How widely do you read?

I read lots of genres:

Science Fiction/Fantasy - Terry Brooks, Tolkein, C.S. Lewis, Bradbury, Pratchett, Williams, etc.
Spy/Espionage - Love Tom Clancy's series with Jack Ryan
Western - Louis L'Amour
Classics - Not sure how to categorize this, but I'm including Hemingway, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Orwell, Kipling, and probably a litany of others.

I know you're subscribed to the Pick 12 thread blacbird, but for anyone else interested, we're tracking 12 titled that we're reading for that thread, and my list is here

I also have a 50+ book reading list that I'm trying to make my way through for 2017 here

I'm another "embarrassingly narrow" reader. Narrow but deep, though! I mostly stick to fantasy of most stripes (I don't like the grimdark stories, though) with a smattering of sci-fi. I read some romance and I usually have at least one erotica on my phone at a given time. For both of those I try to stick to supernatural or fantasy-related subgenres.

I do a lot of scientific reading as well, but it's more article based (media as well as primary sources) than longform.

I don't do much reading anymore (I know, I know). But when I do, I'd say it's not very wide anymore either. I love to read Romance novels. They are my guilty pleasure. I love the happy endings. (Which doesn't help me much, considering I write Mainstream, haha).

Sorry I meant participated, not subscribed, and confused threads:

http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?326709-My-classic-novel-read-for-2017-is

This was the one you'd started, my bad

I don't read much anymore, sad to say, beyond workshop fiction. And that tends to be fairly varied, though since there's more genre workshop fiction than literary workshop fiction, my prose diet is mostly genre.

jjdebenedictis said:

Errrr...embarrassingly narrowly. **hangs head**

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Nothing wrong with reading what you like and not reading what you don't like. I've been a lifelong reader, but throughout, I've always tended to graze among the books that appealed to me at the time, and ignore the ones that didn't. And what appealed would periodically shift. So, I've read at least a smattering of most genres over the years, including the classics, but what interests me now is primarily fantasy and SF, or a really good historical novel. I will occasionally read a mystery or a romance or a YA novel. I read non-fiction, too, and there my tastes are kind of all over the board. For instance, I'm currently reading a book called The Rarest Blue: The remarkable story of an ancient color lost to history and rediscovered. Waiting for me to get to them are Hidden Figures (the true historical account the movie was based on), and The Perfect Horse, which is the story of how the Lippizaner stallions were rescued from the Nazis.

Genres that have never appealed to me and probably never will are horror, erotica, and crime thrillers. I mostly don't care for anything set in current times (although the setting can trump the time period. I enjoyed Tony Hillerman's novels, for instance), or dystopian. Not big on urban fantasy. Give me long ago and far away.

I used to read poetry, particularly old, classic poetry, but I've gotten out of the habit. I'd like to get back into it.

I write fantasy and that's mostly what I read, along with an almost equal amount of non-fiction history and occult books. I read some crime fiction and a little horror, and that's about all I've got time for.

I would say that I read widely within the confines of science fiction and fantasy, but woefully narrowly outside of it.

I want to say I don't read fantasy - then have to admit that Tolkien is my favorite author. - Oh, and I enjoy Harry Potter a lot.

I want to say I don't like historical fiction - then have to admit I truly enjoy Ken Follett

I do read a lot of history, and my reasoning is that Tolkien wrote LOTR as if it was history.

I read a lot of military history, more specifically about the war in Vietnam - but not about battles and such, but rather the politics and causes of the war.

I read non-fiction that could pass for journalism, such as books about present day North Korea.

The occasional religious book.

No erotica, no sci-fi, no poetry.

I tend to read in gulps - I'll read one genre for awhile, the get tired of it and turn to something else.

And there are some books I read over and over again. I make my pilgrimage back to Middle Earth about every three years - and have been doing that since 1969.

I stick with fantasy. This is the genre I've chosen to write for. Unfortunately, i find myself glowering at most books when i sift through the bookstore shelves. Most involve war, or too many coincidences, or the same regurgitated story. No re-packaging. No unique aspect. I'm tempted to reach out to other genre's. I'm starting to realize why some​ "super popular" is truly super popular.

