I have been reading for as long as I can remember. My undergraduate degree is in English so I have read something in just about every genre between classes and pleasure reading. I love to try new books I never thought I would read - I like to push myself. I love fiction and non-fiction equally but I am definitely a quirky reader - or maybe a reader of quirky things.
Some of my favorite fiction authors are Janet Frame, JD Salinger, VC Andrews (the original one) and Flannery O'Connor. My favorite genre is probably literary fiction. I was introduced to Janet Frame when the movie about her life An Angel At My Table was released. Her life and writing intrigued me and she has become one of my favorites. I love that her novels are semi-autobiographical and deal with her insecurities and her experiences with mental health facilities. Catcher In The Rye has always been one of my favorites and I love Salinger's short stories. I grew up reading VC Andrews, as most girls my age did, and those books are still on my shelf and I do, occasionally, pick them up and read them. I had to read Flannery O'Connor for one of my classes and I loved her writing and her ideas. She is one of many authors I was introduced to in college that I still read. I also love a good YA novel now and then.
I do love non-fiction. I love to read biographies most of all but I dabble in all forms of non-fiction. I feel that non-fiction really helps me learn. I love to read biographies about people I love. My favorite non-fiction writer would have to be John Waters - he is also my favorite film director. My favorite books of his are the older ones that focus directly on his movies and the cast of his movies (Shock Value) or his own goofy likes and dislikes (Crackpot); he's hilarious! I also like to read about hauntings, Buddhism, film, self-improvement and history. Really, I like just about anything as long as I am in the mood to read about the subject. Poetry is a great love of mine as well; Sylvia Plath is my favorite.
I am excited (and overwhelmed) at the prospect of reading five novels for this class!
My undergraduate is English too and I have read books I have never heard of before. Goodreads is a huge reason because whenever I read a book, it can give suggestions about similar books I may enjoy. Usually anything that catches my eye I will give a shot at.
ReplyDeleteI love your blog name. :)
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of Janet Frame before, and after reading about her briefly she seems like a fascinating person!
The Catcher in the Rye was one of my favorite books I had to read for a class. VC Andrews was a favorite among my peers too, rivaling RL Stine in popularity for the horror enthusiasts.
Good luck with your annotations this semester! :)
Thank you, Sharon! Janet Frame is super fascinating. You should definitely check out the film "An Angel At My Table", she is no longer living but still puts out books now and then. If you like poetry, she has one book of poetry out, too - but it's hard to find.
DeleteIn one of my reading groups, we just finished up a short stories selection and I was introduced to Flannery O'Connor. Amazing, but short life of a talented author, although my own impression was that she leaned to far toward her own flavor of religion to ever gain mass appeal. I had heard of her, but didn't realize she really wasn't a novelist, but a short story writer and and wrote a lot of essays. It's always interesting to learn of writers that one may not know about previously. The more you know, the better you can recommend when conducting RA! (Sorry about deleting the last comment - I found some grammar mistakes that needed editing.)
ReplyDeleteAnd yet my edit still didn't get them all. Oh well!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your post, Mindy. No worries about the typos:)
DeleteI took a short story class in undergrad and A Good Man is Hard to Find still haunts me. I love Salinger also. I really enjoyed Franny and Zooey also. My college friend named her daughter Franny after that book!
ReplyDeleteI took a short story class in undergrad and A Good Man is Hard to Find still haunts me. I love Salinger also. I really enjoyed Franny and Zooey also. My college friend named her daughter Franny after that book!
ReplyDeleteI love both of those books!
Delete