Binge reading? Really?

As someone mentioned, it's used in relation to watching an entire TV series in a short time. I must admit I have done it with a newly discovered author or character I have enjoyed.
It started when I was given all the Famous Five books for my 8th birthday. Even though I had read most of them, I re-read the entire series in order in a couple of weeks.

As an adult there have been innumerable times I have read one book by a new new author and been totally charmed for some reason and read everything they've written in a couple of weeks.This varies from the fairly mundane like Liane Moriarty or Paul Temple to, I suppose, slightly more challenging like Arnold Bennett or Trollope after enjoying a TV serialisation of one of their books. It need not be an author but can be a character eg Lindsey Davis's Falco books or Karin Slaughter's Will Trent books - I can take or leave other books by the same authors.

In any case, it's as if I have to gobble (and you thought "binge" was distasteful) down the books, and then wait in sweaty anticipation for the next one to be published.

OP, you might be interested in the article from the HuffPost article that I've quoted below (www.google.com/amp/s/m.huffpost.com/us/entry/5050240/amp):

Sorry guys, that's where I draw the line. Here's why: Reading is not a binge activity. Reading for long hours at a time is mentally engaging, surrounds the reader with an aura of productivity, and does not leave one with a sense of remorse and embarrassment. No one says, "I was so lazy this weekend. All I did was sit around and read Swann's Way. And then when I finished... I started Infinite Jest! I know, I know, I have a problem."

Besides, the idea that spending several hours with a book needs a new term is an absurd concept. It's called reading. The activity of sitting down with a novel for the afternoon is not a trend; it's just how reading has almost always worked.

I think the clue is in the comparison to Netflix, which is famously "binge-watched". The writer is just suggesting that reading is a more satisfying alternative.

I don't think it is anything to do with portraying reading as unhealthy- quite the opposite.

I understand where you're coming from. I've loved books for as long as I can remember and enjoy reading for hours when I can. I've never seen it as excessive, unhealthy or undesirable (which is what I would associate with the term 'binge'). People spend hours doing other hobbies, yet you don't hear the terms 'binge gardening', 'binge painting' or 'binge cycling', for example!

I don't find it distasteful, I just find it stupid.

We already have a word for binge reading, it's called reading.