Reading Widely

I mentioned this blog to the woman who inspired it the other day, and she gave me a piece of advice.  "Read widely," she told me, "that's the important thing."

I will attempt to do this to the best of my abilities.  I've noticed I have a tendency to chose fantasy novels, humor, and the weirdest things in reach.  I will likely temper this with more Fitzgerald than Dickens, more Austen than Twain, and more Poe than Hemingway.  This is a matter of taste.  But I will certainly give the Dickens, Twains, and Hemingways of the world a second chance.

In the more immediate future, I have an excellent selection of books at my disposal.  I have "A Feast of Crows," which I have long been meaning to read.  I have the complete works of Terry Pratchett minus a few of the more recent ones.  I also have the complete works of HP Lovecraft, which I have always wanted to read but never had available.  I will try to temper my fantasy and science fiction selections with some classics and some modern non fiction.

And here we come to my weak spot.  True confession:  I have difficulty soldiering through modern (not historical, fantasy, or science fiction) novels.  Especially romance novels.  There's absolutely nothing wrong with liking romance novels.  There's nothing wrong with reading books like "The Lovely Bones," either.  They just aren't to my taste.  I suppose I'll have to confront this eventually.  Maybe I'll force myself through a Nicholas Sparks book.  But I hope I'll find one I like, and not just read books from this category I cannot abide for the sake of reading more widely.