I’ve started to make more bookish friends IRL, and it is so nice to have people in my life who love books as much as I do. But while we love books, we go about our love of books and reading in very different ways.

One of my friends say that they read everything, but seems to read more non-fiction or very literary fiction. Another friend also says that they read everything, but only reads lighter stuff like romance and fantasy because they read a lot for school, and they also find YA “derivative”. It makes me wonder if people really know how many different genres and sub-genres of books really exist in the world. I mean, when I say I read everything, I mean I read nonfiction from a variety of categories, memoirs, humor, manga, graphic novels, YA, MG, romance, fantasy, sci-fi, literary fiction, etc. I don’t read a lot of mystery because I always look at the end and am never surprised. I also don’t read a lot of horror, but I will read some that isn’t super gory. The only thing I won’t read is books that heavily push a religious stance (either fiction or nonfiction). I am open to the study of religions from a philosophical stance, but my reasons here are for another post.

It’s also interesting to see how my book friends feel about formats. I am 100% all in on any format; physical (hardback or paperback), digital or audio. One of my friends is physical book only, the other reads physical or digital but not audio. They say for them reading is about the physical experience as well. For me, reading is a way to absorb the story, so I’ll take it however I get it.

I haven’t asked them about doing a reading retreat. Neither of them follow book blogs or are involved in any book groups. The one had never heard of a readathon until I started talking about the April Dewey’s. Maybe down the road I can convince them to join me on a reading retreat… if not, I have my own planned for October. Just me, the coast, a bunch of books, and any otters that come up on the rocks. (I’m hoping to see at least one otter in a place called Otter Rock, I mean, really).