How adults reflect on their fiction reading by keeping a reading diary

The aim of this master’s thesis is to investigate how adults describe their individual reading experiences, on the basis of their own reflections by keeping a reading diary. Reading diaries kept during two months and a qualitative questionnaire for each of our nine motivated and advanced adult readers, were analyzed by using qualitative content analysis. The study was carried out on the Internet. The theoretical framework that served as a point of departure is Ross’ and Chelton’s model for the process of choosing a book to read for pleasure, Nussbaum’s moral philosophy and thesis “Reading for life” and Mukařovský’s theory of the aesthetic value. Several results are presented and discussed; some are included in this abstract. Our informants show a wide range of reading of different genres, and they choose and value literature on the basis of their life situation. The valuations differ due to the motives of the wanted reading experience. They vary their reading to maintain the passion of reading. Our informants deliberately prefer Internet as a platform for information about books, particularly those less discussed in media. They use fiction as entertainment and escape. The readers search images to reflect their own life. In this way, they develop experience and social understanding without losing their critical view. The identification of the reader is not a matter of age or of culture. The conclusion of this master thesis shows the significant and valuable meaning of fiction in adult’s lives