Reader for Life!

For my Reader's Advisory class this semester, I was asked to create a blog and start it with a personal profile of what I like to read and why. This blog has been re-purposed for that task. Here goes (with introduction):

Hi, my name is Jo, and I'm addicted to reading.

Ok, so that's not really an 'addiction' as it were, but something I have enjoyed doing ever since my father read to my sister and I each night before bed. He read a myriad of different books to us, ranging from titles such as Moby Dick, The Jungle Books, and the Complete Sherlock Holmes to things like the Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit, and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. He'd read to us until we fell asleep, then the next night determine where we'd fallen asleep and continue with the story from there.

As you might have deduced from the name of this blog, I was one of those children who, when I finally learned to read on my own, would hide under the covers with a flashlight and read late into the night just to see what happened next...


I've filled my spare time with reading ever since. (And yes, I know about The Reading Promise... it's on my to-read list!) Speaking of my "To Read" list... I try to track most of it on GoodReads. My profile on that site is here. Feel free to add me as a friend if you want!

So, the big question is "What do I like to read and why?"

That can be a tough one to answer. I like to think I'm open to most things, if I see enough interest in them or if I've had enough people suggest them to me. There was a time when I would have said I only read Science Fiction and Fantasy and I hated nonfiction. This is no longer the case.

My favorite genre would probably be either Science Fiction or Fantasy (both, for those of you who would group those together), particularly the subgenre Cyberpunk. I like these for the glimpses into other worlds that they provide. I can completely escape life into the Fantasy world of another time and place where things are very different from our everyday lives. Science Fiction and Cyberpunk in general are interesting for the glimpses of a 'possible future' that they contain. The technology aspects of Cyberpunk in particular have interested me since I first read William Gibson's novels. To date, I will list Neal Stephenson and Pat Cadigan as my favorites, though.

I have more recently added Horror to my list of favorite genres as well. This came about through the gradual discovery of Stephen King. I started in on his Dark Tower series way back when I was in middle school. There was enough of an otherworldly or fantasy aspect to it that I was intrigued. I steadily read more of his work as I waited for the next books in the Dark Tower series to be released. I tried some Peter Straub, since he'd co-authored with King. Then I tried some Dean Koontz. Then I stumbled across Joe Hill. My fascination with Horror is probably dual-natured. Part of it (I'm guessing) is a backlash from spending a childhood absolutely terrified of the dark. Literally, I slept with the covers over my head until I was in my tween years. Then I decided I was being ridiculous. The other part of it is from the gradual realization that I love how the books send shivers down my spine with the creepy eeriness and ghastly terrors that I find between the pages. It makes me wonder how people can think up such things!

Once I started working in libraries, I became more sensitive to what patrons were requesting and what the 'hot titles' were currently. That led me to try Cussler, Evanovich, Patterson, and a few others whom I might not otherwise have sampled. I read "A Thousand Splendid Suns" and "Life of Pi" because I kept hearing about them. I tried "A Million Little Pieces" when I heard about the controversy, though I never did make it all the way through that one. I have also discovered many nonfiction titles I have enjoyed and found quite informative.

.... I just realized how long this post has become. I could probably go on and on and talk your ear off about books, but I'm sure you know plenty already, and have your own preferences to share! Let me know what books you would recommend, because I might want to read them!