As many of you are aware, I review a lot of books during the course of a year. In my travels I come across a lot of anthologies declaring that they are the “best written” or “best” of a certain genre, and I, of course have an opinion on this.

In almost all cases, I have to agree that the stories on offer are very well written indeed, with beautiful prose and, in some cases, emotion inducing descriptions. I do not, however, regularly consider these pieces to be the best stories. Sometimes all that flowery prose can be tiresome, and even distracting. (Yes, I mean boring, but I don’t want to be rude).

I guess, what I’m trying to say, is that I love commercial fiction. Sure, shabby writing detracts from a good tale, but there is nothing quite like an easy-to-read, rocking story, be it a penny-dreadful, hard-boiled detective novel, non-fiction travel story, cosy mystery, biography, horror schlock fest, or chick lit…and the list goes on. This isn’t to say that I like all commercial fiction, (I’m not a fan of Dan Brown, Jodi Picoult or Matthew Reilly, for example) and I do love some literary fiction and classics

I am aware that there are people out there, who scoff at the reading choices of others. Shame on you I say. There is something for every reader out there regardless of their taste. Read widely, and read what you enjoy without shame or judgement.