Have you read…?

In book events and online, I often get the question, “Have you read X’s book Y?” I don’t know about other authors, but I’m not embarrassed to say, “No, I haven’t.”

I know where readers are coming from when they ask such a question. They either follow X or really liked Y, and that “or” isn’t necessarily exclusive. I could be dishonest or say something like “I’ll have to look out for X’s books.” That would make the person who’s asking feel better and maybe validate her or his reading choices, b...