For years and years, I have enjoyed reading fiction novels just for entertainment; but I have also read books about health, nutrition, gardening, and other topics that I wanted to learn more about. At one time, I had a whole collection of horse-training books, starting with the vintage "Beery School of Horsemanship" booklets that were first published in the early 1900's. They may still have them today, for all I know; but I got my first set way back in the 50's when I was a teenager, and they were sent out and you paid $5 a month for them. Most of the ideas were not things that were do-able for me back then; but I still enjoyed reading the techniques and applying the ones that I could use. Now, a lot of my book-reading is done online, and it does make it easier to keep track of the books, and not have to worry about packing heavy boxes of books when we move. Mostly now, I read non-fiction books to learn things that I am interested in. Archeology, astronomy, and ancient civilizations are my passion, and I love reading books and watching videos about how the earth might have come into being, and how mankind has evolved. There are so many different thoughts and ideas on this, and I enjoy reading the different speculations.
I do content writing for a variety of clients, so I have had to learn about football, insurance, law, and several other topics. For nearly two years now, my wife and I have maintained a blog for a large insurance company, and neither of us knew anything about insurance prior to that. We did find a retired insurance agent who we outsource a lot of that to but when he is unable to meet the quota, for whatever reason, one or the other of us have to step in. Plus, I have several sites that are about the histories of several small North Dakota cities, so I get my fill of non-fiction that way. I was once very interested in politics. I have been the Republican caucus chairman for our town, and on the county committee, and ran for state congress as a Republican in 2006. I have been the state coordinator of the Constitution Party in Maine, and am still somewhat involved with a move to encourage people to un-enroll from party affiliation here in Maine. In the past, I have read countless non-fiction political books. But, in part, because I no longer believe that any of our problems are going to be fixed through the political process, I am not so interested in politics anymore. Even watching the news annoys me. For enjoyment, I usually prefer fiction, and I can enjoy pretty much any genre as long as it well written.
Someone just recently gave me a whole collection of the "Beery School of Horsemanship" booklets. It was kind of weird when I started looking over them, because I know I've read them before but don't really remember doing so. And I can't think of anyone I ever knew who might have had them around. Still, when I pick them up and look through them I know beyond a doubt that I read them extensively at some point in my childhood. The man who gave them to me also gave me a wonderful old surcingle that he'd had handmade back in the early sixties. I'm looking forward to getting some good use out of both when we get the trees, the house painting, the floor tiling and a couple of other projects out of the way.
I love reading fiction but rarely find time for it any more. I make up for it by watching a lot of fiction on television. The stories move so much quicker that way and it means that my reading time can be used for more important things. Unfortunately most of my reading is done online and even then I'm often forced to bookmark the longer articles that interest me to come back later because I can never spare the time for them. If only I could read faster, everything might be very different.
I am also a fiction reader. I like the mystery murder types of books. I recently read a David Balduci book and was really impressed. For a long time I don't know why I avoided his books. Now I will be a loyal fan of his books. I garden so I am always looking at books about plants, how to care for and grow them and what herbs are good for different conditions to avoid taking the meds doctors like to give you, not that I need to take any type of meds at the moment. I read just about anything in print. Sfy is another of my favorite subjects.
I read fiction, mainly literary, historical and crime novels. I also read non-fiction, mainly historical, biographical and travel writing. I think I probably read 2 novels to every 1 non-fiction book. I read a lot for pleasure, whether its good writing, a compelling story or both. I also read to learn more about the world, how people think and some of the interesting things they do. I read online too, sometimes it's research for article writing, but often it's just out of interest when I want to know more about a topic.
I love reading fiction! Debbie Macomber is my absolute favorite! Over the last 10 years, I have read or listened to most of her most recent novels. I have especially enjoyed her Christmas books. I believe she publishes a new Christmas book each year.
I tend to read non-fiction books on gardening, or healthy cooking... I think the last fiction I read was the "Tales of the City" series by Armistead Maupin... Having lived in San Francisco for years, his books help me remember all the amazing reasons I loved about living there.
I actually like Debbie Macomber too. Reminiscent of liking the Cowsills or the Monkees when I was a kid, it's not something I would generally admit to.
Just the facts Jack! That's me! I prefer non-fiction although I will admit that might be a stretch because I am very fascinated by the paranormal. I think I have read almost every book on UFO's. Who knows if that stuff is fact or not. I am actually a very avid reader especially on topics I have an interest in, I don't care if it is a technical journal or an encyclopedia. I do read opinion pieces and books on pop culture, and strangely I find some philosophy to be very interesting. There was a time when I liked fiction, occasionally i will return to the classics, in fact I have a copy of Peter Pan that I would like to read. i think I have read most of the classics. I do like the fairy tales and the stories of the knights of the round. I refer to the IChing on a regular basis and have read the bible several times. Currently I am reading the Twelfth Planet by Zecharia Sitchin. Before that I read a book on American Indians- farming and botanical techniques. Some of the art that was done on birch bark is just amazing. I had no idea that American Indians harvested wild rice, nor was I aware that Indians In parts of American would use sap flows and cook maple syrup. Think about that next time you eat pancakes, always assumed that came from the Europeans!
I agree it is fascinating to read about Native Americans and all of their understanding relating to agriculture, and usage of the land. I can tell you are a well-read person. I will look forward to your reading choices in the future.
I have been wanting to read some of Zechariah Sitchin's books, too, and just downloaded the Twelfth Planet book into my iBooks folder today. I found a great website where you can get some ebooks for free, and they also self-publish books; so this might be an excellent website for someone who is a writer and wants to publish an e-book, and is another choice besides using Kindle. I still like to read fiction books; but it seems like there are just so many other things that I am interested in that i really don't have time for stories anymore. I try to separate my time so I get the important things done at home, and still have some "fun time" to watch youtube videos and read. There are a lot of interesting videos from the Ancient-Astromauts channel, and several others that I like to watch. Reading is great, but the videos can show you pictures of some of the early writing and other artifacts from early civilizations. Here is the link that I used to download the Sitchin book (free) today, and it looks like they have a lot of other good books as well. I am going to check here before spending money to buy the book from now on. http://www.epubbud.com
This most likely just applies to me when I say that I prefer nonfiction rather than fiction. Just because I take fictional stories to be less entertaining and a waste of time, with no actually realism. On the other hand non-fiction, I enjoy reading due to the knowledgeable experiences of people and their great insights in the past.