I don't personally know any writers who aren't also readers. I've heard tales of non-reading writers, but like mountain lions in Missouri, I haven't encountered one yet.
Now, I'm not talking about writers who don't read while they're writing their first drafts. It takes a whole lot of writing your own words to defeat the voices of other writers in your head, so I totally get that. Hell, for years, I couldn't read other works of fiction while I was writing my own. And then for a while I couldn't read other works in the same genre while I was writing.
Nope, I'm talking about writers who proudly proclaim that they don't read. Or that they don't read new books. :shrug: I don't get it, but whatever.
Personally, I'm a reader. I've been a reader since I was knee-high to a grasshopper. And I read widely. Partly because I was a reader first and I love most genres. Partly because, as a writer, you never know what might come in handy.
To give you a sample, you can go here to see what I've read so far this year. Six books - mystery, action, history, paranormal romance, paranormal suspense, and YA paranormal. Pretty mixed bag, even if you group the paranormals together.
And here's a list of what I've one-clicked to read since the start of 2017...
Remember the Night by Silver James (paranormal romance)
The Thirteenth Man by JL Doty (SF)
In For a Penny by Naigle and Browning (cozy mystery)
Good, Bad, & Sexy by Jennifer Lyon (romance)
No One Lives Twice by Julie Moffett (mystery)
Granny Hooks a Crook by Julie Seedorf (cozy mystery)
Loads of new-to-me authors in there. I'll intersperse them with some old favorites from my shelves. Some hard-boiled crime, naturally, along with a few suspense novels waiting for me, and I've got two SF series I'm working my way through, and a couple fantasy series I'm in the middle of. I might also throw in a classic or two. I also read kids' books when the mood strikes me. Keepin' it fresh. You feel me? It's a smorgasbord all up in here.
LOL
What kinds of things do you read? Are you a one/two genre reader or do you read whatever strikes your fancy? Feel free to give a shout out to your authors of choice.
Like you, I read a lot of mystery, but I also read a good deal of non-fiction (recently read "On Immunity: an Inoculation" and "Being Mortal.") After those two non-fics made me a little too somber :0 , I tried out some lighter stuff to balance it all out. I've just been informed by the library that my digital hold for "Truly, Madly, Guilty" is in by Moriarty. It had some good buzz so I'm curious to read it.
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