The process of reading is considered in the context of the problem of consciousness. The concept of modes of consciousness functioning is applied, similar to the concept of consciousness registers according to D. A. Leontiev. Four modes of functioning of consciousness, important for psychology, are isolated from literary sources: feeling, distancing, dialogue with the author, internal dialogue. They are supplemented by a meditation register. The concept of chronotope, introduced into science by M. M. Bakhtin, is analyzed according to the criteria of differential psychology. It is assumed that readers’ preferences are due to the similarity of the chronotopes of their life world and the author’s.