What's up with me and books?

All right, to make this easier, I'll put it in a question-and answer format.

1. Who are you? - They say that  in the internet, you do not reveal personal stuff like your full name, where you live, your credit card numbers, etc... So that leaves me with a vague introduction: I am currently a  high school senior who likes books, movies, and music, but let's focus on the books part.
2. What are your hobbies? - As I've mentioned, I like reading, watching movies and television, listening to music, playing tennis, hanging out with my family and friends, surfing the internet, doing social work (yes), and basking in the beauty of nature :)
3. Why a blog, and why a book blog? - I've had several accounts on major social sites where I am supposed to blog, like Multiply and Facebook, though I've never really blogged using those sites for the reason that I'm not really a public person, I'm not the guy who writes a 1000-word blog almost everyday detailing experiences which are not really relevant to most people. In fact I don't really like reading, more so writing blogs like those. I do not want people to think that they already know me, more so my friend, just by reading the things I post. I believe that socializing should be done on a personal scale where you go out there to really meet and talk to a person before you can say that he/she is your friend or acquaintance. So why blog anyway? Well it's a book blog, it's not as if I'll be posting my diary here, though I might put up some entries about me or my experiences :D . I created a book blog so that I'd get to know more people who read and like books, whether someone who already loves books and gets to encounter this, or, hopefully, someone I'd be able to influence into loving books. I also made Bear Bookends so that I could voice out my opinions and insights about books better, since Visual Bookshelf in Facebook (which I am currently using) doesn't get to satisfy this much.
4. Why do you read books? - I read books first and foremost because I know that in reading books, I educate myself about literature, the arts, and the world around us. It also helps me develop certain skills such as sharpening my comprehension and getting to read critically, skills which would help me in school, getting to a good college, and consequently, later on in life. I also read books because I love it. Reading brings me to different places and different worlds; it makes me meet different characters and lets me know their stories. I am sure there are more reasons why I read and love reading, probably I haven't realized them yet.
5. What books do you read? - If there's one thing that I know about the books I read: it would be that I only read books which have either won prestigious awards or received good reviews. Why? I do not have all the time in the world to read since I have many other duties and responsibilities such as family, friends, prayer, and school, so I don't want to risk wasting my time on a book which has a higher probability of not being enjoyable than those which are acclaimed. I only buy and read boks which I have already researched about; I do not enter a bookstore and grab whatever catches my eye. Anyway, I'm more into contemporary fiction (20th/21st century), but I also like the classics, and a little bit of non-fiction/biography.
6. Are you a fast reader? - I don't consider myself a fast reader, I average about 40 - 80 pages/hour depending on the book. How long do I finish? Well it all depends on the book, is it short or long, boring or interesting, are the scenes exciting or slow paced (it also depends on the scene, for example, exciting scenes such as climaxes are easier to read since the reading pace accelerates, but in slow scenes such as ones conveying ideas or philosophies, then the reading gets slower to be able to take it all in)? Availability is also a factor, since like I mentioned above, I have other responsibilities. For example, during school time, I only have very little time to read since I need to concentrate on my studying, during breaks it also depends, when I'm in the city, there are a lot of distractions so I don't get to read much. That is one reason why I like out-of-town vacations, excursions, or long travel times so much, since it gives me a lot of time to relax and read my books without the distractions. It really all depends, there are books which I can read in a day, while there are some that can take me months.
7. Why Bear Bookends? - I keep books in my room, in two tidy white shelves, and at the ends of each row is a small golden bear statue. Since there are two shelves, there are two bears, which are actually activity awards I got from school :) . And since I don't know any interesting blog name, I just decided that those cute little bears would do.

This is my first REAL post, hope to be putting up another one soon. Thank you.