Humor

Skills You Think You Have Because You Read

Readers admit to the skills they think they have because they read about them in fiction.

A.J. O'Connell

Staff Writer

A.J. O’Connell is the author of two published novellas: Beware the Hawk and The Eagle & The Arrow. All she’s ever wanted to do in life is read and write books, and so, is constantly writing at least one novel. She holds an MFA in creative fiction, but despite the best efforts of her teachers at Fairfield University's low-residency program, remains a huge dork for sci-fi, fantasy and comic books. She is a journalist and has taught journalism to college students. She blogs about feminism, the writing life, and whatever else comes into her head at www.ajoconnell.com. Blog: A.J. O'Connell Twitter: @ann_oconnell

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A few weeks ago I wrote about the skills I think I have because I read sci-fi and fantasy.

This post was inspired by an incident with a horse. (Abridged version: a neighbor’s pony escaped. I decided that reading about horses=experience with horses. Spoiler: It does not.)

At the end of the post I asked you to tell me what skill you believe you have, thanks to your love of certain genres.

skills readers think they have 9

Same, Dionne. Same.

 

Guys, you did not disappoint. Apparently we all think we have the skills we read about, from nonfiction readers (athletics!) to children’s books (taming backyard creatures!) to mystery lovers (how did this body get here?) to thrillers (lock-picking!).

I was, for example, glad to hear that other readers had also come away from reading books of various genres convinced of their innate horsemanship:

Skills readers think they have 2

 

 

skills readers think they have 15

And speaking of survivalism:

Skills readers think they have 3

 

 

 

This also counts as a survival skill in some genres:
skills readers think they have 12

Several other fantasy readers were also certain of their abilities as archers (thank you Legolas and Katniss):

skills readers think they have 11

But only one reader admitted to actually making functioning bows (and then getting in a lot of trouble for it):

skills readers think they have 14

 

Over on Facebook, more than one reader was convinced of their sleuthing skills, thanks to old-school YA mysteries:

skills readers think they have 16

skills readers think they have 6

This mystery reader could either become Sherlock Holmes or Moriarty:

skills readers think they have 7

 

 

 

Lock up your valuables around this reader (although locking them up may not do any good):

Skills readers think they have 4

 

 

 

This reader was inspired by nonfiction:

skills readers think they have 10

Children’s lit is responsible for this child’s new skillset:

Skills Readers Think they have 1

And my personal favorite, from a reader of literary fiction:

skills readers think they have 13