Gotta Read

I love to read.  I love to read so much that I have to be careful about starting a book, because if it’s good enough, I will do NOTHING until that book is complete.  And I mean nothing.  I will sit in my comfy rocking chair and read until my butt falls asleep, my stomach is empty and turning itself inside out, the mess overwhelms the house and my son forgets who I am.  Ok, it’s not that bad.  Sometimes I grab a snack.

And now I’m in a dilemma.  I’m out of books.

I know.  How can I be “out of books”?  With all the books out there, how can I possibly have run out of books to read?

Well, it’s easy… I’m also picky about books.  The story must grip me.  I don’t have patience for books that aren’t written well, where the characters don’t have a redeeming quality or something I can identify with.  I try to be patient with books, but if I have to fight my way through 20 pages or so, and it still hasn’t grabbed my attention, forget it.  It’s going in the Goodwill Pile.  Let someone else deal with it.

I also have particular tastes, as everyone does.  I’m not one for “literature”.  If Oprah has recommended it, chances are very, very good that I haven’t read it.  Why?  Because it feels too much like my American Lit and English Lit classes in high school and college.  Those books are trying to teach me something, they’re trying to improve me.  And if I want something to improve me, I’ll go searching for it.  Because, frankly, I don’t need improvement.  Ok, I do, but that’s a post for another day.

It also doesn’t help that I read wicked fast.  I can get through one of the longer Harry Potter books (we’re talking 600+ pages, here) in two days, if I’ve got nothing else to do.

So what DO I like?  Authors.  If I read a book by an author and like it, I’ll go plowing through that author’s website, and likely read everything ever written by that person.

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And genres – I like what I call “TRNs”… Trashy Romance Novels.  You know, some of those with the half-naked guy on the cover are actually pretty good.   Some Thrillers, but I’m very picky about them.  Maybe I should call them “intrigue” instead.  I’m also kind of getting into the new genre they’re calling “Chick Lit”, but I’m very picky about that, as well.  Those are kind of hard to find.  It used to be that you could look at the cover – generally they had the almost-a-stick-figure on the cover, and a lot of pink.  But lately, I’ve noticed other genres – mostly stuff that falls into the “general fiction” category – using that style, and they’re definitely NOT the lighthearted, funny and romantic Chick Lit Books that I like.

And I like funny books… ones that are written so well that I picture the events that are happening – and often, I can picture them happening to ME – and I end up laughing out loud. (the Stephanie Plum series)

So I stick with authors, and authors that my favorites recommend.  A partial list of my favorites:

TRN	Thriller	Other
Nora Roberts (of course)	Vince Flynn	J.K. Rowling (who can resist Harry Potter?)
Sandra Brown	Brad Thor	Bill Waterson (yes, Calvin & Hobbes)
Julie Garwood	Dan Brown
Katie Fforde (she’s English)
Sophie Kinsella (“Shopaholic”)
Janet Evanovich (Steph. Plum)
Jenny Cruisie/Bob Mayer

So, my friends… have you read anything good lately?  Anything that grabbed you, that made you want to hang out with those people, or made you laugh out loud, or made you look over your shoulder because you were SURE that guy you just passed was a terrorist?