What should I read?
I noticed there was a question from Nathan Bransford’s blog in the last week or so, asking writers whether they read only the genre in which they write?
It seemed some did, some didn’t.
I read a lot, not as much as I want as I seem to fall asleep by the second para of the page on any given night, but I love to read. Once when I was a reader I read for pleasure totally. Now I find my pleasure is overshadowed by a questioning mind: why did the author do that there, how do they accomplish that, why that word and not another. And look, there is an adverb and wow!, an exclamation mark, lots of them! And ooh-er, an edit blooper.
Once when I was merely a reader, along with a lot of genres, I read fantasy . . . quite a bit of it. Now that I write fantasy, I have reduced what I read by a significant amount. 
I still read new Mary Hoffmans and Juliet Marilliers and a friend gave me a Guy Gavriel Kay. Phillip Pullman has a place on my shelves, and I look forward to the new Alison Goodman. I have the two Matthew Skeltons on my shelves as well. Occasionally at the library, I’ll come across a writer whose name I don’t know and whose book is legend-based. And it goes without saying that my shelves have all the Tolkeins, C.S. Lewis’s and all the Harry Potters. But that’s it. I choose not to read any other fantasy because of the fear of osmosis, that unconscious filling up of the dark and fusty corners of one’s brain.
My favourite reading is largely hist. fict-based, authors I know, authors of whom I have never heard. In addition I love the wit and fast paced humour of Jilly Cooper and Fiona Walker. And if I am in a frame of mind where I need an easy read, I’ll pick up a chick.lit. I’m not a lit. fict fan particularly. I hate crime and thrillers (haven’t the stomach) and I enjoy going back to Aunt Jane and The Aunts Bronte. I am even discovering classics that I would never have touched in my 20’s . . . Clarissa by Samuel Richardson for example.
That’s my reading list. What’s yours?
In the new millennium, because I actively started looking for a publisher, I started reading new authors in all genres… just to see if I could fit with that particular publisher. Which means I read a lot of awful stuff in Italian, which pushed me to try the English venture.
And so far I think I’ve read only self-published authors (including you… all of them much better than what I read in Italian!), but then… I started only a couple of years ago! I’d certainly buy a book or two from a publisher I’d want to submit to (if they accept un-agented submissions, that is), but considering I should query agents first instead… or self-publish… I don’t know, I still have a certain number of self-published books to read on my reading pile! And I’ll have to try e-books sooner or later… siiigh!
So much to read, not enough time! 🙁
Barb,
Your list is laudable and remarkably well thought out in terms of your end prize. It’s really keeping the focus. Would you read outside of that focus-driven list though, purely for enjoyment?
Or are you now the same as me, learning to read with a quasi-critical eye?
when I go to bookshops or in airports, I DO pick up books based on the cover or the blurb, just for entertainment! 😉 But I usually feel guilty, thinking about that “pile” at home… (and if I’m traveling – the weight in my luggage) so I don’t do it every time (easier I buy a book at the train station bookshop than an airport)! 🙂
Prue, I can relate to that fear of osmosis… I’ve found this book that has a very similar illness my heroine suffers from and I refuse to read it until I’m done revising my manuscript… It is too easy to fall into that trap and get influenced.
I try to keep a scale of %60 fiction, %30 non-fiction and %10 poetry… I wish I could read more but we’re only allowed to have 24 hours per day! 🙂
Sometimes I wonder why we worry, because there is that old adage that nothing is new in the world. Didn’t someone say that there are only six original stories in the world’s literature?
It’s certainly what one of my lecturers in the Fine Arts faculty of my university said about ideas for art pieces.
I read 90% fiction, 8% non-fiction and 2% poetry . . . and like you, Lua, I wish there were more hours, but I’d add eyes that were less tired too.