IWSG: Omnivorous Reading

Welcome to the first Wednesday of the month. You know what that means! It's time to let our insecurities hang out. Yep, it's the Insecure Writer's Support Group blog hop. If you're a writer at any stage of career, I highly recommend this blog hop as a way to connect with other writers for support, sympathy, ideas, and networking.

If you're a reader, it's a great way to peek behind the curtain of a writing life.

Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.
March 3 question - Everyone has a favorite genre or genres to write. But what about your reading preferences? Do you read widely or only within the genre(s) you create stories for? What motivates your reading choice?

The awesome co-hosts for the March 3 posting of the IWSG are Sarah - The Faux Fountain Pen Jacqui Murray, Chemist Ken, Victoria Marie Lees, Natalie Aguirre, and JQ Rose! Be sure to check out what they have to say, and visit other writers in the blog hop!________________________________________________
I'm an omnivore when it comes to reading: I'll read anything :-). 
image source
I'll give most types of books a chance and I often really enjoy myself when I read something outside of my usual genre choices. I'll pick up a book for a variety of reasons: past good experience with that authornever heard of the author before and am curious about their workcover caught my eyea friend recommended ita friend wrote itmy daughter read it and wanted me to read it, tooI said I would (book clubs, review requests, supporting colleagues)I've heard a lot of about it (buzz)I think I should have read it it was short when I wasn't in the mood for something longI've read something similar and liked itI've not read anything like it beforeit seemed like it would fit my mood image sourceTo write this post, I went through my 2020 Reading Challenge on Goodreads, trying to get a list of my preferred genres together and I realized I have a taste for books that cross categories and genres. 
Lots of the things I read in 2020 should have two or three word mashup genre classifications like horror-mystery-science fiction or romance-mystery-fantasy. 
I definitely lean more heavily towards speculative fiction (by which I mean: fiction that includes a "speculative" element, something non-realistic like magic, monsters, superheroes, ghosts, future technology, etc.). That includes those uber-broad categories like "science fiction" and "fantasy."  
But I also read nonfiction, historical fiction, literary fiction, realistic fiction, poetry, mystery, romance, humor, pulp, classics, and things I don't know how to classify. 
I read in genres I have written in, but also in genres I'm not that interested in writing in myself. 
I generally set a goal of 52 books a year, or one a week, but I usually end up reading more than that. And you know what? I wish I could read more. Reading is one the great joys of my life, and I love finding work that surprises, amazes, inspires, frightens, or awes me. 
How about you? What do you tend to read? Why? I'd love to hear from you in the comments!