corra wrote:It sounds like your preference is non-fiction, or fiction that engages critical thinking in you, much the way a non-fiction work might. Are you simply not inspired by works beyond the site, and like the way works on this site challenge the analytic critic/writer in you? Or does the work on-site exceed the quality of the works you've experienced off-site?
I totally get the 'no time to read' thing! I'm the same, but my free time tends to go to classics and works assigned for classes.
I don't mean to drill you here! I just like knowing what inspires and doesn't inspire a person to read. Half because of my lit degree in progress, and half because of the writer in me. 
I don't think "inspiration" by the works comes in play so much as having the time to get "inspired" by the works. I can be just as inspired by outside works - if not more so - but I simply don't have the time or desire to go out into the market place to sample things to see if I am in fact inspired to read them. That is why most of the outside books I do end up reading come through my wife or others close to me; not necessarily because they reccommend it, but I just pick it up for a moment when they are not reading and skim a passage to see if it does pull me in. If so, I'll ask to read it when they are through or taking a break from it.
Books which I seek out (primarily the types previously mentioned) basically are chosen from articles, stories, etc. I read from other sources to include newspapers, magazines, the web, etc. It is rather ironic that I mostly read non-fiction outside this site, but I love science fiction on the screen. I rarely read it because since Dune by Frank Herbert (to include the trilogy; probably my all time favorites now that I think about it) I find most of it rather boring on paper. I've stood in front of rows and rows at a book store and scanned unknown numbers but never bought one. However, on site, I've read and reviewed several novels which could be placed in a combo of scifi and/or fantasy. Though they are not generally my first choice, I occasionally run across one which engages me initially enough to where I feel I can offer something of benefit and establish a rapport with the author. I sample things randomly or quite often by comments made in the forums.
I guess I do like scrutinizing works for inconsistencies, factual errors, different ways of presenting things, etc. Doing those things keeps me more engaged than I might be if I simply bought a book to read. The book off the shelf would need to be much more intriquing in its own right to compete with what I receive through the duality of reading and reviewing on site. Hope this makes sense. Take care. Vern
