Reading Tastes

What's an "eclectic reader?" I've seen that term around lately and have wondered if it applies to me. Does that mean one has a variety of interests or just can't focus and settle down? Would you pore over anything in print or carefully select where you spend your time? Is eclectic just an excuse for "passive?" Is is possible to be so broad-minded in your interests that direction and vision continually elude you? Or, is the non-eclectic reader really only narrow-minded and stuck in a rut? Does a passion for a topic mask some weird obsession?


OK, maybe I'm thinking a bit too deeply about my reading tastes. Maybe no one even cares. However, I am amused sometimes by the odd collection that comes home with me from the library. Yes, I do get stuck in a rut and want to read every book by certain authors (and no books by others.) In fact, I have a spreadsheet on the computer listing all the books that my favorite authors have written and am systematically requesting them from our greater library system.


But I also buy/ check out/ read books on such varied topics that my husband can only roll his eyes at me. For example, last week's book purchases included an English grammar for the Latin student, a Redwall book, a Narnia trivia book, and a mystery by Elizabeth Peters. My library bag held 2 books on marketing, Homemade Money, EBay the Easy Way, 2 books on college admissions, a Perry Mason mystery, a Ngaio Marsh novel, and a rather tame novel with a steamy cover and title.

What I'd really love is to have the ability to absorb books without having to read them all. At least with non-fiction. Wouldn't it be great if we could go to be with a book under our pillows and in the morning wake up with the contents stored safely in our heads? Hmmm.....