How do you define a reader is an "avid reader" ?

An avid reader is a reader who is eager to get hold of latest releases or bestsellers in his favourite genres. The literary's quality of a book is the most important criteria for choosing to satisfy the reader's appetite for reading. The number of books and how fast the person can read is only secondary because whether a person really enjoyed reading a book is a primary importance. What is your definition of "an avid reader"?

Your definition contradicts itself.

You can be an avid reader of a particular genre or writer irrespective of the literary quality of the books. In fact literary quality doesn't come in to it - you will read that book you have been looking forwards to ever since you heard mention of it in preference to a higher quality book.

1. enthusiastic; ardent; dedicated; keen: an avid moviegoer.
2. keenly desirous; eager; greedy (often fol. by for or of): avid for pleasure; avid of power.
...thats dictionary.com`s definition of AVID.....

I consider myself an avid reader...because I read often I have a passion for books and authors...

Maybe the term avid is used too often I have heard/ read it used for sports... collectors...ect...I often see that word pop up in obituarys...
Insatiable...IMO is a much better term.....

Personally i think the phrase is a trite cliché but to each their own!

An avid reader is a person who really loves to read. What they love to read is really not important unless we're going to start being judgmental about different kinds of books. I love to read, I read every day of my life, but I am not especially interested in new releases (except from certain authors) and certainly not bestsellers - what do I care what people I don't even know like to read?

I agree with bluesalamander's definition. I would consider an avid reader as someone who loves to read and reads frequently (probably on a daily basis).

I described myself as "avid reader" in my profile, and I did so because I always want to have my nose in a book.

The reason for reading or the genre cannot have anything to do with whether someone is an avid rader or not. But you do need a preference for books - if you usually prefer the film you are no avid reader.

I like insatiable, pricessputter. For lara_aine or anyone else that might feel "avid" is a little trite (and likewise the other staples "voracious" and "fervent"), how about rapacious, ravenous, fanatical, or agog.

Or in my case, apathetic, indifferent or blase.

I think an avid reader doesn't care about genre, popularity, or anything else. If it's a book and it hasn't been read, they will make it in their best interest to read it. To me, that is an avid reader.

I can't remember the name of the character, but the woman played by Frances McDormand in the film version of Michael Chabon's The Wonder Boys is described as reading the side of cereal packets if there is nothing else to hand. That to me is an avid reader, and it means I qualify as one.

MrAndrew, I like ravenous. "Ravenous reader" has a nice alliterative ring to it! Or how about "a ravenous reader with an insatiable appetite for books"?

Avid: insatiable, passionate, devoted, fervent, enthusiastic, eager... oh yeah, that is TOTALLY me!

What I want to know is when can you call someone "well-read?"

Ravenous is great -- and I love the alliteration. I define an avid reader as someone who is always reading something. That is, someone who always has an answer to the question "What are you reading now?" As recent research has shown, few people read even one book per year. An avid reader finds it hard to keep track of how much they read in a given year (without the help of LibraryThing, of course).

How about:

random reader : one who can quite happily read cereal packets and the safety instructions on toothpick boxes

rapacious reader : someone who will steal books if necessary to get their fix

rascally reader : one who borrows books, but does not return them

ravenous reader : rapacious reader currently without a book and obliged to resort to cereal packets

ridiculous reader : one who is prepared to read a book with an embarrassing cover in public

ringing reader : one who reads while telephoning

riotous reader : the person opposite you in the train, who is reading a very funny book and laughing aloud at all the jokes

rugged reader : one who returns books bent out of shape with muddy pawprints all over them

I like all the definitions and I especially like the list of thorold. I consider an avid reader to be a person whose idea of entertainment is a book. The book doesn't have to be a best seller or recommended by a celebrity, in fact, an avid reader will usually avoid those books. An avid reader has a select group of authors that he/she will read and reread and will go to some length to obtain early works.

I think a person can consider themselves well read when many life time situations bring some part of some book to mind. When what has been read becomes part of one's thought and decision making processes. Just my humble opinion.

Don't forget the red light reader. This would be me when I have something new in the car and am cursing the green lights.

