What type of book do you read the most

[tbb113]

After spending time on the monthly book threads, I'm just curious what type of books most of you read.

I read popular fiction the most. I have found that I really don't like 'classic' literature, horror, or Romance. I can read thillers but I don't really like a classic 'who-done-it' type of mystery. Seldom will I read non-fiction.

[Kristine]

I prefer biographies or general non-fiction. I rarely read fiction or any of the other categories listed.

[feistyDeeDee]

i read Stephen King and Dean Koontz...i also love to read Danielle Steele and V.C. Andrews....but its been awhile that ive read any..now that i found this place...IM HOOKED...lol

[tamawrite]

I read mostly mainstream (general) fiction, often women's fiction. I hate sounding like a join-the-herd type, but I do tend to like the same kinds of books Oprah does. :rolleyes: Wally Lamb is my favorite author (at the moment.)

I also spend at least 2 hours daily reading non-fiction, mostly as research for my own novels. Good think I like non-fiction!

[Jessica]

I voted for mysteries. I read more mysteries than I do any other category of books, but I also read a lot of fiction and some political science, history, religion and memoir.

Oh, and cookbooks :).

I don't read much biography and I don't care much for science fiction, fantasy, romance or horror. I am picky.

[sneezles]

Mostly mysteries!

[linsleyd]

I read anything and everything including cereal boxes and shampoo bottles. :D

[boisewinesnob]

Since you asked what type I read most often I voted non-fiction, textbooks, cookbooks, etc.

What type do I enjoy?
Fiction :) During the summer when I'm out of school I try to read as much as I can because I always feel guilty reading anything other than texts when I'm in school :o

[Delanl]

Love murder mysteries!! Some of my favorite authors are James Patterson, Patricia Cornwell, Jonathan Sanford, and Jonathan Kellerman.

Also read a lot Oprah's Book Club selections :)

[KristinK]

I voted for fiction, but recently I've been enjoying memoirs too.

[SueK]

I'd have to say mysteries - right now I'm on a Tami Hoag kick. Like some of the others above, cookbooks are a favorite genre of mine as well. :)

I'm also into literature set in the southwest, regardless of whether it's a mystery, non-fiction or whatever.

[badunnin]

Whatever my instructors assign. :rolleyes: Unfortunately, being a student has turned me off to reading again.

[donleyk]

I voted suspense. I like Stephen King and don't catagorize him as horror. Maybe I just messed up your poll :o

[kwormann]

Originally posted by Delanl
Love murder mysteries!! Some of my favorite authors are James Patterson, Patricia Cornwell, Jonathan Sanford, and Jonathan Kellerman.



DITTO!!!!

[Canice]

I voted General Nonfiction, but it's not really cookbooks or textbooks, but narrative nonfiction. I feel like I should read more fiction, but I can rarely get past the first 10 pages...

[hrk]

Definitely mysteries.
I love Clive Cussler (a lthought I guess some would catagorize him as adventure) Faye and Jonathan Kellerman, Sue Grafton and recently David Balducci.
Of course with a 14 month old I spend most of my time reading board books now:D
HEather

[tbb113]

So far the votes are what I thought they would be. The monthly threads seem heavily weighted toward mystery and general fiction. Guess it wasn't my imagination :)

[RebeccaT]

Fiction, but I used to be really into mysteries. I'd like to find a couple of good mystery writers so that I can get back into them. Jessica, who do you like?

I never read non-fiction. Don't know why, but reading a book with no story is the best cure for insomnia that I know. :o

[tbb113]

Some non-fiction has a story. Try a biography or a memior. Or something like Tuesdays with Morrie. Also true-life crime books like Helter Skelter about the Manson trials. They tell a story and if done well can be a great read :)

[phantomcg]

Originally posted by linsleyd
I read anything and everything including cereal boxes and shampoo bottles. :D

This says it all for me! :D

Cheryl

[Jessica]

Some of my favorite mystery writers/series are:

Sara Paretsky
Elizabeth George (but not her most recent books)
Lawrence Block, esp the Burglar books at the Matthew Scudder series
John Dunning's Bookman series
Faye Kellerman
Colin Dexter
Linda Barnes
Sue Grafton
Marcia Muller

and some old-timers...

