Being an English graduate, I cut my teeth on all the classics and still have them all lurking on my bookshelf. I love words, providing they're well put together, and generally read anything and everything I can lay my hands on - unless it's just plain trashy, of course, which I can usually pick up in the first page!! That aside, I enjoy any genre, but I'm not sure that I'm seriously influenced by any single one, or by any single author.