The ideal reader

I came across this idea in the introduction to an anthology of short stories. The stories themselves were hit-or-miss, but the introduction was terrific. In it, Zadie Smith writes:

Ideal reading is aspirational, like dating. It happens that I am E. M. Forster’s ideal reader, but I would much prefer to be Gustave Flaubert’s or William Gaddis’s or Franz Kafka’s or Borges’s. But early on Forster and I saw how we suited, how we fit, how we felt comfortable (too much so?) in each other’s company. I am Forster’s ideal reader because, I think, nothing that he left on the page escapes me. Rightly or wrongly, I feel I get all his jokes and appreciate his nuances, that I am as hurt by his flaws as I am by my own, and as pleased when he is great as I would be if I did something great. . . . You might know three or four writers like this in your life, and likely as not, you will meet them when you are very young. Understand: They are not the writers you most respect, most envy, or even most enjoy. They are the ones you know.

Well, I confess, I am Robertson Davies’ ideal reader, and that passage describes my relationship with him perfectly. I can’t help it. He wrote the Deptford, Salterton and Cornish trilogies for me.

Who are you the ideal reader for?