book! Might be no higher compliment to an author than that!

Thank you so much for sharing a little bit of yourself with us today, Katherine. I hope everyone else enjoyed getting to know you, too!

Happy Reading, Y’all!