Read a lot, write a lot

You may have heard it said, "Read a lot, write a lot." (Or perhaps it's the other way around, I can never remember, LOL. Either way, the concept is clear; if you want to be a writer, you need to be reading).
And of course, this is one adage I take VERY seriously. I absolutely love books (which is probably one of the reasons I love writing so much). And I generally read from many different genres, too. I find it important to read examples of bad writing (there are a lot out there!), good writing, and great writing. There are so many benefits of all of these types of writing. Of course, by reading bad writing, you can find pitfalls to avoid in your own work. And by reading both good and great writing, you learn the so-called "tricks of the trade" that can only improve your own work; things like how to write good description, dialogue, foreshadowing, even well-crafted subtext.
Thought it might be appropriate to list some of the books I have read recently. I would consider all of them to fall under the category of either good or great writing (no bad stuff here!):

(I've tried to put them in order of when I finished reading them, the most recent first)

1. A Time to Kill (John Grisham)
2. The Year of Magical Thinking (Joan Didion)
3. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoevsky)
4. Divine (Karen Kingsbury) - re-read
5. My Sister's Keeper (Jodi Picoult) - re-read
6. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (J. K. Rowling) - re-read

That's as far back as I can remember at the moment. But, take it from me, I am always reading (and re-reading favourites, of course).

Anyway, that's enough for now. I can't spend all my time blogging, I need to be doing some writing, too (and reading, of course).