I once read somewhere (a phrase familiar to those who live for words) that there are three types of readers: those who snack on books, eat books regularly, or devour books entirely. Readers who snack on books casually read; they pick up a novel in their spare time but set it down almost as suddenly, taking months to finish even one. Then there are the people who often read as regularly as eating a meal- books are constant, measured portions that satisfy their hunger for fancy. Finally, there are those who read so voraciously that they complete novels in one sitting and are constantly on the hunt for their next fix. Readers who devour books binge on words and their appetites are never satiated.
While I’m definitely not one to subscribe to the paradigm of labeling everything, this stuck with me. The idea of binging is full of negative connotations: eating disorders, alcohol problems, that one show on Netflix you stayed up until 4 in the morning to finish. Binging novels, however, sounds poetic and impressive, and not nearly as depressing as the alternatives. I decided then, as a proud and outspoken devourer of books, that I wanted to gorge myself on all the literature (and Almond Joys) that the world had to offer me. I hope that my work at the Sundress Academy for the Arts starts me on a lifelong path of being able to eat my weight in words and perhaps feed other people, too.
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Anna Moseley is currently a senior at the University of Tennessee majoring in English Literature. She has a glorious waitressing job downtown and writes as a contributor for the Arts and Culture section of the Daily Beacon. When she bothers to extract her nose from a book, Anna’s hobbies include engaging in wine-fueled political debates and looking at pictures of dogs she can’t afford.
