Sunday, December 30, 2007

Will, won't and will try

It sometimes depresses me that I've never met anyone with my exact taste in books. Here's the problem: I refuse to read exclusively within a genre. I've helped people select reading material at the library for over ten years, so I can safely say that most people tend to stay with the same genre/author/writing style without ever straying.

While I also have genres/authors/writing styles that I gravitate towards, they're so diverse I'm too difficult to pin down as a reader. I have a huge thirst for knowledge and I'm always fascinated by people and things. That's probably why as I child I read Anne of Green Gables and Egyptology books side-by-side. Some things never change. To give you an idea of what I like, last year I read romance, biography, science, mystery, fantasy, art, history (fiction and non-fiction), children's, YA, chick lit, reference, classics and travel books. And those are just the ones I can think of.

Yet I'm also quite deficient in some areas. I have yet to read an Oprah book all the way through and I tend to stand clear of them as a rule. I'm hopelessly lacking many, many classics (Alice in Wonderland, Lord of the Flies, The Catcher in the Rye...) I used to read Christian fiction back when I was young and pious, but I probably haven't picked up a Janette Oke in fifteen years. I'm actually kind of curious about some of the recent ones my patrons raved about, so I may even try one this year. I've never read a western, but who knows, I may step outside my comfort zone and try Longarm and the Wicked Schoolmarm. There's a lot of fantasy/sci-fi I'm not very acquainted with, notably Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. I also avoid "popular" books like the plague (Danielle Steel, John Grisham, etc.) and I get bored silly by all the "gritty" police/crime/thrillers that are out there. But once again, I may give some a try just to see what all the fuss is about. I'm lookin' at you, Janet Evanovich.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Kathryn!

I'm very glad you're planning on reading it up this year. I've also been feeling like my reading has been lagging somewhat.

But, now that I'm back in the library I've been stepping up the reading too! On my first day I took out like 10 books and I've shown no signs of slowing down.

I'm with you on the likes and dislikes, I just can't get into those political thrillers....but I think I could handle some Long arm. I wish Fredericton public had a copy of Longarm and the haunted whorehouse.

Conclusion: Reading=Awesome