I want to read more, especially being an author. However, every time I pick up a book and began to read it I don't feel engaged and stop. Also, the books that are popular at the library are always checked out months in advance, and I can't afford to buy them all. Can anyone suggest any interesting books that will keep my attention? My favorite genre is horror and thriller/suspense. But I also love romance novels, self help books etc. I don't really get into science fiction or westerns, but I should I read these anyway to broaden my mind?
Reading interesting, original fantasy is probably a fresh reading experience. Books with alot of action tend to catch my interest.
Well, I'm not sure what authors you read but I do read horror, however the stories I read tend to be by Stephen King, Dean Koontz, H.P. Lovecraft, Joe Hill and Edgar Allen Poe. I don't really read thriller/suspense, so I can't help you out there. I don't think you have to read westerns or sci-fi in order to write, unless you are writing in those genres, however one piece of advice that I have heard is:"Read everything and anything." Some really good books that I have read are: Neil Gaiman - Anansi Boys, American Gods, Neverwhere, Stardust and Fragile Things (this last is a collection of short stories), Tara Road by Maeve Binchy, Congo by Michael Critchon, Go With Me by Castle Freeman J.R., Sabriel by Garth Nix, The Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (although I like all her books), Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, Amy Tan's Joy Luck Club and The Bonesetter's Daughter. The above list is a little heavy with fantasies, but it's mixed with general fiction. I couldn't put American Gods down when I was reading it. Hope this helped a little.
Wow. It's hard to believe you have access to a library and can't find anything interesting to read! Who cares if the popular books are checked out in advance? There are thousands and thousands of books available in all genres of fiction and fields of non-fiction that are gripping and fascinating and mind-expanding. Go to the library and just browse. Check out some sections you don't normally visit. If you can spend an hour in a library and not come out with something cool, something interesting, something you may never have heard of but will wind up loving, then you're either brain dead or you're just not trying hard enough. I mean, come on, it's a library! A repository of human greatness!
Check out some poetry - Dylan Thomas, Baudelaire , Paul Verlaine Check out some history - it doesn't have to be war related - if you love fashion, check out some fashion history books. Check out some classic authors - Shirley Jackson, Patricia Highsmith, Daphne DuMaurier. Like Minstrel said browse. Don't go with just nowadays stuff, take a chance read one of those forgotten books on the shelf that nobody has taken out in ten years - it could be a rare and wonderful find.
This fits in no way into any of the genres you've described, but i love this series, and it caught my attention from the first page. The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams. There's four books (and a final one by a different author). They are ridiculous and kept me engaged all the way through. I can't exactly say they're the deepest reading material, but they're alot of fun and kept my interest, just because of the unbelievable situations and obviously british accent of the writer. They're mostly sci-fi, but in a very fantastical way, that basically makes no sense, and that's the point. You'd have to read them to understand.
Ranging across some of my favorite books, looking for maximum variety in the list, and not worrying even a little bit about whether the books are considered literature or not: As suggested, the _Hitchhiker's Guide_ books. Calvin Trillin's _American Fried_ and his other food books. (Nonfiction.) Margaret Visser's _Much Depends on Dinner_. (Nonfiction again) Linda Grant's _The Thoughtful Dresser_. (Nonfiction again) Sarah Caudwell's Hilary Tamar series. Robert Barnard's _The Masters of the House_. (All of his books; I'm just picking that one first.) Rumer Godden's _An Episode of Sparrows_. C.S. Lewis's _The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe_. If you haven't touched the Harry Potter books, give them a try. Laurie King's _The Beekeeper's Apprentice_. (And the rest of the series that it starts.) Charlotte MacLeod's _The Family Vault_. Anthony Bourdain's _Kitchen Confidential_.
