I've read many articles on how well stocked a writer's personal reference library should be. Over the years, I've collected quite a few on grammar, phrasing, word selection, setting, character development and creating believable alien characters (I write sci-fi, remember). And I've gotten a lot of inspiration out of those books, but I've also received just as much, if not more, inspiration out of my read-simply-for-pleasure books.
I have several Star Wars and Star Trek books, many graphic novels, several of the classic stories (e.g., The Arabian Nights) as well as new favorites (e.g, Harry Potter series), and those nice little gems one finds at garage sales and book fairs. All of these are part of my writer's library because in some way each of them has contributed something to the vast world that is my imagination. Without these wonderful stories, I might not have had the dream to become a writer myself.
Take a look at your own library and see how many books you have that are actually on writing, and how many are in your library for the simple fact that you love the book. Nice surprise, isn't it?
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