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| Part of the reading material in my writing room. |
Physical books or e-reader? No contest. It has to be a real book. Just the smell, the feel of it in my hands, the art of browsing bookshelves, the cover. Everything about a real book is sensual. I carry a book with me when I'm on a train and always when travelling. There is a book in my rucksack sometimes when walking and always when I'm on holiday. I sometimes have to pick the right size if space is limited, but without a book, I am totally lost.
What do I read? If you look at the side panel of this blog, you will see what I am currently reading and what I have read lately. I have a small TBR pile and try not to let it get out of hand. During Covid I finally read through most of my then large TBR pile, and I promised myself I'd never let it get that bad again. I tended to leave non-fiction to one side (even though I'd had to buy that book at the time) because I always crave novels, but these days I am reading more non-fiction.
Genres? Probably best to list what I don't read than what I do. So the no list is fantasy, romance and gory horror. If I had to pick a favourite genre, then maybe crime/psychological thrillers would just about edge it. I like things with bite! But I also like comedy, gothic, lit fiction, dystopian and the odd sci-fi and stories that include interests of mine. I also read poetry and YA.
I read on average one book a week. Of course, that depends on the length and time I have available. I won't attempt books with tiny fonts! I often alternate between fiction and non-fiction, but again it depends on what I have on my TBE pile.
Where do I source my books? Amazon. I hate to admit that, but it is easy and quick. I also buy books from bookshops, especially when there is a 3for2 offer or my kind friends/family give me book tokens (my dream present). There is nothing more pleasurable than spending time browsing in a bookshop. I also buy from charity shops (as well as donate books), do books swaps with friends and use the library. There is no space to keep the books I have read, so I donate them, unless it is something I will use for research (usually that's non-fiction).
Classics. Yes, I do read the odd classic book. I've read a few of Dickens', the Bronte's, Jane Austen, Thomas Hardy, Mary Shelley. I even read Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K Jerome because it was based on my beloved River Thames. It was the most ridiculous story. Sorry, if you like this one, but I struggled to finish it. I gave up on To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, which pained me because I am a big fan of The Bloomsbury Group. Maybe I will come back to it one day when I've matured in my reading habits!
So, yes, I do abandon books. Though not often. I hate doing it, but there are so many great books to read, I will not waste my time on one I hate. Books put aside include Wolf Hall and A Gentleman in Moscow. The latter was so slow and I wondered when it would get started and if anything would happen. I know this book has high praise. I guess it's good we don't all like the same things.
What attracts me to a book? Sometimes it's the cover (I'll come back to this), but most definitely the blurb. I never read all the endorsements from other authors/newspapers on the inside cover, nor do I read the starting chapters of the next book at the end. If I want to read that author again, I will buy/borrow it, anyway. I do enjoy interviews with the author and sometimes skim book club questions. I love maps or lists of characters and the very rare Spotify link offered by the author for music to go with the book, something I would love to do for some of my books.
Covers. I find a lot of covers generic and boring. They could all come from the same publishing house. There was also a trend where every other title sounded the same. Some originality would be good.
Best-seller lists. I have to say I don't often buy bestsellers. The publishers say they produce books people want to read. Huh? I do wish readers would branch out and try something different. There are many Indie books that I have loved. Of course occasionally I might come across one that doesn't quite work for me or there are formatting issues, but I've never given up on a self-published book. I usually find Indie/self-published titles through Twitter or Indie Book Fairs. Because I send some of my own work that way, I get to know the books they publish.
Hype. There is a lot of this around. I'm not going to pick any titles here, but often they can be disappointing. I never go out to buy a book that has won an award. Usually I pick them up accidentally because they interest me.
Recommendations. I do look into books recommended to me or appear in the book section of newspapers if they appeal. I try always to read a new author from time to time. We all get stuck in our safe reading zone and find it hard to venture out of it. I'm as much to blame as the next person. But recently I discovered Kate Rhodes and Jim Crace, two very different authors. Kate writes crime/thrillers and Jim writes about different subjects and I find his stories compelling. I'm also a fan of Graham Norton's books. I'd also suggest giving Bob Mortimer a try.
Books from my past. In my teens I read a lot of Jean Plaidy and ventured in Maeve Binchy. I read every book of hers and loved how she wrote about the ordinary and sometimes characters from one book would appear in another. I'm now on a quest to finish the Inspector Montalbano Sicilian detective series by Andrea Camillier. I have three books left to read.
Non-fiction. I love books about walking (Thames Path and Raynor Winn's books), our ancestors (especially the stone age) and nature. I find trees fascinating, though I'm a hopeless tree spotter. I enjoy the odd biography or autobiography, books about art and writing and poetry. My latest acquisition is Walking the Bones of Britain by Christopher Somerville. I also devour books on forensics, how the mind works (why people do what they do) and some real crime.
Magazines. I don't often buy magazines, though growing up I bought lots. I subscribe to Mslexia and often buy Writing magazine. I rarely buy a woman's magazine these days as I prefer reading novels or short story collections. Sometimes I might buy a copy of The Simple Things or a walking magazine, but there is nothing out there that really ticks my boxes these days. I used to buy a very good art magazine, more about the artists than a how-to, but sadly it folded.
