Which books are you reading?

I am, for the third time, reading through the whole series of Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey/Maturin books. Fabulous reading full of brilliant characters. You really feel you are at sea with the whole crew. Being somewhat diverse in my choice I also adore Ian Rankin’s policeman Inspector Rebus. Terry Wise, Kampala, Uganda

I think the answer partly lies in the fact that libraries are buying fewer “romance” books. If they are not getting the newest novels, people can’t borrow them. I’m finding the definition of romance in the article rather fuzzy, too - and by the way, “bodice rippers” enjoyed a brief vogue in the eighties. The term, like “chick lit”, is now a lazy journalist’s way of lumping a whole unrelated raft of books together. Trisha Ashley, Dwygyfylchi, Wales

I’m re-reading the Flashman series. While mostly for amusement, there is serious history in each memoir of the world’s most infamous poltroon. Other than that, Samuel Brittan’s treatise on laissez-faire, Against the Flow is very good. The Mind Gym, for once an entertaining and non-patronising tutorial on personal advancement, was a recent read that proved very worthwhile. When I’ve finished Flashman, the plan’s to re-read Gogol’s magnificent Dead Souls. Mark McFarland, Hong Kong

My lament is that many of my favourite authors are ageing fast, fast deceasing, or lately deceased. I wonder whether we shall ever read the likes of Hammond Innes, Alistair MacLean, Noel Barber and M M Kaye - to cite just four - again. Dick Francis appears reluctant to pick up the pen again. Wilbur Smith keeps producing excellent stuff, as does E V Thompson. Personally, I love a mixture of adventure, romance, crime and travel all thrown into one, and that is what I endeavour to offer in my own modest works. It is sad that the market nowadays seems dominated by tomes of chic-fic and lad-lit, with their depressingly negative emphasis on the humdrum, the sleazy and the sexy. As for libraries, absolutely out of the question here (except for research). But I adore rooting through secondhand bookshops and rescuing discarded, yellowing and dog-eared treasures for our own collection, to read as a relaxation from... guess what?...writing! Mike Bent, Oviedo, Spain

I have just looked at the PLR figures and I would say that, once the children’s books have been taken out of the stats, crime and romance run about equal - as they have done for many years. In my view people read for comfort or for escapism; romance provides the comfort and crime the escapism. But to say romance is dead when two of the top five authors are indisputable romance authors (the other three consisting of two children’s authors and a crime writer)is rather skewing the facts. Catherine Jones, Thame

Why begin this article with the words “bodice rippers”? These were a sub-genre of romance in the 1970s and have long been defunct. With regard to romance novels of today, the genre is actually spreading out into a lot of sub-genres, which is why it isn’t always as easily identifiable as it used to be. One of those sub-genres is “romantic suspense”, by the way. I write historical sagas and modern novels, always with a romance at the core, and I’m moving steadily up the “most borrowed” list, not down it. No 69 last year, 41 this! Anna Jacobs, Western Australia

I do read thrillers and both historical and contemporary fiction but the books I keep, and return to, are the ones by the great romantic authors such as Dorothy Dunnett, Elizabeth Chadwick, Georgette Heyer and Jane Austen. Fenella Miller, Colchester

My first thought when I read the PLR top list was “Catherine is dead, that makes a difference”. At the moment I have a mixture of history and travel books from the library for research purposes. I’ve bought and read a mixture of sagas and modern day romance. I used to borrow Mary Stewart’s thriller romances but because I like to re-read them, I’ve bought copies secondhand on Amazon. Let’s be honest, there’s very few novels that don’t have a love story at their heart. June Francis, Liverpool

The older generation (female) love older romantic authors like Cookson. The younger generation like real life stories. If Cookson was still alive and writing books she would still be top of the list. Name and address withheld

The definition of “romance” must have been very narrow for such a result to be read into the library figures. There is scarcely a book in the library that doesn’t contain a romance, including crimes and thrillers. Readers can only borrow what is on offer in the library: it is easy to easy to find a John Grisham, much harder to find favourites such as Kate Walker, Penny Jordan and Sophie Weston. The continuing popularity of ‘old’ romantic writers, e.g. Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer, and of today’s romance writers, e.g. Katie Fforde, Elizabeth Chadwick and Joanne Harris, bears out the fact that romance is very much alive and thriving in the world today. Liz Harris, Watlington

I’m reading more biographies written by ordinary people. I find them more interesting than famous tell-alls. There are a lot of good “cosy” mysteries out right now. I don’t want a bunch of descriptions of bodies and blood. Elizabeth Fraser, South Carolina, USA

