It's probably easier to think of what I don't like to read. I haven't read a lot of science fiction, and what I have read I haven't really enjoyed. A friend who loves science fiction told me, "It's because you're not reading the right science fiction." This is entirely possible. I should look into that.
One genre I really don't care for is fantasy. I'm just not the kind of person who likes to become immersed in other worlds with quirky creatures and quests and spells and that sort of thing. I fear I will offend some of you, but I can't stand JRR Tolkein and those Hobbit and Lord of the Rings books. I got halfway through The Hobbit and I wanted to throw the book across the room.
So what do I like, then? I'm just going to start listing books (in no particular order) that have made a particular impression on me, and maybe it will paint a picture of the type of book I like:
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay
A Mouthful of Air by Anthony Burgess
She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
City of Joy by Dominique LaPierre
Coming Home by Rosamunde Pilcher
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough
Tim by Colleen McCullough
The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk
Adam Bede by George Eliot
A Room With a View by EM Forster
All the Jane Austen books
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Sophie's Choice by William Styron
Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All by Allan Gurganus
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
The Witching Hour by Anne Rice
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
All of Pat Conroy's books
The Collector by John Fowles
Cat's Eye and Alias Grace (and others) by Margaret Atwood
The Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker
The "Little House" series by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Well, it seems I like a wide variety of books. I hope you try one of the books I've listed here. If you don't, that's fine too. The important thing is to read, read, and then read some more. Your English will improve tremendously, and you'll have some adventures along the way.
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Vocabulary
inevitable: something that is sure to happen
put on the spot: feeling pressure to speak or do something quickly
possible: able to be done
immersed: fully involved in some activity or interest
quirky: unusual, especially in an appealing way
offend: to cause someone to be hurt, angry, or upset over something said or done
tremendously: in a very large or great manner
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Vocabulary Practice
I don't want to __________ her by not eating any, but I don't care for her blueberry pie.
A ___________ large tree fell in my mother's front yard.
I love the feeling of being so ____________ in a project that I forget to eat.
The children's TV show Yo Gabba Gabba is a bit _____________ but somehow I like it.
Once my eyes start closing while I read late at night, it's ____________ that I'll fall asleep.
Andrew felt ____________ when his coworker asked him if he was coming to her party.
Sometimes it doesn't seem ____________, but I know I will find a job someday.
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Grammar Point
Direct Quotes
When you want to show that something you've written is an exact quote from a person, you need to put the words they said within quotation marks. The first letter of the quoted phrase is a capital, and any end marks (period, question mark, exclamation point) go before the ending quotes. Look at these examples from my blog entry:
Whenever I start to talk about books with people, someone will inevitablely ask me, "What do you like to read?"
A friend who loves science fiction told me, "It's because you're not reading the right science fiction."
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Grammar Practice
Put quotation marks in the correct places in the following sentences:
The crossing guard yelled, Stop! to the children.
Bess asked her friend, Do you have the keys?
When the hairdresser took out the scissors, I said, Please don't cut off too much hair.
The librarian told the teenagers, Please keep the noise down.
Elizabeth asked the bus driver, Which stop is nearest to the park?
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Come Visit My Booklist!
Because I'm well-known among my friends and family for being a constant reader, people used to always ask me, "What should I read?" I had such a hard time recalling the titles and authors that I decided to keep a list of all the books I read. I began the original list in a notebook in 1992--no synopses, no reviews, no comments. In 2002, for the tenth anniversary of the list, I converted it to a website (though I still keep a hard copy of the ongoing list):
For the launch of the website, I added a rating system. I think I have about 430 books on the list at this point. I'd love it if you visited my website and sent it to your book-loving friends and family. Happy reading!
