Define "Well Read"

I've been thinking about what "well read" means lately, and I might have come to the conclusion it's impossible to be "well read", or near impossible, unless you mean well read in a specific niche or genre. To be broadly well read i'd say one needs to read a lot of books from all age categories and genres. Middle Grade, Children's, Young Adult, Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Horror, Mysteries, Thrillers, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Non-fiction, Graphic Novels, Short Stories, Long ass tomes, etc. Anything and everything.

And of course also from diverse voices. Authors of color, queer authors, disabled authors, neurodiverse authors, non-binary and trans authors, authors from different places in the world, from different religions/spiritualities etc. It would take a long long time to read enough to be considered "well read" in that sense, but man would it be a fun and interesting journey!

If one means well read in a specific genre or category...how many books would that take?

Also, what I don't like is the snobbery of people who are, or think they are, well read, looking down on those that aren't or don't want to be. Reading is meant to be fun and enjoyed. People read for many reasons and a popular reason is pure enjoyment, and there is nothing wrong with that! It's the main reason I read.

Would I like to try to be "well read"? Well sure. I do enjoy reading all over the place in terms of genres, voices and categories. But I don't know if i'd ever consider myself well read, because what does that even mean? How many books does that take? Are there certain books i'd need to read? Everyone's definition could differ.

I think i'm going to stop worrying about what "well read" means, and just focus on reading a bunch of great books and enjoying reading! Yes, I do want to read from many genres, categories and voices and I consider that important to me for various reasons, but whether I ever attain "well read"? Who cares. As long as I continue enjoying the books i'm reading.

What does well read mean to you, and do you care? Comment down below!

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