My Favorite Reader

 

My favorite reader has a to-be-read pile that spills off her bedside table and ambles down the hall like a drunk on a cruise ship.

My favorite reader is fiercely loyal to her favorites--but not afraid to bust an author's chops if they get a little sloppy on book #37:

"...I couldn't wait to get right into it. I'm sorry to say, although it was mostly well written, I didn't find it as thrilling or interesting as the author's past books."

By the time you're rich and famous, nobody you know will tell you when you're just phoning it in..except my favorite reader.

My favorite reader doesn't care a whit which subgrenre something is slotted into by the publisher. She'll grab books off the Mystery shelf, the Women's Fiction, Historical, Hysterical, whatever. 

By the way, mystery readers are readingest readers around! See the Sisters In Crime research for details!

My favorite reader lives in my head when I write. Is this conflict interesting enough? Is the hero struggling enough? Could I make this paragraph tighter, funnier, scarier, more lyrical or all four?

I can't wait to meet more of my favorite readers as conferences like Left Coast Crime, Bouchercon, or at my local bookstore and library. Sure we buy ebooks for convenience and instant gratification, but my favorite readers can't let go of the physical book, either. It's not a matter of us catching up to digital, it's a matter of digital maturing to match up to readers' demands. 

Many of my favorite readers are writers--after all, who knows the territory better? But many of my favorite readers are "just" readers. People with a passion for communicating via the written word. Graphic novelists, blogistas, twitter freaks, all of you. I love you all so much.

So introduce yourself the next time you see me, and I'll buy you an adult beverage and ask, "Whatcha reading?"

Comments

[Susan Shea]

Okay, this stacking system is a little scary. I mean, earthquakes, anyone? The cat is clearly ready to jump, and could be buried in an avalanche. And there's an even bigger problem for your favorite reader: What if she realizes she has to read a particular book before she meets the author at Left Coast Crime, and the book is four from the bottom of a stack in the middle?! Seriously, I love and fear this photo because it's too possible for me!

[Staci]

Your favorite reader sounds like my kind of person, Mysti!
I have the urge to show this photo to my husband. It makes my overstuffed bookcase seem so tidy in comparison!

[rita lakin]

This is really your bedroom? Really? really?
What am I talking about? My stack is in the office and scattered about every room in the house.
Aren't readers/writers wonderful?

I love this photo!

[Pat Morin]

I want to hug your favorite readers and ask them to be my favorite readers, too. And I want to sit next to the ones in your head so I can listen and learn.
Now, as far as that picture--Mysti, we gotta talk ... the cat's filing a protest.

[camille minichino]

It's easy to get that 4th book from the bottom. You just get a tall person to lean against the stack above it while you pull it out. Ask me how I know.

[Mysti]

Oh, not my bedroom! The bedroom of some brave soul who shared her TBR pile on the internet :)

Camille--I'll remember not to stack any books taller than my husband!

[Priscilla]

You said it perferctly, Mysti, but where did you get the photo of my bedroom, living room, alleged computer room...?

[Mysti Berry]

Priscilla, my office is a hazard zone because of stacks of paper--all those conference and class notes I can't bear to be rid of!

[camille minichino]

Hi Mysti, this is a comment test!