Confessions of a bookaholic

I do not enjoy reading poetry. But I like to listen to it. IMHO poetry should be solely performance art. Made for aural pleasure, it should be savored audibly.

I’ve read a vampire story and a werewolf story and have no urge to read more. The label paranormal isn’t enough to make me enthusiastic about a book. For that matter, no genre gets an automatic endorsement. For varied and bizarre reasons, there are a few subjects I find so enthralling that I will wade through mediocre writing to inhale them. None of these topics fall into the fiction category.

What kind of book gets my enthusiastic support and hard-earned money? The well-written ones. I want characters who linger in my head long after the cover has been closed. I want a plot, which surprises. I want a story world that entertains. That’s really all, characters, setting, plot--okay decent craft, pacing appropriate to the tale, and a strong distinct voice--too much to ask?

Slightly off-topic, but I don't want you to think I only complain, one of the nicest recent reading surprises for me was finding e-publishers keeping the short story alive in all its edgy glory.

With all the thousands and thousands of books published each year, finding something wonderful to read should be a snap. It’s not. I have purchased many books but own few titles that blew my socks off - literarily speaking.

Yes, I’m picky. Reading thousands of books makes me fussier. I used to fall into stories easier. Experience takes some of the enthusiasm from reading. And yet, there are stories that enthrall me--that still make turn pages way too late at night. I want more like those.