Fierce Readers
You have readers, and then you have fierce readers.
A fierce reader is a specific type of reader, whom I will proceed to address and describe below. You have readers, and then you have fierce readers.
Simply reading a lot doesn’t make one a fierce reader.
But all fierce readers read a lot.
Fierce readers, you see the world through books.
Anything you wish to understand is first understood through books.
More importantly, you see yourself in books.
You understand yourself in books.
Books articulate your fleeting thoughts that pop in and out in those brief quiet spaces interspersed throughout the day.
You marvel at the fact that an author can help you dig deeper into who you really are.
Not your mother, not your best friend, but an author you’ve never met.
All these years you’ve been desperately digging the mud with your bare hands, searching and searching for your core within.
And then someone comes along with a shovel, and in one wide scoop, digs it up for you.
There it is, the mirror in the hole, staring at you with bewildered eyes.
There is no running away now, this is who you are.
The author has spelled you out for you.
You don’t necessarily mind being around people, but books are your first best friend.
It’s rare that you leap at attending a social gathering.
When you find yourself there, you start seeing people through the lens of characters in your books.
You weave into the conversation stories you can’t get out of your head. Stories you excitedly recounted to your partner, on the way to the gathering.
Naturally, the topic drifts towards movies and Netflix shows.
You sit there quietly, an alien out of tune with popular culture.
A worm too busy gnawing at her books to look up and enjoy the other niceties of the world.
Others think you are a solitary nerd.
To you, reading doesn’t feel solitary.
Reading is a highly engaging activity.
You vehemently disagree that reading is a passive activity.
You’re the psychopath who talks to books.
You scribble notes on the margins.
You underline.
You pause for long stretches to think.
You go back and debate with the author.
You take walks pondering what you read.
You laud the author for opening your mind to a new unexplored thought.
You are always buzzing with thoughts and ideas.
You write essays on ideas provoked by the book.
When a new book arrives at your doorstep, you turn into a little puppy being taken out to play.
Your eyes sparkle as you soak in the words on the page.
Your nose delights in the smell of old musty books.
You animatedly discuss the book with your partner.
You steer dinner table conversations to topics surrounding the book.
Occasionally, you get too excited and strike a monologue on what you’ve read so far.
But you’d only do it with someone you’re very close to.
You feel weird discussing books with others - other cool people who can chatter about restaurants and TV shows.
What do fierce readers know about that?
You read while walking.
You read in the bathroom.
You read in the subway.
You read in bed.
You read in hammocks.
You escape your desk job in the middle of the day to catch a few minutes of reading in the park.
You tend to only read physical books.1
You may from time to time read on a Kindle or listen to an audiobook, but many of those books are not read fiercely.
Too hard to scribble, too hard to pause and ponder, too hard to befriend.
With audiobooks, your eyes wander and your mind draws its own castles, and then you’re off creating your own novel.
The book is set aside.
It works if the castles are what you want to see, but not otherwise.
Hence, you resort to physical books.
They allow for reading, thinking, scribbling, and castle-building.
You don’t skim books.
You don’t find much value in skimming, just the way you don’t find much value in book summaries.
You will, however, leave many books unfinished.
When you read a book or a part of a book, you read it fiercely.
If a book doesn’t deserve your ferocity, you discard the book.
You secretly aspire to be a writer.
Some of you are great writers.
Others write occasionally – privately or publicly.
Fierce readers might let the rest of their lives be disorderly.
They forget to check their phones.
They guiltily say no to social gatherings.
They’ll sit for hours forgetting to move.
They sometimes won’t eat for long stretches of time.
You read not only for the content, but also for the style.
Some authors have a way of writing you simply can’t get away from.
You don’t read merely for entertainment.
You read to learn.
But the primary goal of reading is not merely learning either.
There is no goal to reading.
You read because you want to.
You read because you love to read.
You read because this is how you make sense of the world.
You read because this is how you make sense of yourself.
You read because this is who you are – a fierce reader.
If this post resonated with you, please share the post with all fellow fierce readers!
There are exceptions to this and some fierce readers will do audiobooks and / or kindle.