I love authors who can paint a picture in my mind without needing to spend an entire page describing the color and shape of the leaves. To me Simon R. Green is top notch at this. His books are the most vivid in my mind.

In my fiction I want the characters to have a strong voice and sense of self. John Scalzi gets top marks in this category.

In my nonfiction frankly I struggle with things written in the last 30 years. The level of writing in casually available nonfiction has progressively been dumbed further and further down that I’m starting to think the target market is 8th graders. I find myself more and more frequently drawn to books that I subsequently discover are supplementary reading materials for college classes. The editorial standards have also fallen, far too many easily challenged errors in the, let’s call them, NYTs crap. They just don’t have any credibility or depth so I guess that’s what I’m looking for.

But really I just want interesting and well written. I’ll buy anything that appears to fit that standard and give it a go.