How much do I love your enthusiasm? Your pictures keep rolling in, showing that Reality Bites Back readers are a diverse group — women and men, kids and adults, and people from a wide range of ethnic backgrounds and geographic regions. I particularly enjoy the way some of you seem to be having fun with this Readers Gallery community. For example:

It takes a lot to scandalize someone whose work regularly has them negotiating with local politicians in Washington D.C. Nevertheless, here’s historic preservation expert

Kristen Harbeson at the Capitol, shocked–SHOCKED!–by what she’s reading in Reality Bites Back:

As it turns out, Kristen can’t figure out what aggravates her more: sexism and manipulation in reality television… or anything at all on Fox News:

Just outside Los Angeles, professor Melanie Klein’s son, Atticus, wonders which is scarier: reality TV “Frankenbites” (see page 27 in the book, or read my explanation in this Macleans interview) — or little curly-haired skeletons?

If our Twitter conversations have told me anything, I predict that Danielle’s raised eyebrows hint at both the bemusement

Wow, you folks are FAST! On the same day that Reality Bites Back became available for the Kindle, the Readers Gallery got a new entry.

Here’s Robert Domingo from Queens, NY, who is reading Reality Bites

Back on his iPhone:

If you’d like to join the Readers Gallery, send a photo of yourself to info[at]wimnonline[dot]org, or upload a photo directly to the Facebook page for the book. (And while you’re at it, “Like” the FB page and talk about the book with fellow readers there.)

And, as always, I’d love to hear what you’re thinking about reality TV and representations of gender, race, class and more in pop culture, whether directly related to the book or not. Weigh in at the Facebook page, or in the comments below.

On Saturday, I introduced you to six people in the Reality Bites Back readers gallery: Andrew from Brooklyn, Veronica from Chicago, the interns of Reel Grrls in Seattle, and a very precocious (or, well, hungry) kid in Los Angeles.

Today, it’s time to meet four new members of our reading community:

Straight from the belly of the beast — Los Angeles, where reality TV stereotypes are carefully crafted — professor Melanie Klein snuggles up on her

couch with the book. Melanie will be teaching from Reality Bites Back this semester, along with many women’s studies, ethnic studies, communications/media studies, and humanities professors across the country. (Which I’m really excited about, by the way.) She is also helping to organize this event:

It seems Seattle-based Jerry Darcy was a bit confused by the book. First, he apparently thought some of the reality show anecdotes I described are so preposterous, they’d made more sense upside down:

Then, he searched in vain for a Reality Bites Back centerfold pinup. (You’ll be looking for a long time, there, Tiger…):

When he finally started reading it right-side up, he was shocked, SHOCKED, by what he learned:

Though Reality Bites Back officially launches on November 1, I’m thrilled to announce that pre-orders began shipping last week. Around the country, folks like you have begun reading it — and amazing feedback has already been pouring in via Twitter, Facebook, and email.

Making it finally feel real? Seeing the book in people’s hands.

On the first night the book began arriving in mailboxes and on doorsteps, Brooklyn reader Andrew Bonjiorno sent this picture of himself reading it at work — note the corporate-approved artwork on the wall behind him:

Andrew’s photo inspired me to start this Readers Gallery. I wrote this book to spark a national, critical conversation about the meaning and impact of reality TV on our beliefs, our behavior, and our culture. The best way to engage in that conversation is within community. So, here are the first few members of the Reality Bites Back community:

Women In Media & News board member and Viva La Feminista blogger Veronica Arreola rushed to pick up her copy the day after Andrew’s arrived. I love that she was so psyched about the book that she started reading it right there in her Chicago post office: