We’ve all seen her in movies—the socially awkward background character rushing out of the library and smack into another person, sending a tower of novels tumbling to the ground.  Who is this enigmatic creature?

No longer will the reading nerds be shrouded in mystery. They cannot all be categorized as clumsy movie characters.  As there are infinite varieties of books, there are infinite varieties of readers. You have your binge bookies—finishing five novels in a single weekend by sacrificing food, family, and friends.  There are those critical-thinkers, savoring philosophical chronicles and nonfiction accounts. To the relative disdain of the other readers, there is the faction that lives off sappy summer reads.  (You know the books—unrealistic in every way, yet inexplicably enticing.)

Whether their preferred genre is epic fantasy like Lord of the Rings, or they are die-hard Jane Austen enthusiasts, all book nerds have one thing in common: an enchanting delight that comes from knowing a world beyond our own.