What Do You Like To Read?

I started thinking about publishing a novel just as the shift in the publishing industry began. Back then, the mid-list to which I aspired was shrinking and self-publishing was still taboo. The traditional publishing machine claimed that only those novels guaranteed to strike gold could make it through the gate-keepers because publishing houses could no longer afford to foster new or average selling authors. And I get that. Business is business.

But when I got over being a disappointed writer, I went back to being a reader, and I found myself disappointed there too. Am I alone in this? I have no interest in celebrity memoirs. I must be the only person not buying them. I know vampires and paranormal romances are everywhere you look. Dystopian, post-apocalyptic stories with zombies and teen angst are apparently the essential elements that catch the attention of an agent or publisher. But they don’t always catch my attention.

Oh, I’ve bought a few of them. Every once in a while I start thinking that I’m missing something, or the the hook really hooks me. But for the most part, I don't finish them. Not the memoirs, not the YA zombie romance. In fact, without strong recommendations from friends, I might have missed out on Hunger Games altogether because sometimes I get dystopian YA fatigue and I want something else.

I guess my reading tastes largely depend on what’s going on in my life. Two months ago, I wanted to read about rocky mother-daughter relationships and women who fought to overcome some adversity and found they were weaker and compromised for doing it. I would have turned up my nose at a happy ending.

Right now, I want to read a book about people whose dreams come true. I want to read about the rock band that makes it big. The writer whose book gets published and turned into a movie. I want to read about the model discovered while shopping in the mall. The girl who gets the guy.

I don’t care if those stories aren’t popular right now. Honestly, I don’t really care about typos or even unsophisticated use of language. I’m looking for the escape of a story that entertains me and gives me some satisfaction that I may or may not get in my real life. But I still want to be able to relate to some of the things I read. And my real life doesn’t involve being a hot teenager, or zombies.

I am so grateful for this shift in publishing. I’m grateful to goodreads.com and all of the writers on sites like authonomy.com and youwriteon.com. Now I have a better chance of finding something to read in a few minutes than I ever did after spending hours in a book store.

And thank you Amazon. Now I can wade through pages and pages of books to find something I like rather than have my tastes dictated to me, or worse, just lose the desire to read altogether.

My questions for anyone reading this:
• What do you want to read?
• Do you have a hard time finding good books?