[Warewolf]

I read predominantly fantasy books. Probably more than twice as much as anything else I read. Sometimes I have to force myself to read something else because there's so much interesting sounding fantasy out there, but other times I HAVE to read something else or go crazy.

I don't read a lot of science fiction. I tend to stay with a handful of authors: Clarke and Asimov being my favorites. I loved Donaldson's Gap series and though Simmons' Hyperion Cantos was okay. I also read non-fantasy/non-sci-fi, such as

Tom Clancy
Michael Crichton
John Grisham
Ken Follet
Lincoln Douglas & Preston Child
Stephen King
Charles Dickens
Fydor Dostoyevsky
Leo Tolstoy
Jean Auel
Kathleen and Michael Gear

How about everyone else? What do you read when you're outside of the fantasy field? Or do you read nothing BUT fantasy?

[Qin]

My current reading list is almost exclusively non-fantasy (which make sense since I'm taking five college courses and a sixth outside of school).

Currently, I'm reading Walter Kaufmann's 'The Portable Nietzsche,' Harold Bloom's 'American Religion,' 'Lincoln at Gettysburg' by Garry Wills, 'The Penguin History of Medieval Europe' by Maurice Keen, 'Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace' by Joseph Williams, 'The No Spin Zone' by Bill O'Reilly, and 'Sir Fedor, Dog and Cat' by E. Uspensky and if I get a few minutes of spare reading time, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens and the Russian translation of Tigana for my Russian lesson.

As anyone could probably come to conclude: I'm not allowed to sleep.

[This message has been edited by Qin (edited January 29, 2002).]

[Warewolf]

Qin,

Think you've got it bad? I'm working 60 hours a week right now, plus going to school part time for my MBA and MS in Engineering. Plus, I gotta find time to look for a house. So, in addition to my fun reading, I'm reading for class and researching how to buy a house. So there! http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif

Btw, A Tale of Two Cities if my favorite by Dickens, but I have yet to read David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, or A Christmas Carol.

[JohnH]

If I was to list every book I have ever read that is non-fantasy this site would likely crash. I do tend to read more fantasy overall right now I would say.

I also like historical fiction. Sharon Kay Penman, Dorothy Dunnett (rereads only, alas),Mary Renault, Colleen McCullough just to name a few.

I like Arturo Perez-Reverte for suspense and mystery. Kathrine Neville is rather entertaining.

I like John Irving and Pat Conroy (probably the most mainstream I get). Love T.R. Pearson and Clyde Edgerton.

Have read tons of 'classics' and 'important' books but few really failed to impress. I guess if an author comes across as trying to hard to be insightful and meaningful my bs meter goes off and the book just becomes a challenge to finish and be done with it.

Being a history buff, I have pretty much read all of the Cambridge History collections. Loved Omstead's Ottoman Empire and have devoured as many books on ancient Persia, Moghul India and Ottoman Turkey that I can find. Western European history also intrigues me from the Roman Republic's glory to World War I.

China and Japan pre-industrial age also are topics I read quite a bit on if I can find something new.

For science fiction, I tend to stick to Cherryh and Bujold. Wingrove was pretty awesome up until the eight and last book.

I am sure I am forgetting quite a bit.

[SusF]

Well I read tons of things in other genres. I love mysteries, and of course, science fiction. I also read general fiction, history, historical fiction, art and art history, African American and Native American literature, and even the occasional <gasp> bestseller.

I've said before, I have an English degree. I read tons in college, and now I am filling in the gaps. I'm reading classics that I didn't get to in college.

I also have a significant collections of gardening books, pottery books, quilting books, Scandinavian history and literature books, ancient history, writing books, etc.

At the moment I'm trying to find nice hard bound volumes of favorite classincs. I just picked up an illustrated copy of The Three Musketeers at a used bookstore. And the library grows.

Susan

[Cygnus]

A recent fascination for me (thanks mostly to coursework) are any books on public health and the history of medicine. It may not sound interesting, but it has captured me almost as much as fantasy has!

Some good ones:
The Coming Plague by Laurie Garrett
Betrayal of Trust by Larie Garrett
Investigating Disease Patterns
Disease and Class (on tuberculosis)
The Mysteries Within (medical myths) by Sherwin Nuland

[This message has been edited by Cygnus (edited January 29, 2002).]

[Qin]

I submit Wolf! /me bows humbly before he who is in more pain than Qin. http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif

[jbcohen]

I must concur with others in this matter. It looks like there is a consensus forming here. Fantasy readers do not limit themselves to just fantasy books, and I do not either. Downstairs at home I have half my bookcase covered with fantasy literature, but there are others from other genres there and I will attempt to divulge the extent of the non-fantasy authors here. What follows is not an exhaustive list but includes some of the non-fantasy authors that I read:

Tom Clancy, Patrica Cornwell, Conlley, Pat Conroy, Steven King, Dean Koonts and my favorite non-fantasy author is Clive Cussler.

[kray3]

when im reading non-fantasy

Ive read everything by John Irving, Tom Robbins, Matt Ruff, & Stephen King.

there are some other authors ive read one or 2 books by, unfortunatly i can't recall their names and my bookshelf is currently unavailable

[ChrisW]

Louis de Bernieres is my favourite non fantasy author at the moment.