Authors Read Too!
Believe it or not, but like most writers, I read a lot too. When I was a kid, I went to the local library with my mom and sister. I often checked out too many books before the next time we visited. But I was more concerned with running out of something to read. My favorites were usually kid books like Peanuts and then on to adult fiction. My favorite back then, and still to this day, is science fiction. In particular, I love hard science fiction. Over time, I became a voracious reader. I remember when I read Stephen King's It over a weekend while in college. I pretty much stayed in my dorm and read it cover to cover. All 1,138 pages of it!
What Do I Read?
I've found over time, I tend to read depending on my mood. I like to think of it as my physical appetite. In the same way, I may want a pizza or a hamburger or some deep fried perch, so I may want a western, or space battle, or something like involving nothing but silly short stories. Like anyone who reads a lot, I have my continuous stable of favorite authors. If those authors happen to pass, such as Isaac Asimov or Tony Hillerman, I use something like Goodreads to find new authors. That's' how I came across Stephen Baxter, Kirk Mitchell, Daniel H. Wilson. I found Dan Simmons on my own years ago. You can search for new authors by entering into Google: "goodreads authors simlar to isaac asimov." The first link will undoubtedly be for Goodreads where you'll get a list of authors similar to your favorites.
Do I Ever Recommend
It's pretty rare that I recommend books to anyone. But sometimes I do. I'd have to be around people who read more, I think. But really, it depends on the type of books someone reads. Some, if not most, people tend to stick with a certain genre. I read just about anything, although the bulk tends to be science fiction and westerns. It seems each year, I end up finding some new favorites. Two years it ago it was Lee Child's Jack Reacher series. Of particular interest to me was how Child dealt with the aging Jack Reacher throughout the series. In the earlier books, Child would refer to certain events in Reacher's past like his military service. But as a character ages and you write more books, you tend to want to keep that character on the younger side. If the character would live to his real age, based on information in earlier books, he would be sixty years old next year! I have a few books that will have repeating characters in them, but I'd plan to just ignore the age and maybe add a few years from the last book. But never totally specify how old the character was.
Another author I've stumbled across is Benjamin Wallace. He's written a dozen or so books. They range from robots taking over to a post-apocalyptic future where humor actually survived. I've read a handful of his and enjoy his humor.
I'd recommend both the Amazon show "Bosch" which is based on the series of books by Michael Connelly. If you like police procedural books, you'd enjoy these.
But In The End
But as I said, I rarely recommend authors. Because to me, it's like eating a meal and what I want to read at any given time depends on what I"m hungry for. And that can change a hundred times a day, just like anyone else.