I was just wondering what kind of books you like to read. What genre is your favorite? Second favorite? Least favorite? Do you reread? Do you purchase them new in stores, as e-books, used, or borrow from the library? Do you swap books? Do you give them away to friends or strangers? Or do you sell them back? Who are some of your favorite authors? What are some of your favorite books?


I would say my favorite genre is fantasy (and the sub-categories under fantasy), followed by romance (and some sub-categories under romance). When I was younger, mystery and historical fiction were also among my favorite genres. My least favorite would probably be most of what are considered classics that we had to read in high school.

I love to reread books so I prefer to own them rather than borrow from the library. It's hard to instantly gratify your need to reread a book if you need to wait until you can get to the library - if it is not already checked out. I used to purchase my books new in stores until about a year ago when I realized that I was purchasing them, but not getting around to reading them. I purchase the occasional e-book on-line, especially if it is only published as an e-book, if it is cheaper, or if I really, really want to read it then and there. However, these days I only purchase books from certain authors - and am thinking about borrowing books from other authors to save money.

I do not swap books myself but I have been considering it. I'd rather sell them but it's hard to sell paperbacks for a good price. I don't like to give away books (mine! They're all mine!) but I did give my new copy of Eat, Pray, Love to a friend who has been good to me since I knew I wasn't going to read it.

There are few authors I would recommend to other people, and strangely enough, they write general fiction.
I know I've posted about her before but Diana Gabaldon is the author of the Outlander series. The protagonist is a former World War II nurse named Claire who time travels to the time just before the Jacobite Rebellion. The series follows the story of her first meeting with her husband from the past, her life with him in the past, her 10-year separation from him, and her life after her reunion with him. What I love about this author is her voice. Her characters seem grounded and real. There is a lot of history. Since Claire is medically-inclined, there are scenes with her patching people up and medicking them with plants and herbs. The first half of the series covers the Jacobite period. The latter half is covering the American Revolution. It's actually quite exciting since the American Revolutionary period had been one of my favorite periods to read about when I was younger.

Her books are typically categorized either in the Romance or General Fiction section depending on the bookstore. There are both male and female readers of Diana Gabaldon. She also writes a mystery series using one of the important secondary characters from the Outlander series.

More recently, a musical based on Outlander has been produced in Scotland, which is pretty neat because now I can hear the voices of the Scottish characters as they might have sounded like.

Here's the link to her website: http://66.147.244.179/~dianagab/
And here is the link to some excerpts: http://66.147.244.179/~dianagab/excerpts/copyrights.html


Jodi Picoult's My Sister's Keeper is another book I have recommended to others. While I have only skimmed through the book, I still read enough to really like it. It was about a controversial topic that I thought was not often written about or discussed. Her books tend to be about relationships and some sort of controversial topic or other, and they usually do not fail to have me in tears at one point or another. That could be part of the reason why I don't read her anymore; I don't like sad movies or books. I only recommend My Sister's Keeper because I liked that book the best of the 3-4 books by Jodi Picoult that I've read.


A fantasy author that I felt wrote well would be Robin Hobb. She wrote The Farseer Trilogy, Liveship Traders Trilogy, and The Tawny Man Trilogy which all occur in the same world. She is currently writing The Rain Wild Chronicles, which takes place in this world also. I'm not sure how to describe why I like her books so I'll leave it at that.


With the poor economy and desire to save a bit of money, I have cut down on the number of books/authors I would auto-buy. I am most eagerly looking forward to the following:
A Novel of the Nine Kingdoms #5 by Lynn Kurland January 2011
Blackveil by Kristen Britain February 2011
Spirit Dances by c.e. murphy April 2011

Lynn Kurland typically writes PG-13 romance. The Nine Kingdoms novels are more fantasy based.
Kristen Britain writes The Green Rider fantasy series. If you liked Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series, you might like The Green Rider.
c.e. murphy writes urban fantasy series, The Walker Papers. It's about a police mechanic turned modern-day shaman who needs to learn how to use her powers as well as how to be a police officer (first beat officer, then promoted to detective specializing in the supernatural). The author has written in a love triangle, which I do not particularly care for, but I still really like the series.