Agatha Christie
Dorothy Sayers
Erle Stanley Gardner

[kristalsnow7]

Originally posted by RebeccaT


I never read non-fiction. Don't know why, but reading a book with no story is the best cure for insomnia that I know. :o

Rebecca,
Have you read Devil in the White City by Erik Larson? It's nonfiction, but written in the style of a novel. I'm reading it right now and it is totally engrossing. I highly recommend it! :)

To answer the question at hand, my favorite genre is general fiction, especially Brit Lit. Actually, I like just about anything except romance novels.

[RebeccaT]

Originally posted by tbb113
Some non-fiction has a story. Try a biography or a memior.

That is true. I tend to think of non-fiction as more textbook or self-help-ish, but it's actually a very broad genre.

Jessica, thanks! :)

[wallycat]

I usually read general non-fiction.
Love biographies though and if I'm in the mood for fiction, mystery is my genre of choice. :)

[Escher]

I voted "other".

I make it a point to read the classics.

Didn't seem fair just lumping Poe, Steinbeck, Hemmingway and Milton into "fiction" alongside trashy romance novelists. :rolleyes: And I use the term loosely.

For a change of pace, I'll usually read military history.

[PAMMELA]

Originally posted by feistyDeeDee
i read Stephen King and Dean Koontz...i

WOW!! These are my two most favorite authors ever!!! Just read Dean Koontz' latest, The Taking. It was aight. I've been sorta disappointed in his books lately though - ever since False Memory (which was the last good one, IMO). I actually met him at a book signing a few years ago. He is short!!!! My favorite book of all time is Lightning. I have read that at least 10 times!

I can't believe that Stephen King is not writing anymore, how can he do that to us??? :D


Clive Cussler's character, Dirk Pitt and Lee Child's character, Jack Reacher. I'm in love. With both of them. :eek:

[rosie_one]

I love variety. Too much of the same thing gets monotonous for me. It's much more about how well the book is written than the subject matter.

[feistyDeeDee]

Originally posted by PAMMELA


WOW!! These are my two most favorite authors ever!!! Just read Dean Koontz' latest, The Taking. It was aight. I've been sorta disappointed in his books lately though - ever since False Memory (which was the last good one, IMO). I actually met him at a book signing a few years ago. He is short!!!! My favorite book of all time is Lightning. I have read that at least 10 times!

I can't believe that Stephen King is not writing anymore, how can he do that to us??? :D


Clive Cussler's character, Dirk Pitt and Lee Child's character, Jack Reacher. I'm in love. With both of them. :eek:



oh cool....i agree it was o.k.....i know he really needs to get his vibes back or something...oh how nice to have met him....he makes me laugh seeing him in his own movies...always the (geekie) looking type of character...lol...

[tbb113]

Originally posted by Escher
I voted "other".


Didn't seem fair just lumping Poe, Steinbeck, Hemmingway and Milton into "fiction" alongside trashy romance novelists. :rolleyes: And I use the term loosely.



Trashy and Non-trashy romance had their very own category :p

[Cookin4Love]

I voted "Love a good book--regarless of type." I used to be more limited in my choices. However, once I started teaching, I developed a policy of reading ANYTHING one of my students recommended or had questions about that I couldn't answer. It really opened up my horizona, and I discovered that there IS some sci-fi I really enjoy (Orson Scott Card's books, for instance), some fantasy that I can get into (Anne McCaffrey's novels--I've now read dozens of them), old classics I enjoy revisiting, etc. I still love historical fiction, biographies, and of course, cookbooks, but there isn't much that I can't enjoy on some level. (Of course, I also read the backs of cereal boxes when I was a kid and wasn't allowed to have a book at the table. A travesty, I tell you. Who could deny a child the pleasure of a book over their parents' company? :p)

[Jazzmatazz49]

What? No Chick Lit category???!:D

I really like light fiction such as Maeve Binchey, or murder mysteries including Grafton's alphabet books. But that's my current thing. Once all I read was true crime. My favorite books this summer have been The Sunday Wife and Skipping Christmas .