Surely there is plenty of crime and horror in the world without needing more as relaxation. It would be a sad world without any love, but I do like to learn something new, and also something gripping, along with the romance. One of my favourite authors is Marcia Willett. Gwen Kirkwood, Dumfries, Scotland

I read romantic fiction and crime, thrillers, general fiction: historical, contemporary, commercial and literary, and I think that most people who enjoy novels read a variety of genres. I don’t think it’s necessarily true that romantic fiction is declining in popularity just because Dame Catherine Cookson is no longer in the top ten when the library lists authors such as Josephine Cox and Maeve Binchy among their most borrowed titles. Kate Allan, Hertfordshire

Most successful novels contain some romance. Likewise, sex can add spice to a story. I don’t borrow books from a library, however, I’m an avid reader and have enjoyed an eclectic mix of books over the past year. My favourites have been The Emperor’s Bones, The Time Traveller’s Wife, Eve Green, Small Island, The Historian and Cross Bones. None of these is a romance per se but all of them feature a love interest. I used to read pure romance when I was younger (I’m in my fifties), but I prefer it mixed with other plot elements now. Siobhan Daiko, Chepstow

The books I borrow and return to the library are different from the ones I buy to read over again. I looked on my shelves and I see books by Katie Fforde, Erica James, Jenny Crusie, Janet Evanovich, Sophie Kinsella and many other great romantic fiction authors. Nell Dixon, Brierley Hall

At the moment I am in a relaxation mode: I do read a lot of non-fiction such as Guns, Germs and Steel, The Fatal Shore, Rembrandt’s Eyes etc. The last one I read was for my reading group: Strapless. But my relaxation is romance: Mary Johnston’s To Have and to Hold, ca. 1900 (a beloved re-read from my early teens - amazing how clearly I remember it!) and for the train, a La Vyrle Spencer or Judith McNaught. I also read some crime for relaxation, bizarre serial killers are a must, and John Case (long before the Da Vinci Code there was the Genesis Code). Carlyle Braden, Croydon

I read widely and find I enjoy the classics more than anything. Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, etc. My favourite author is Jane Austen in which I have read her books many times over. However, I am also into historical novels too. I am currently reading The Illuminator by Brenda Rickman Vantrease. Robin Castellanos, San Antonio, USA



I read widely and like most people, enjoy romance in a book but don’t want just to read a romantic novel. Prefer those sweeping epic books like Cold Mountain, Captain Corelli, Brokeback mountain, etc. They are romances, but also much more than that. Rachel Reynolds, Sheffield

To attribute the disappearance of Catherine Cookson from the Top Ten to a change in reading tastes is to ignore the rather important fact that she’s now, sadly, dead. If she was still alive, and still writing a new book a year, she would probably still be dominating the top ten. Amanda Jones, Wilmslow

I have very wide reading tastes and would be as likely to pick up a Terry Pratchett as a Val McDermid. However, I would dispute that people are no longer reading romance. I certainly do. The last book I borrowed from the library was Elizabeth Chadwick’s Lords of the White Castle, and I am eagerly awaiting the Jean Plaidy reissues later this year. But I would also read contemporary romance and would include Katie Fforde, Jill Mansell and Eileen Ramsay as writers whose next books I look forward to reading. Julia Williams, Epsom

I love romance and feelgood fiction to brighten up my busy life. I’m surprised to hear that crime is more popular. My fave authors are Katie Fford, Sophie Weston, Penny Jordan. Lynne Pardoe, Cirencester

Yes, I read thrillers from the library - because they’re not the sort of books I want to keep. One read is enough so why buy when I can borrow? The books I do buy for my shelf, the ones I know I will treasure and read again and again, are by such fabulous romantic authors as Dorothy Dunnett, M. M. Kaye, Sheri Holman, Joanne Harris, Barbara Kingsolver, Rosamund Pilcher - and not a “bodice ripper” among them either! I would also add that romance in fiction is so widespread that there are very few novels that contain none at all - and that includes the thrillers. Susan Hicks, Nottingham

I do read more crime these days for the puzzle-solving element but John Connolly’s supernatural crime thrillers are a firm favorite. I also enjoy ghost stories such as The Ghost Writer, The Historian and also The Shadow on the Wind. I require an interesting believable plot (Patricia Cornwell’s are increasingly bizarre) which holds my attention and makes me want to continue. Carole Tyrrell, London

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