What I like to read

This is a Book Week post for Saturday’s theme of Fiction, Fiction and more Fiction

I’ve been reading since I was three and hope to still be reading when I’m a hundred and three (optimistic, I know) because, even then, there still won’t be enough time to read everything I would like to read. When I fantasise about winning the lottery, as well as building the perfect house (which, incidentally, is in the shape of a Roman Villa and has books lining the corridors that run the whole way round the house), I dream of having much more time to read. These days, with a successful business to run and two quite demanding children, not to mention a husband, a dog and, oh yes, a blog, I only manage to read for maybe an hour and a half or two hours a day. I used to read for four or five hours a day and more on weekends. The idea of being able to sit down for whole evenings and just read, or to take the whole of a school day and whip through a book, is a luxurious dream.

My reading tastes have changed and evolved over the years. As a child I enjoyed books such as Jane Eyre, The Secret Garden, The Hobbit, Huckleberry Finn, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and Goodnight Mister Tom. When I reached twelve, I had a sudden desire to devour every Mills & Boon in the local library – I’d take out twelve books every Friday and read them all over the weekend. As my need to discover a little bit more about the nitty gritty of romance (OK, yes, I wanted to read about sex), I progressed to Silhouette Desire. After about a year of romance, though, I moved on to predominantly feminist books (odd progression, perhaps, though actually maybe the logical progression), with books like The Women’s Room and The Colour Purple, as well as lots of feminist science fiction, published by The Women’s Press. I also went through a horror phase, reading James Herbert and Stephen King books and writing horror stories for my GCSE coursework. As I moved towards the sixth form, I got more and more into some of the classics, in particular Jane Austen, but also the Brontës, George Elliot, DH Lawrence and Dickens.

Between school and university, I discovered Jilly Cooper – quite possibly because I was living in the same village as her, though I think I probably would have discovered her about then, anyway – and must have read Rivals at least 20 times. I was also enjoying science fiction by people like Robert Heinlein, Arthur C Clarke, HG Wells and Philip K Dick (I really enjoyed how science fiction got me thinking about the future and the possibilities of technology and science) and I went through John Steinbeck and John Irving phases around then. I also kicked off my Joanna Trollope and Mary Wesley obsession there (my first major unfinished novel is an ‘aga saga’ that probably mimics their styles quite a bit, in fact) which lasted a good few years (can’t really get into them anymore, though, for some reason)

At university I was reading a lot of French literature (both for my course, but also outside it) and my favourites were Zola, Balzac, Stendhal and Flaubert. I haven’t read much modern French literature, unfortunately. I really should correct that. I usually try to read at least one French book when I’m in France, but too often just take one along, rather than buying something new while out there. For the most part, when I wasn’t reading French literature, I was still reading Joanna Trollope and Mary Wesley, as well as some Kathy Lette and, of course, along with the rest of the female population at the time, Bridget Jones’ Diary. I also discovered Isabel Allende and Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate and Kate Atkinson, losing myself in Behind the Scenes at the Museum, Emotionally Weird and Human Croquet.

After university I continued with Isabel Allende and at some point discovered Joanne Harris, too, I think picking up Five Quarters of the Orange in the library and then reading Blackberry Wine, Chocolat and Coastliners. (I’ve written a whole post about my reading of Joanne Harris’ books, including a mini interview with the author herself, who was kind enough to spare some of her time to answer a few of my questions.)

During that time I also started reading Terry Pratchett – I had read a few already, but when Chris and I moved in together there were suddenly lots of Terry Pratchett’s on the bookcase, so I was able to catch up on the Discworld, reading most new releases as they came out from then on. Chris also introduced me to Raymond E Feist. I have read the Empire series (co-written with Janyy Wurtz) many many times and some of the others a good few times. Apart from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, I haven’t really been able to get into fantasy as much as other genres, though the worlds of elves and wizards always intrigues me. J K Rowling also came onto the scene around that time and, after reading the first two books, I loved reading the rest pretty much on the day they came out (though the final one was published after Rosemary was born, so I couldn’t do a one-sitting read). There’s a guest post from Susan K Mann about the urban fantasy genre, which I’m sorry to say I never even knew existed, though as a Buffy fan-girl I should really recognise it.

And then I got into crime fiction and thrillers, enjoying particularly the ability to read many books by the same author or in the same series, but also relishing the mystery-solving elements and the tension of the thrillers. I went through Patricia Cornwell, Tami Hoag, Ian Rankin, Colin Dexter, Nicci French, Kathy Reichs, Tess Gerritsen, Faye Kellerman, Karin Slaughter and Val McDermid and (though I’m behind at the moment), still tend to read most of their newest releases as soon as I can (either on Fastrack from the library or when they’re out in paperback, as I hardback books are too difficult to hold one-handed with a baby in the other hand).

And I suppose throughout all that time I’ve picked up new authors and books as they’ve come out – sometimes being given a copy by a friend, sometimes picking something up in the library, sometimes exploring Booker nominees or Richard and Judy recommendations, and sometimes just picking something up that has a nice cover! Just a few of the books (other than those already mentioned above) that would probably be termed ‘literary’ or ‘contemporary’ and that have stood out for me over the years include The Time Traveller’s Wife and Her Fearful Symmetry, The Lovely Bones, The Thirteenth Wife, The Resurrectionist, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, The Secret River, Brick Lane, The Help, Sister and The Historian. There are many more and one day I’ll probably go through all the bookshelves in the house, the finished reading recently piles and the boxes of books that haven’t found a space on the shelves yet and maybe put together my own personal Top 100. But not today.

More recently, especially after having children, I’ve also found a place for momlit and chicklit too (though I do really dislike that term). There will be a post tomorrow about my momlit choices, to tie in with mother’s day (as well as a round-up of some parenting and pregnancy books that I’ve found useful). Some of the recent authors that I enjoy and who (I think!) fall into the chicklit genre include Jodi Picault, Jill Mansell and Katie Fforde (the latter two, along with Joanne Harris, are very active on Twitter and it’s quite enjoyable to catch glimpses into writers’ lives – though can sometimes feel a bit voyeuristic, too).

So what do you enjoy reading? Have your tastes changed over the years? Have you read anything great recently that you want to share with others?