[CompassRose]

I read most things. Including cereal boxes...

Fiction: I hop and skip about here, a lot of "classic" stuff (Dickens, Austen, Tolstoy, Woolf); the occasional more modern thing (although I notice that I tend to like things that are more old-fashioned in style, or period); mysteries (very few new ones, though; mostly the genre has become a genre, with all of the formulaic staleness that entails -- I like to re-read Doyle, Allingham, Sayers); and fantasy/science fiction (very picky here -- the category appears to have divided very sharply, with the writers of Fat Derivative Trilogies (ech!) on one side, and serious writers of fiction that happens not to be set in some identifiable historic Earth on the other).

I also read poetry, and have been going back to more structured verse after years of chasing the free-versifiers.

I read a ton of non-fiction, ranging from the entertaining (biography, history, anthropology, etiquette and culture) to the educational (varying by my butterfly interests). Of late, the "butterfly interests" have centred around nutrition and weight training (surprise!), decadent cookbooks (fantasy!), costume and period clothing construction, and graphic design. But who knows where they may alight next.

[ErinM]

Originally posted by linsleyd
I read anything and everything including cereal boxes and shampoo bottles. :D

That pretty much describes me too! In fact, my mom had a heck of time punishing me as a kid because I'd always find something to read!

However, that being said, I tend to shy away from science fiction/fantasy. Not too big on "Star Trek" type science fiction, and not too big on fantasy books that involve some big huge battle between tribes I can barely pronounce. Any other type of science fiction/fantasy is fair game though.

[Lucinda]

I read a little bit of everything, with a significant emphasis on history. I especially like well-written popular books on history such as "The Professor and the Madman" and "Giraffa" that take a particular event and describe its historical setting and surroundings. Strangely enough, for all my nonfiction reading, I have never been inspired to write nonfiction-- all my writing is short stories or novels.

[Kathy B]

I voted other. I read a lot of different kinds of books, but I read a lot of westerns. I think I have read all of Louis L'Amour's books, and I read others when I can find them. I like the fact that there is always a good guy and a bad guy, and when the bad guy goes too far, the good guy just shoots him. (It is especially comforting after a bad day at work!) :p

[ccooney]

Mystery/adventure lover, here. I read Clive Cussler, Ken Follet, Laurie R. King, Sue Grafton, Earlene Fowler, Janet Evanovich, etc.

[HejazSunKat]

I gravitate heavily towards historical fiction. I like fantasy and science fiction also but I can only get into it if it's by a really good author who knows how to create a believable alternative reality (Raymond Feist comes to mind). I don't stick to these exclusively though. I'll read just about anything if the story is engaging. Having said that though I tend to not be turned on by mysteries, books featuring children as the main characters or those 'crazy southern family' types of book. Maybe I can't appreciate the unique culture of the south because I'm a Yankee! :)

[Kathy B]

Originally posted by HejazSunKat
I like fantasy and science fiction also but I can only get into it if it's by a really good author who knows how to create a believable alternative reality (Raymond Feist comes to mind). a

Linda,

Have you ever read anything by Robin Hobb? I am not usually a fantasy fan, but her three trilogies were WONDERFUL! They also had excellent reviews. If you haven't read them, I would DEFINITELY recommend them!

Back to the original topic.....

[HejazSunKat]

Great Kathy! Thank you. Heading on over to Amazon now to check them out. If I can recommend one to you (and you haven't already read them) try the trilogy co-authored by Raymond Feist & Janny Wurts. My husband and I both loved them. Here's the first one:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/055327211X/qid=1091208902/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-3786156-0331154?v=glance&s=books

[CompassRose]

(Yes! read the Robin Hobb (formerly writing as Megan Lindholm) -- they are excellent, and a real switch from the regular run of Fat Fantasy. I loved 'em!)