What do you read?

I found this post, and thought it would make for a good topic here on my blog: What do you read?

Quoting the questions from this post, I give you now, my answers:

I’m doing some research, and I hope you can help!

Okay

How old are you,

31

and are you male or female?

female

Do you read?

oh hell yes, I own The Twighlight Manor Library… it’s madeentirely with my own private colletion, some 10,000 +/- books, 8,000 +/_ comic books, and a couple thousand magazines… and I’ve read all of them at least once

If yes, what do you like to read?

everything,

my books cover every topic in the dewy decimal system except for sports.

I have everything from non-fiction, auto-biographies, biographies, how-tos, hobby books, cook books, garden books, college text books, I’ve even got an entire collection of medical books (not Random House self-help stuff— these books came from a local sugen, and a local hospital after they restocked their shelves and discarded the old books) and all other possible no-fiction topics

…tons of fiction…all the great classics… Dickens, Poe, Dumas, Aristotal… all the way up to todays greats… Stephen King, Kieth Laumer, etc.

than there are the children’s books… I own one of the world’s largest collections of first edition Little Golden Books, all of which I inherited from my grandmother, lots of old “politicaly incorrect stories” including a first edition Little Black Sambo, and a first edition Bunny Blue… most of my childrens books are from the 1920’s through the 1970’s,… including all 26 volumes of Sweet Pickles (not an easy set to come by)

lets not forget the antique books… huge leather bound books with titles and authors no one has ever heard of

I could continue, but listing all my books would require a whole card file, so I’ll move on…

What are your favourite genres or themes?

well, the thing I read the most, are the Victorian era classics, I love Sherlock Holmes esp., but my #1 all time fave book, which I’ve read and re-read many times is Douglas Adams’ Hitchicker’s Guide to the Galaxy, I’ve rad all 5 1/2 volums of the trilogy

my fave author is Keith Laumer, and I’m obsessed with his Retief character *sigh* why aren’t real men like him?… the Retief series is the greatest work of fiction ever written

other stuff I read lots of, are Alfred Hitchcock’s Three Investigators & Nancy Drew… I love those long running series… I like to read lots of books that feature the same characters over and over again

for “new” fiction… Harry Potter ranks highest on my list, with Stephen King running up close behind

genre? HGTTG & Retief? guess that means it’s hard core 1950’s sci-fi with space travle and kooky aliens and a touch of humor for me, but I also love sword & socery, fantasy, horror, & gothic romance too.

Do you ever read short stories?

uhm… I listed one of the 1950’s-1960’sgreat classic sci-fi short story serials didn’t I (Retief, by Keith Laumer), plus Sherlock Holms… another magazine serial short story classic

If you don’t read, why don’t you read?

that does not apply, but I guess you figured that out by now LOL!

Do you not have time?

well, I do find that I don’t have as much time to read as I used to, but I still read when I get a spare chance

Do you find it boring?

nope, being able to sore on space crafts to distant galaxies or help great detective solve crime, is never boreing… books are wounderful

Why is it boring, if it is?

it isn’t

We’re writing a collection of short stories, yet we need to come up with a theme. What themes would you like to see/do you like in short story anthologies?

I like anything remanisant of classic 1950’s-1960’s style sci-fi (Retief or Star Trek, type of thing)…

I can’t get enough of hi-seas adventure (Treasure Island, Kidnapped, Horatio Hornblower, etc.) saddly very little good pirate fiction exists… I am always looking for it though

I tend to lean towards adventure type stories (think Indian Jones type movie or Xena type TV… only in book form), but again, good fiction of this type doesn’t show up very often

as for short fiction… I love it, it’s great for taking along with me to read in the car or in a waiting room or at the beach… I like 5 min walk from the beach, I need a lot of good short fiction

quoting an eariler poster from this same thread:

Quote:

For the most part, I don’t enjoy reading short stories, because I like character development.

uhm, confusion… I like to read short stories because they have such great character development… I’ve read so many stories about Retief that I feel like I know him, and non of the stories are very long, some are less than 10 pages! and what about Sherlock Holmes? what SH fan couldn’t tell you his fave food, all his likes and dislikes, all his weird little quirks? no novel would have had the time for such details, but years of continuing short stories turned him into a rich detail filled cgharater… and how about Jupiter Jones? after 91 stories about him I know his life insideout….

mysteries, suspence, thriller are always good themes for short fiction

super heros… and dasterdly villians… I love them, but they have an annoying habit of only appearing in comic books… I’d like to see more non-comic super hero stories too.