>15 siubhank: I think a person can consider themselves well read when many life time situations bring some part of some book to mind. When what has been read becomes part of one's thought and decision making processes.

Thank you. I think I do not agree, but the notion is provocative. I suspect 'well-read' has to do with some kind of canon, but to consider that one's choices' coming from one's reading makes one well-read is a good idea.

Robert

An avid reader is a person that gets so engrossed in the book they're reading, the world around them fades and disappears and they become the characters in the book they're reading, they are there in the fictional world they're reading about.

An avid reader loves to read, no matter what the genre. They read, not because they have to, but because it's a need. It's necessary to their well-being!LOL (ever try interrupting one in the midst of a great book? Be prepared for war!).

An avid reader devours books like candy, always wanting more, never being satisfied. It's like a great, big gaping hole inside, a black hole, a gigantic beast that is never satiated by only one or two or three books. An avid reader is compelled to continue reading until the day they die. They get this itch, this urge, this...helpless desire to READ and it never ends! =)

So what makes an avid reader? I honestly don't know, I can't imagine some people never reading for pleasure, or like verbafacio said in post #13, only read "one book per year" (ack!! Shameful!!!).

# 16

When I saw your phrase "red light reader," I thought of someone who only reads erotica or books about the sex trade/industry.

I think an avid reader is someone who reads a lot for pleasure; it's that simple. It doesn't matter whether it's all in one genre, or all across the board. An avid reader reads, and enjoys reading.

I've always taken "well-read," on the other hand, to mean having read a lot of classics. (So I'm an avid reader, but not necessarily well-read.)

Flann O'Brien described himself as being a 'compulsive reader' in the sense that, in the absence of a book to read on public transport, he would read anything; advertisements, the upside-down back page of someone else's newspaper, even his bus ticket!

An avid reader is someone who reads as much as they can, whenever and wherever they can. I'd say you're not really an avid reader unless you have at least three books on the go at any one time.

I think being well-read means you can think of an appropriate book in many situations.

I think this also means having tried a fair amount of the classics, so you can say "oh, I could not finish Anna Karenina, I just could not get interested in the characters" when that book comes up, instead of always having to say "I'm planning to read it, soon, really". And not just fiction - you cannot call yourself well-read if you haven't read something substantial on evolution, or on the history of your own country, or ...

And I do read cereal packets and I do have some trouble not reading more than two or three books at the time, so I still qualify as avid. Hurray!

An Avid reader. Hmmm Well, I can only judge myself, and I consider myself a book-lover, I have a "need" to read books, for diffrent reasons. (always did) I want to be engolved in another world, language, situation.
I want to learn about things I am curious about (I am VERY curious about a LOT of things) I want to be able to escape, or to get entertained without having another person in the room, infact, don't bother me when I am lost in a book I am *bow my head in superficial shame* a cranky person if you do so.

I am a woman, and I like all the things women like i.e. clothes, make-up, gossiping with girlfriends etc. BUT, I am also perfectly happy (excited!!) to find a new bookstore or to browse in one for HOURS!!

I like the way books feel, smell, even the sound they make when you turn the pages!....I could never read an E-book, yuck.

I don't look for bestsellers or only one genre, I read what ever I like about a hundred subjects. If it is interesting to me I read it.

And finally..I might not always take a man to bed, but I ALWAYS take a book to bed!! Now, if this makes me an Avid reader, than so be it. If not who cares? Surely not me........

I'm sure an "avid reader" is someone who reads 23 comments on LT discussing the phrase "avid reader" in the middle of the night... while reading.

re#24 You take the cake.... Amen ;)

So I just finished 25. What does that make me? sleepy!

In response to #1 - I don't.

Guy's, guy's, guy's....Let's just settle this once and for all. We are ALL on a booksite I guess that says it all. We would not be here if we did not love books. And what do we do with books? We read them, don't matter how many, don't matter how often.
The thing that unites us is our common interest in books.......
And I give hereby "cyber cake" too all......Have a happy and "Well-read" 2008 Everybody............

I'm an avid breather. I cannot go long without taking a breath.