Before I was a blogger, when I would tell people I liked to read I would invariably be asked the same two questions. First, what did I like to read? When I was little, I would go for a simple answer, saying something along the lines of ‘witches’ or ‘magic.’ As I grew older, I would go more in depth, talk about genre, mention fantasy, magic realism, and books such as Harry Potter and/or Percy Jackson. The second question was always, what was my favorite book? At times, harder to answer, but in later years – even if I thought of something else – I would say Harry Potter. Not necessarily because it was my favorite (although the series is among my tops), but because it was a popular book that everyone had heard of and this way I wouldn’t get that blank stare and a ‘huh?’ when I mentioned a more obscure title.
Now that I’m a blogger, those two questions continue to be asked, but more questions have also come into play. Who is my favorite author? What is my favorite age group? What is my favorite genre? Who is my favorite publisher?
My head swims with possible responses to all these questions.
Book? Harry Potter is amazing, but everyone says that. Ella Enchanted? Better not, they might know the movie and not the book and the book is so much better! The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time? Oh, but that was so sad! The Da Vinci Code? I do love art and mysteries, but… Way too many, moving on!
Author? Um… J.K. Rowling? No, Rick Riordan. No, no, Gail Carriger! Wait, no, Philip Pullman! But I’ve only read one series of his… PASS!
Age group? Well, I read Middle Grade the most, so let’s go with that!
Genre? Stick with fantasy, that was always a good answer! Wait, better mention contemporary, and definitely explain what magic realism is if they don’t know. I’m not all about full-on fantasy books!
Publisher? Wait… what?
Yes, the questions go from the traditional to the ‘how is that even a question?’ range.
Well, at least for me.
My problem is that I can never choose just one answer for anything when trying to come up with a favorite. Top three, five, and ten lists aren’t much easier. I always feel like I’m leaving something or someone out!
When you give me a broader question, like what is my favorite genre, it tends to be a little bit easier, because so much falls under the categories of fantasy, sci-fi, historical, realistic, etc. Fantasy isn’t just Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, you’ve also got Kat, Incorrigible, Frost Hollow Hall, The Graveyard Book, and – depending on who you talk to – Parasol Protectorate, and The Book Thief.
Talking about specific books and authors, however, that is plain cruel and the reason why, more often than not, for books I will say the name of one of my favorite series. That way I don’t have to choose just one, but instead can choose two, three, five, seven, or maybe even more books all with one title! Is that cheating? Maybe. Do I care? No. Authors, meanwhile, are not that easy to choose between unless they’ve written diversely, across multiple genres and age groups and, let’s face it, I don’t always stick with authors when they do that. One exception being J.K. Rowling which is partially why she is mentioned in this post so much!
The question of publishers, however, is one I would never have considered asking or think about being asked before I became a blogger and is one that confuses me. How can I choose a favorite publisher? Do I look at my shelves and see which publisher has printed the most books on my shelves? If so, it would be one of the larger publishing houses that would win. Probably Scholastic, or maybe Random House. They all have so many imprints, how would I even know?
Then there are your smaller presses, not the biggest of the big, but you definitely know of them and they’ve been around for awhile. Following them, even smaller ones that may just be starting out or maybe you simply never heard of them. Then there are the smaller publishing houses that maybe produce four or five books in a year, followed by the publishers created solely as a name to use when an author self-publishes. And maybe there are more in between, maybe I’ve forgotten a stage in here, I don’t know. All I’m saying is, there are a lot of publishers and a lot of imprints of larger publishers. How are you supposed to sit down and say “Publisher A is my favorite publisher!”?
Seriously, authors don’t even stick with the same publishers! J.K. Rowling started out with Scholastic, but she has now moved onto Little, Brown. Who is to say that once she’s finished writing under the psueodnym Robert Galbraith that she won’t find a third publisher to print her books?
Of course, for a blogger the simple way to answer this would be to instead answer the question which publisher sends me the most books, solicited or unsolicited?
But that’s not who I am.
I don’t play favorites.
If there is a book I find interesting, I’m going to pick it up, and I’m going to read it (granted I’m in the mood to start reading it then and there, otherwise I’ll just put it on my GoodReads to read shelf, or buy it and put it on my physical shelf for it to collect dust).
If I like an author and I find out they have a new book coming out, I will look into it. If It sounds good, see above.
Favorite genre/age group? That’s where I’ll be in the bookstore/library, scouring the shelves for any books that fit criteria one and two.
Favorite publisher, meanwhile, is not even going to come into account. I have never had a bad experience with a publisher, in my blogging or personal life, to warrant me saying ‘I’m going to buy from Publisher A before I buy from Publisher B regardless of what the books sound like.’
Do I appreciate all of the publishers who contact me about reviewing their books, send me invites on NetGalley, and/or mail me books? YES, YES, YES, and YES. But I’m not going to give them preferential treatment. I’m going to do as I’ve always done, look at the book and see if it interests me.
That’s all reading should be about, not always sticking to what is currently your “favorite” while forsaking exploring new territory and finding new “favorites!”
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