How do you Escape?

As both an avid reader of JAFF and (relatively) new author in the genre, I readily admit that there have been hundreds of days in these last years that I’ve spent thinking of the original characters and plot with a view to coming up with twists that are unique enough that they will engage whosoever chooses to open one of my novels.

I also readily admit that at some point I require an escape from this immersion and will open a book I have long loved or one I know is completely different. I added many of these titles in my modern novel Twelve Dates with Gentlemen Friends, including DragonLance (fantasy genre, and they must include the character I love above all characters I’ve found in any book: Raistlin), the Black Dagger Brotherhood series (paranormal genre, and it is Zsadist I most look forward to finding within the novels), and the wonderful world created by Jacqueline Carey in the Kushiel series is nearly as breathtaking as the Cassiline she gave us all (books not for readers of all ages). I also enjoy a hunt for a serial killer such as Calab Carr’s Alienist series, and embarking on one of the many adventures that I will never have in real life with Clive Cussler, James Rollins, or any other author that wants to take me places I never actually want to visit in person so that I do not encounter the snakes or spiders that would find me were I ever to be there in real life. I will also as enjoyably pick up a thriller (though if the bad guy is not caught or killed, he runs around in my nightmares), an adventure in space, or a treasure hunt under the ocean.

My question this month is what else do you read when you need a change of pace or to escape the escapism of JAFF?