What Readers Do

Shining the spotlight on everyday readers of the 21st century, Beth Driscoll explores how contemporary readers of Anglophone fiction interact with consumer publishing and the book industry.

The product of 16 years of qualitative research into readers and reading culture, this book examines reading through three dimensions - aesthetic conduct, moral conduct, and self-care – to probe at how readers intertwine private and social behaviors, and both reinforce and oppose the structures of capitalism. Analyzing reading as a post-digital practice that is a synthesis of both print and digital modes and on-and offline behaviors, Driscoll presents a methodology for studying readers that connects sociology, book history, literary studies and actor-network theory. Also working to advance earlier studies that focused on readers’ face-to-face practices, What Readers Do digs into book clubs, reader involvement with broadcast media, such as via Oprah’s Book Club, and posting pictures of books on social media.