Reading habits in England

Hi again, another good question.

I've been an expat for 50 years and reading has always been a significant part of my life while travelling and working around the world.  Initially as a young lad, from public libraries, then as I got older, buying my own books.  I only read English language books, I struggle to enjoy books in other languages I can speak; probably because I constantly have to stop and go back to make sure I've understood the nuance of what was written.

I now have an e-reader which is full of my favourite books and I take it with me everywhere (well, not "everywhere").  Somebody once gifted me a thumb-drive with over 10,000 copyright free books on it; I suspect I will never read all of them.

I used to like reading adventure, spy, legal thrillers, authors such as Wilbur Smith, John Le Carre, John Grisham, Tolkien, Somerset Maugham, Knut Hamsun, Tom Sharpe, Tom Clancy, James Patterson, Paul Theroux, Ken Follett, Jack Higgins, Eric Van Lustbader and so many others. My favourites were Grisham, Tom Sharpe and Paul Theroux (novels such as The Mosquito Coast). I read every Wilbur Smith when I was younger, several times usually.

Many of the books that I used to read as a teenager were based overseas and at 21 years of ages I became an expat and spent almost all of my life since living overseas.

I loved reading novels that took me away to exotic places, had humour, intrigue and mystery.

I also used to read MAD magazine when younger, and currently I keep a stock of VIZ in the bathroom.

I went through a phase in my late twenties of reading everything in history of Asia (my father wrote many books on that topic) and different religions. That made my thirst for travel even stronger.

Whenever living in the UK I join a public library, but books are cheap and easy to find in secondhand shops, markets, fairs etc.

On my bedside table I keep travel books on Asian countries and a couple of copies of VIZ.