It is not often that one gets paid to reminiscence about why one reads and what one reads. Joe Queenan got that privilege and I for one enjoyed his musings in his book “One for the Books”.

You will love this gem of a book if you like reading fiction. Although fiction is not my forte, I decided recently to give it a go. Queenan’s book came in very handy with hundreds of suggestions on the best fiction out there. From classics to modern, from crime to drama and from the large volumes to the slim volumes, they are all in there.

Queenan believes we mostly read to escape our reality. Although that maybe true, I for one read fiction mainly to enjoy the language that is how the story is written rather than the story. I absolutely enjoy how some writers string together just the right words resulting in beautiful, engaging and memorable prose.

I am therefore a sucker for the well-written book not just fiction but non-fiction. In fact in the last decade I have mostly read non-fiction, averaging a book a week. I only started reading fiction again a few months ago and Queenan’s book came in very handy.

So why do you read and what do you read?

If you are into finance and finance history and enjoy a well-written book, then any book by Michael Lewis, Roger Lowenstein and Niall Ferguson is a good place to start. If you enjoy fiction, you will find the recommendations in Queenan’s book more than enough for the next few years.