I read to become engaged. The three most important aspects of a good book, in ascending order of importance are (1) the story, and especially (2) the writing style, and (3) character development. My reading habits, I suppose, are more conventional. For instance, I don't care much for magical realism. I'm also not generally a "genre" reader, although will give a go for any well-written story. I'm primarily a novel reader, but have been giving more time to short stories and novellas. Stories set in foreign places are my favorites. Almost everything I have written--two novels and several short stories--have taken place abroad, primarily in Asia. I find that area kind of a hard sell for my own works. There is a great interest among most American writers, I think, to focus on the US. But that's to be expected. I completely disagree with the old adage, "write what you know." Of course, any writer must start with the subjective, but don't hew too close to that or your lose your creativity.