Confessions of a non-reader

I have a confession to make. I don’t read very much. Specifically, I don’t read books very much. I read news articles a lot and I read lots of people’s blogs, but I am straining to remember the last book I read cover to cover. At this point, many of you may be gasping in horror, but the rest of you are thinking “what’s the big deal?”.

The big deal is that I married into a family of prolific readers and book lovers. I am so inspired by them, somewhat envious, and even a little insecure about my “nonreadingness”. I have always wanted to be a well-read person. In the past couple of years, I have tried to pick it up, but I’m embarrassed to say how many books I have started but not finished. I’m not just talking about reading the first few chapters and quitting. I was more than half way done with Lord of the Rings when I stopped.

 

When I was in high school honors English and AP English, I read many of the great classics: Red Badge of Courage, To Kill a Mocking Bird, A Tale of Two Cities, Crime and Punishment, 1984, the unabridged Les Miserables, etc. I loved reading all of them. Then I went to college and got a science degree with a science minor. My one required English class was a technical writing class so no reading required.

 

I can think of a few barriers to me reading more. The first is I would rather be playing outside, but since it is miserably cold, now seems like a good time to read.

The second is that I have a weird quirk that I am turned off by anything trendy. If I find something I like, and then learn it is trendy, I’m okay with it. But if I know there is something is super popular right now, I will go out of my way to avoid it. A good example is the Twilight series or the Hunger Games series. Is this completely irrational? Probably. I have no doubt Hunger Games books are good. Can I bring myself to read them? Nope.  

The third barrier is that if a book is any good, they make it into a movie. Once I have seen the movie, it’s highly unlikely I would be able to sit down and read the book. I know, the books are always better than the movies, but the motivation to keep reading and find out what happens is gone.

I think the solution is to work harder at finding books I am sure to like. I think I may need your help for book or author suggestions. Here are some guidelines of what I like.

1. No romances, especially no teenage romances *shudder*. If a book has some romance in it, fine, but if the main point of the book is that Girl A has to choose between Guy B or Guy C, or if Girl D and Guy E just can’t seem to ever get together until the 2nd to last chapter, then probably not the book for me.
2. Big fan of science fiction. Not a fan of fantasy. Before someone calls out my hypocrisy, yes, I love Lord of the Rings and have no good explanation why I am okay with that, but other magic-related books are not for me. You want to make me miserable? Make me watch Van Helsing. Just ask Colin.
3. Mysteries are good. I loved Tony Hillerman and read all of his books. I also like Louis L’Amour, so apparently I have a thing for the southwest. 
4. Historical Fiction is good.
5. I liked Michael Crichton, so any book that has an extra dose of science in it is good.
6. One the one hand, preferably not a book written for young-adults, but on the other hand, not a book with really graphic stuff in it. I won’t read Dan Brown’s books for this reason. Colin was kind enough to warn me.

I hope that’s not too picky. I feel like I am being too picky. I just don’t want to start another book and not finish it. Please, I want your suggestions!