So who's this 'reader'?

A member of the 'Reading Rainbow' generation, holder of an English degree, a Borders and Barnes & Noble rewards card holder, a rhetoric (yes, I said rhetoric) nerd, and an aspiring (gasp!) writer - I come to you, my fellow reader, with one question. (Ok, more than one.) WHY do you read?

Which naturally leads to... WHAT do you read? Which, may or may not naturally lead to, HOW do you read?

You see, whether or not you've ever thought about these questions, they are swirling around you every time your hand slides over the crinkly cover of a library book or your eyes fixate on the black and white text dancing on the inside of a new paperback. They are with you when you curl up in bed with your favorite classic or wipe the sand out of a quick read on vacation.

And these questions are big ones not because I capitalized the key words, but because they inform who you are. If you are a reader, as I address you, then you know this - reading is a part of you and has effected your development as a person. Your opinions, your imagination, your understanding or knowledge, your vocabulary, or at the very least your awareness of the people and the places and the words all around you is influenced by BOOKS.

You love books! And so do I. So this blog is partly a love-fest. A place to love on books and reading and talk about WHY, WHAT, and HOW we read. From discussions about educational reading to book reviews by you & me, this blog can be like a mini-reading community, a book club of sorts!

But I'm not going to lie to you, reader, mainly because I think our relationship has potential - this blog has ulterior motives. A graduate student in a Writing Studies program, I have decided to write my thesis on the rhetoric of reading - the WHY, WHAT, and HOW. I love my topic, it's unique, it's personal, it's - too broad. HELP! Let's try to crack open this whole reading thing and why we love it so much because #1 - it's worth it to do so and #2 - it would help me out :)

I'm open to shaping this blog to my followers, my READERS if and when they arrive here and share their voices - and I can't wait to find out WHY, WHAT and HOW you are reading!