I’ve seen the latest movie, but the books are always better.

I’m talking, of course, about “Harry Potter.” While the fifth movie debuted last week, the final chapter of the saga will be released this Friday in book form – “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” is the seventh and final book in the series. I’m not going to go into the plot rumors and who I think will be the characters to kick the bucket, but I certainly am excited to find out. I’ll be out of town this weekend, but I plan on buying the book on my way back to Jordan and reading it Sunday afternoon, Sunday evening, and Monday morning if I have to.

I haven’t been this excited for a book release since the last in “The Series of Unfortunate Events.”

It got me thinking, though, about my reading habits and how I pick which books I want to read. The way I see it, book shoppers are broken into three categories:

Destination Shoppers – These are the people who go to a library or a bookstore with one title on their mind. They are there to get that book and that book alone. If the library or bookstore doesn’t have what the destination readers are looking for, they’ll leave and check back later. No time for browsing other books.

The Browsers – These are the people who go into a library or bookstore with no idea what they want to read. They’re there to look around and see what catches their eye. While they’re probably not judging a book only by its cover, a flashy design on the front couldn’t hurt to catch the readers’ eyes.

Destination Browsers – These are the people who go into a library or bookstore with a list of possibilities. They have a few favorite authors that they’ll check for first, and then move on to a few other books that they’ve heard about somewhere. If something new catches their eye, though, these readers will stop and take a look.

Really, this could be added to any type of shopping, but I’m thinking about reading. I’d lump myself into the last category. I like to know what I want when I head to the bookstore or library (that way I don’t walk out with too many books), but I never really have a specific title in mind.

Unless, of course, that title has the words “Harry” and “Potter” in the title.

What kind of shopper are you? Do you have a set reading agenda, or do you browse and go where the mood takes you? Or don’t you read at all?

And are you excited for Harry’s last adventure?