A Few Favorite Reads & Literary Loves

While away at book festivals and signings, the most frequently asked question was:

“What do you like to read when you’re not writing?”

I suppose the proper response should’ve been…

"how much time do you have?"

The honest answer is…

"almost everything."

I’m an eclectic reader at heart. My shelves hold poetry beside spy novels, classics beside current bestsellers, children’s literature beside historical biographies, devotionals beside cookbooks. I’ve never believed books should fit neatly into one category — the joy is in wandering.

Poetry & Literary Voices I Return To Again and Again

• Emily Dickinson

• Robert Frost

• Walt Whitman

• Ralph Waldo Emerson

• Elizabeth Barrett Browning

These are the writers I revisit when I want language to slow me down and remind me what words can do.

While studying to become an elementary school teacher, I developed, wrote, and implemented a poetry-based literacy program for children as part of my Master’s thesis. That experience deepened my appreciation for the rhythm of language and the extraordinary way poetry can open young minds to reading, imagination, and emotion.

Favorite Genres

• Historical Fiction

• Biographies & autobiographies

• Documentaries & informational “how-to” books

• Mystery

• Romance

• Spy novels

• Literary fiction

• Children’s literature

• Cookbooks

• The Bible & devotionals

Authors I Always Enjoy

• Ian Fleming

• Kristin Hannah

• Allen Levi

• Stephanie Dray

• Ann Patchett

• Elizabeth Strout

• James McBride

• E. B. White

And of course…

• Harry Potter

• Charlotte's Web — forever one of my all-time favorites.

As a writer, and through attending monthly writers’ meetings, I’m often gifted books by fellow authors. Those books frequently introduce me to genres, styles, perspectives, and voices I may never have discovered on my own. It’s a unique journey into another person’s way of seeing the world — offering clarity, insight, and sometimes even unexpected understanding. I have quite a stack growing beside my chair these days… though I suspect most readers and writers do.

As a former elementary school teacher, I also have a lifelong affection for children’s literature. Some of the wisest storytelling ever written lives quietly inside books meant for children.

The truth is, there really isn’t a book I won’t take on.

I love learning, and whenever I open a book, I know one thing to be true:

I will always learn something new.

Reading is a lifelong journey. It stretches us beyond our own experience, beyond our own limits, and returns us changed every single time.