Do you enjoy reading? Or do you like to read? Or are you one of us who lives to read? I can quickly devour any book I get. I love series, to read the same characters or themes for a week or two. I love reading different books but by the same author.
The Twilight Zone episode “Time at Last” reminds me of my great fear. Burgess Meredith sits in a ruined area that was his town. The library is still there with so many books. He has an eternity to read without being disturbed by the world’s mundane distractions.
Then he breaks his glasses and cannot read.
i love mysteries I prefer books, but TV is ok sometimes. I consider some of the law enforcement shows mysteries as we try to figure out who the bad guys are.
I often wonder if I have influenced my children with their reading preferences.
I know my middle son loves Scooby Doo, definitely a mystery show. Growing up I loved the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew mystery books. That was in the 1960s, a long time ago. Exciting but not really scary is my preference.
I’ve read every Joanne Fluke book about Hannah Swenson. I’ve probably read them at least several times. The main attraction is that she bakes. i love to bake Also, there are recipes in every book.
Now scary stories are different because they involve danger and personal risk for the characters. I think of Stephen King books because so many have been made into movies. I have read almost all of his books.
The Stand was an epic read and, for me, on par with reading War and Peace.
Salem’s Lot was the scariest for me.
I will re-read books I like many times, as others do with their music CDs. I was a teenager when I read Salem’s Lot. I was fascinated by it. It took at least a good month before I slept well again. I can still have nightmares from this book. I saw the movie and laughed. A joke compared to the book.
Any movie from a book pales in comparison to the book. Books give you a rich character that is developed. Books allow you to become part of history. Movies you only watch, only watch.
Information books are written to help people. The “Idiot” books were always good for a laugh and sometimes helped.
Diet books are one of them for me. Books about nutrition or health are good for most people. Medical books are always popular as we want to diagnose ourselves.
Certainly not, but we seem to be doing it because the apps on our phones are doing it too.
Romance novels were the lifeblood of my maternal grandmother and my mother’s youngest sister. My aunt collected them. I even have a cousin who wrote some.
I have no interest in these books at all. I was raised to be polite, so I’ve never said anything bad about this genre. But there’s just nothing that interests me about these books.
Comedy is always fun to read. The biographies of comedians are mostly sad or even dark. Because they say comedy comes from pain. I’m not sure about that because I don’t think I’m that funny. I’ve had a lot of pain over the years.
Romcoms are the big thing now. I think of them as Harlequin visual novels. I don’t understand them exactly. Never been my thing, as my grandmother would have said. I found some books funny, but I don’t usually read comedy books.
Maybe I should look for an author who will write a series of fun books. That’s another thing I would add to my growing list of things to do.
Whatever the genre of books you are interested in, please read. It’s easy to take with you when you have to wait. I don’t particularly like eBooks, but a lot of people do. I’m just old school; Books have a smell and feel of the pages. All the crazy stuff book lovers talk about.
But a love of reading has to start early – please read to children or grandchildren if you can.
Gena Sterling was born and raised in Texas. Gena also lived in Oklahoma, where she met her husband. She and her family moved to Roswell in January 1995. She can be reached at [email protected] The views expressed in this column are those of the author.
