Yesterday I posted a video book trailer for my upcoming book on my website. Since it's also up on the video production company's site, I decided to Google my name (something I usually avoid) and see if they showed up.
Well. . . I'd been planning to blog about an upcoming Authors at Sea cruise my publisher's sending me on this coming weekend and my realization that part of the reason I've been so stressed out about this is because I'd be forced to go 9 DAYS!! without writing. Something I haven't done since going to Italy two weeks after 9/11. Usually I write every day. That's what I've done for twenty three years and it's always worked for me, so I wasn't all that happy about changing patterns. (At least in Italy I got pasta, ice cream, wine, and Michaelangelo. Which I figured was a pretty fair trade-off.) Fortunately, I just realized that by having to take an additional carry-on, I can fit my laptop in, so I'm feeling much more secure about the trip.
But I digress...
What I stumbled across was this amazing thing called a Map of Literature. You can put in an author's name and it'll tell you what other authors readers of that first author read. I've no idea where they get their information, but my "if you like JoAnn Ross" list (and you know I couldn't resist checking) turned out to be Jayne Ann Krentz, Jayne Castle, Linda Lael Miller, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Suzanne Brockmann, Nora Roberts, Elizabeth Lowell, Christine Feehan, and Emilie Loring.
I have no idea what that means. Especially since I tend to write all over the place. But it started me thinking about my own reading habits, which are even more eclectic than my writing. I currently have books scattered all over the house and car waiting to be read ranging from "guy" fiction like James Lee Burke, Dennis Lehane (a mystery god, imo), and John Sanford to "women who write guy fiction" like Lisa Gardner and Tess Gerritson, romantic suspense, paranormals, horror, romance, erotic romance, and two books of "literary" short stories by Annie Proulx (who I've been reading since before the Brokeback Mountain movie), and speaking of a mountains, a TBR stack of non-fiction books for a new story I'm researching. I tend to pick them up to suit my mood and I'm often reading two or three at a time. I can't imagine all these names showing up on the same Map of Literature.
Which got me wondering. Knowing that romance readers are the most eclectic group of readers out there, would your own reader map show that you enjoy visiting one particular literary "country" in depth; or are you more of a "world traveler?"
And yes, Sue-Ellen and Allie -- I'm only guessing here, but I suspect your reading passports would be stamped Scotland most often. :D
6 comments:
Actually I should've said I got Michaelangelo's ceiling and his David. Not the artist himself. Though I did read this really hot erotica story once, where David came alive to this American woman tourist, and. . .
But I digress. Yet again. :)
I know that I'm eclectic. I write contemporary series romance but love to read so many different things, especially humor and historicals! I also have a few mystery series I really enjoy. Favorite authors: Jennifer Crusie, Amanda Quick, Roderic Jeffries, Susan Conant (dog mysteries), Elizabeth Lowell, Kathleen Woodiwiss, Diane Perkins, Roxanne St. Claire.... How much space do I have left????
My taste in reading is all over the map. Sometimes I'll even read two books at once, provided they're completely different. I read The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova at the same time that I read Absolute Friends by John le Carre (one of my favorite authors). I'm about to begin The Dogfather by Susan Conant in between readings of Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. I love big sweeping historicals like the kind James Michener used to write, but I'll read almost anything from romance (of course) to the classics. I recently re-read Wuthering Heights for something like the 5th time. There's something about that brooding hunk Heathcliff that keeps me coming back again and again. Maybe it's the fierceness with which he loves that makes him redeemable in my eyes.
Hey JoAnn - I'd have to say my reader map is pretty global. In genre fiction, I like my heroes in leather, be they modern or ancient. ;-) I like my heroines sassy and bold, and too smart to die. I love the classics and literature, but cut my wisdom teeth on fantasy. What can I say? Those beasts came in late. I love paranormal. There are lots of British mysteries on my shelves, along with Wodehouse and Fowles, Galsworthy and John Ralston Saul. At this moment, tucked-in with the genre fiction in my TBR pile is David Suzuki's LIFE OF A TREE and Helen Fisher's WHY WE LOVE.
I think I'd qualify not only as a world but a galactic traveler when it comes to reading. As I look around my bookshelves, I see everything from light romantic mystery to heavy duty suspense and literary fiction to memoirs, fantasies, science fiction, historical and scientific nonfiction -- you name it.
Can you tell I was a liberal arts major?
Barry Eisler -- okay, a new name on my list.
Nancy -- I keep telling myself I have to read the team of rivals book. (As a lifelong Yankee fan whose grandfather was an investor in the NY Dodgers, I love Doris best when she's talking about Brooklyn and the Red Sox.)
Helen -- You've just named two books I've never heard of and must now check out.
And Colleen and Gail -- I hate to travel, but it sounds as if traveling with you would feel way familiar!
Can you tell I was a liberal arts major who changed majors 5 times? (Once, from English Lit to Urban geography ten minutes after registering for my final semester senior year. :D) One of the things I love about writing is I can change majors every book.
Allie -- I'd suggest there are other lovely countries one can visit. Such as Ireland. Wales. Italy. Mexico. The Alps. Even Brazil, if you can overlook rats the size of terriors that come out on Ipanema Beach every night.
But I know Sue-Ellen already knows that from her days in the airlines, and I doubt you'd care. LOL One question. . . do you really ONLY even READ about Scotland, as well?
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