Nowadays I mostly read science fiction. When I was younger I read a lot of secondary world fantasy but I've drifted away from it in the last decade. I've read a lot of mystery as well as historical fiction. I've also read a lot of non-fiction, mostly either historical or scientific in nature. I've read a lot of history of science books, too. I've read most of the so-called "weird fiction" I can get my hands on.

The oldest things I've read are some of the classics (in translation). I've read Plato, Aristotle, Thucydides, Aristophanes, Euripides, Aeschylus, Virgil, Horace, Marcus Aurelius, Julius Caesar. I've also read Norse, Greek, and Roman mythology. Other mythological works I've read include the Kalevala, the Mabinogion, the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, and the Morte d'Arthur.

I've read a ton of magazine SF, including at least half of the issues for every decade from the thirties to the nineties for Analog/Astounding. The big decade for me is the fifties; I've read every issue from that decade of all three of Astounding, Galaxy and Worlds of If. I've also read everything (or almost everything) that H. Beam Piper, Robert E. Howard, and E.E. "Doc" Smith ever published.

Eclectic, definitely. No westerns, no romances. I like to jump from one genre to another. After reading something thought-provoking, I usually follow up with something silly. SF to crime. Literary to humor. Interestingly, I write mostly in erotic fiction, which constitutes the smallest percentage of my reading.

I don't read as often or as broadly as I should. I read almost exclusively contemporary YA. I also read quite a bit of children's picture books because I work with kids. I read a bit of historical non fiction, but even that's usually limited to the subjects I focused on in university. I am trying to read more diversely, especially #ownvoices but it's harder than I expected not to reach for the same books over and over again.

Genre is my preference. Mystery, medical thrillers, spy thrillers, science fiction (all sub-genres), fantasy (all sub-genres), horror, crime, and select westerns. I don't really read much in the way of romances and erotica.
I read some non-fiction but not as much as I should. It's usually research for my writing. Mostly philosophy, science, regional histories, and how-to books.

I think it's easier to state what I don't read:

Romance/Paranormal/Erotica
Celebrity Tell-All books

Sat Nam! (literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

I read just about anything except: horror (but I've read Poe & betaed an MG horror novel), erotica, romances that might as well be erotica (but I do enjoy not-so explicit romances in other genres), child and horse/dog/cat stories, celebrity tell-all stories, political tracts, and most male action stories (unless these are hidden within another genre, like the Vorkosigan books).

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

I mainly read science fiction and fantasy, but there are some subgenres in there that I usually won't touch. I usually steer away from paranormal, and near-future speculative sci-fi. I have read some other genres, historical fantasy, mystery/thriller, and while I can enjoy those, I don't seek them out.
I almost never touch non-fiction, with the exception of books about writing.

Chinese fiction has me looking at martial arts alternative history/period/fantasy epics, and manga (when I get round to it; I have a few I need to catch up on).

For English fiction, I tend towards fantasy more than science-fiction, but will read other genres though avoid Western, Romance, Mystery, Contemporary/Mainstream, Women's Literature (I think I got this genre title right?) — they don't interest me. However, if it's #ownvoices, I'm eclectic.

As far as poetry goes, it's usually classical Chinese poetry.

And I'm all over the place in as many languages as I can understand for non-fiction.

I tend to stick to crime fiction but if I hear enough buzz about a book, I'll usually check it out at least. I've read a lot of classics this year since they are the longest lasting works out there and therefore what I try to emulate. I have gotten tired of the books that are merely there to entertain and seem to have no point. They have their place, but I just haven't been into them that much lately. I've been focused on theme pretty heavily for my current WIP which is probably why I feel that way. Either way, I usually stick to the classics and the crime genre. I'm semi-widely read.

I mostly read non-fiction. I read maybe 2-3 novels per year, of which 1 or 2 will be re-reads of my favourite classics.
Non-fiction is perfect for constant inspiration...

Richard White said:

Celebrity Tell-All books

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I see what you're saying, but there are some good one - Mike Oldfield's autobiography for instance. That one was a real eye-opener.

I've always read widely in sci-fi and fantasy, but I find myself reading wider as I grow older. I'm burned out on some of my old dietary staples (YA and epic fantasy), and I have the attention span and interest in things I previously found dull as dishwater (historicals, self-improvement, conversational pop-science ike Mary Roach's books) and the courage to read things I was too full-of-myself to read before (romance!).