Most of my reading is fiction, but not all of it. I enjoy reading nonfiction books because I can dive into hundreds of pages on a single topic fairly in-depth. I also enjoy reading magazines because I can skim numerous topics that might not interest me enough to spend an entire book on them; if one of the topics does really excite me, I can always follow up with a book on it.

The problem is that there are so many different types of magazines out there, many of which look fascinating to me. I buy single issues of magazines occasionally, such as Italian Cooking and Living (good for both recipes and peeks at Italian culture) and History Magazine (which rarely devotes more than two-to-three pages on a topic). I’ve been eying Archaeology recently, and am sure to buy an issue eventually.

I also subscribe to magazines for a year or two until I grow less interested in there topic, whereupon I move on to other magazines. In recent years I have subscribed to the following magazines:

National Geographic Adventure: I grew interested in this magazine when an issue listed the 100 best nonfiction adventure books ever written. Unfortunately, nothing in the magazine rose to the level of those books.

Natural History: This was interesting, but a bit too scientific for me to read it for long. I am much more interested in scientists and their endeavors than in science itself. I have similar feelings about artists and art too.

China Monthly: a fascinating look at Chinese life and culture, if a bit biased toward everything being wonderful in the Middle Kingdom.

Chinese Literature: fiction, poetry, essays, the type of general literature magazine that would probably bore me if it was western, but which I found fascinating because it was eastern.

Historical Novels Review: Each issue contains hundreds of short reviews of historical fiction. Ultimately too many reviews became mind-boggling. I would probably have stayed with this magazine if it had less reviews but longer and more in-depth, a la Locus. A subscription to this magazine also included two annual issues of Solander, which is a delightful magazine devoted to historical fiction, articles and interviews rather than mini-reviews. Alas, I was unable to subscribe to the latter without the former.

The New York Review of Science Fiction: This monthly magazine contains very serious, very in-depth articles and reviews about f&sf. I subscribed to it for several years and enjoyed it a lot, but in any given issue half the articles don’t really interest me, so it is time to move on.

Bookmarks: a general-interest version of Historical Novels Review. Interesting, but too many reviews in too short a space.

Tracks: I received a sample issue of this magazine, and liked it enough that I recently subscribed to it for a year. It is a music magazine, serious enough to be thoughtful, but lively enough not to be dull or scholarly. The sample issue had articles on Eric Clapton’s new blues album, the underrated rock band Wilco, and Los Lobos’ new album, among others. I think I will enjoy this subscription.