Oh, alright, I suppose I should weigh in here...
Yes, I read romance novels -- I usually prefer the little category romance ones, actually, since they're shorter and there's less chance for pointless angst
Longer stories don't require stupid conflicts, but they seem to be a favorite fill material for some writers. I will read full-length stuff if it's an author I trust. I'll read pretty much anything by Jayne Ann Krentz (and also whatever she writes as Amanda Quick or Jayne Castle) -- she writes to a fairly predictable formula, but what the heck, I like the formula <g> And she usually has some sort of intrigue/mystery plot going. The only thing I don't like is her recently developed habit of writing books that are only half a romance -- H & h are probably sleeping together by the end of the book, but she makes you wait til the sequel for anything like mutual "I love you"s and committment.
) since my early teen years -- loved Isaac Asimov and most of what I saw by Robert Heinlein. Loved Anne McCaffery, Robert Aspirin and then moved up to Lois McMaster Bujold. But again, I probably won't read a new SF novel unless it's an author I trust.
Of course, these days, I do most of my reading online <g> so I haven't got as much time for novels...
I've read a smattering of mysteries, all of Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan books, some P.G. Wodehouse & E.M. Forster, political humor by P.J. O'Rourke, and the "Mrs. Pollifax" series of spy novels by Dorothy Gilman, about a 60+ lady who volunteers to work for the CIA and turns out to have a talent for it.
And all sorts of other odds and ends.
I prefer fiction, but I do like non-fiction about the craft of writing, social-sciences topics, and various other things.
On the book-owning debate, I have to confess I prefer to own my books, so that I can go back and re-read whenever the urge strikes (assuming I can *find* the book I want
). But I also have to confess that I'm looking at taking some of the ones I haven't looked at in years to the used-book store... so that I can buy new books, of course!
PJ
