Any bibliophones here?

I've been wondering, are there anyone here who avidly reads? I'm not talking about a book every few weeks, but 1-2 or more books a week. If you are a bibliophile (by my poor definition), would you tell of why you read so much? Do you feel that reading helps or hinders you in any way? Tell about yourself :).

I was like that before college started. Now I'm down to one book every couple weeks.

As to why: I'm just a shut in, and it's a nice way to spend my ample free time.

I read fast and at the moment read a book every two days on average. Yesterday night I started a book in a Hungry Jack's and stayed there getting free refills until I finished the book. There's no pressure to make about three books a week. It just turns out that I end up with about three finished books at week's end. When it comes to books like Infinite Jest or Gravity's Rainbow or Underworld that are quite large, though, it takes me longer than two days to get through.

I always wonder if with my avid reading I wouldn't be better off reading non-fiction and expanding my knowledge of things. When I am interested in something, I will read about it and that has led to a varied knowledge of things. But generally speaking, I prefer fiction. I like stories.

I used to keep a dictionary with me and reading helped a lot to expand my vocabulary. When I found a word I was unfamiliar with, I would look it up in the dictionary. But this doesn't happen so much anymore.

I guess I read a lot because when I go to a bookstore or library, I see so many books and authors that I have barely touched upon if at all. So many good stories I have yet to experience. I don't know, maybe that's just me.

  I started reading on my own to combat my insomnia as a child. It didn't even matter what I read; the calmness, low light, and rhythmic, repeated movements of page turning and slow breathing would knock me out within an hour or so. I grew up, read faster, read smarter. Nowadays, at any given time I'm in the middle of 3-4 books and have another score "on deck". My bookcase is beginning to bow. =(

Nightstand: Astronomy textbook
Bathroom: 1984
Car/Long waits: Shakespeare Tragedy Collection
Hidden in bathroom at work: Rant: An Oral Biography

>>4

You hide a book in the bathroom at work? Dude, what the fuck?

>>4
>>5

Where do you hide it?

Yes, I am a bibliophone. Only problem is that it's hard to find other people who speak book.