Weekend Wondering and Giveaway: Evolution as a reader

As I am watching my oldest son develop reading tastes and branching into longer and longer books it got me thinking about where I started and the journey I have taken with books.  Here's a quick look:

As a child 

Trixie Belden 

Nancy Drew 

Charlotte's Web

other mystery and suspense books I could find in my reading level

As a Teenager 

romance and horror were my mainstay:

Christopher Pike

Sweet Valley High

Silhouettes Teen romance line

Stephen King

Dean Koontz

 

College 

mainly suspense and horror books:

More Stephen King

More Dean Koontz

Jonathan Kellerman

Michael Crichton

First years of Marriage (right after college) 

I picked up romance again and found romantic suspense and also paranormal romance:

Nora Roberts

Sandra Brown

Linda Howard

Sherrilyn Kenyon

James Patterson

Greg Iles

Nicholas Sparks

J.D. Robb

Michael Connelly

Janet Evanovich

Last few years - I continue branching out 

I've gone back to young adult and moved into more general fiction, Christian Fiction, Historical Fiction and even non-fiction. I also really like new authors with the small independent presses - you can find some real gems among them:

Joshilyn Jackson 

Twilight series (I had to see what all the fuss was about)

Cecily von Ziegesar

Lisi Harrison

Anita Shreve

Michael Ruddy

J.P. O'Donnell

Chelsea Cain

Charlaine Harris

This is just a quick overview of authors/series I could think of.  One thing that has not changed over time is that I love to read.

I really love the doors that reviewing has opened up to me - books I wouldn't have necessarily read, but I got a chance to review them and they sounded good.  These books have ended up as some of my favorites.  I still find myself getting the big names from the library when their books are released but not as much as I use to - there are so many great authors out there waiting to be tried.  Not everyone will like the same books I do, but that's the beauty of the wonderful variety there is out there - we don't all have to like the same thing.

**GIVEAWAY**
How about your evolution as a reader - have you changed over the years - broadened your horizons or come down to one or two genres you like.   Tell me about it how you have changed or stayed the same and what authors you like now for a chance to win 1 book of your choice from the selection of book/ARCs below.  Either leave a comment with your answer or a link to a blog post if you would like to do that.  Open to US/Canada only.  Ends 2/12/10.

        

Wishin' and Hopin' . . .

My birthday is next month. What am I wishing for? Well you can see it above and I am sure lots of people are wishing for it too. It's the Kindle 2.  I don't even want the DX. I just want the basic model. However there are bills to pay and children to feed so I have a feeling this one will have to wait awhile, and that is fine.

I'm still not sure if I want one just to want one, or if the process of DH and I trying to simplify our lives and remove clutter, I want one to save space. I love the idea of taking tons of books with me on a trip but them taking up very little room. I also would love to reclaim some bookshelf space in my bedroom, of course that would mean actually reading the books I buy. I've read ebooks before on my tiny, borrowed from work laptop and I like that fine, in fact it's a nice way to read, and due to my current health problems it is nice to not have to hold open a book.  However the battery life on the laptop is poor and it's a pain to drag around and plug up everywhere. It works nice to prop up on my while I am laying in bed though, but I can see where a Kindle would be easy to hold and read too.

So while I am waiting, what are your thoughts on ebook readers? Do you have one? Do you like what you have? Do you want something else (Sony eReader, the Nook, one I don't know about)? If you don't have an ereader - which one do you want or do you not even want one (a year ago I didn't want one)?   I'm still open on the ereader so I need your opinions.