Favourites

Over the last few weeks, as I was cleaning out my house, I have thought about the amount of books I have stored here in this office.  As in another post I wrote about a month or so ago, I said I have around one thousand books (the number's gone up since I received a few parcels in the mail, Mum's given me a couple of Hugh Lunn books and I purchased a couple more).  However, the books I have vary in content, style, author, size and genre; and yet, I don't really seem to have a favourite amongst them.

When I was younger and in my 20's, Stephen King, Raymond E Feist and JRR Tolkien was my staple diet of literature.  However, as time went on, and I socialised with other writers and widened my scope of reading with online book clubs, I read more and more; and found myself reading other authors I had never heard of, or I had but didn't have the courage to try out until somebody recommended them to me.  My library card received a good working out; and I read books more in 2007 than I did in 2006 simply because I read reviews on blogs and in newspapers; and thought I'd like to try out those books.  My favourites have changed markedly from the staple of horror writers and sci-fi fantasy to the large range you see on the right hand side bar on this blog today.

This took a long time to get my head around - especially the non-fiction, seeing how long it takes for me to read those books.  Also, reading those books also opened my mind to new ways of writing and finding out that I either liked a book; or I didn't.  For me, there's no middle of the road with books now; and that's good as I get through books faster now than I ever did a decade ago.

And even beginning a blog was something very new to me - a very hard thing for me as I found the internet a strange new world to venture into at the time - and yet, I enjoy sharing what I've read throughout my life with you all; no matter at which point I've read those books, whether it was when I was a child, a teenager or when if I read it last week.

Even though I have favourites in my collection in this home office, I don't read the same books twice in a year.  In fact, I don't read them again the next year either.  I may go for around five years before reading the same book again because I'll still remember a great book that touched me in some way for a long time.  So, once it's been reviewed here on the blog, it may not be reviewed again for a few years; and if it is, it's because it was a bloody good book!  If not, well, there's not real reason... books are just books.  They are read; they are reviewed.  Most times, after a review, I pass them onto my friends and family for them to read and enjoy as I believe that I don't fully own a book until I do give them away to others... then that's the way I share the joy of books.  Yes, even my favourites are eventually shared. 

So, how has your reading habits changed over the last decade to twenty years?  Or has it stayed more or less the same?  Have you traded authors since you were in your 20's, or are you still dipping into their old works as well as their new?  Are there authors you've discovered, loved and wondered why you put off reading them for so long?  Or did it go in the other direction for you; you found an author and disliked their work for any reason?  Leave your opinion about your favourites; who do you love to hate, and hate to love?  Until my next post, happy reading.