Purpose of なら in 小説を始め、本なら何でも読みます

Question

The sentence

小説を始め、本なら何でも読みます

is taken from a grammar point in Bunpro and is translated as:

Starting with short novels, I read all kinds of books.

I understand that なら commonly appears in conditional sentences and means "if" or "in the case/if it's the case". But neither seems to make much sense here.

Is this a typo and they meant to use など？

Answer 1

This なら is conditional ("if" or "as long as"). Read 本なら何でも読みます as "as long as it's a book, I read it".

～なら + なん/だれ/どこ + でも is a common pattern meaning "anything/anyone called a ～" or "anything that is ～".

• 紙ならなんでもいいから持ってきて。
  Any paper will do, bring it.
• 静かな場所ならどこでもいいです。
  As long as it's a quiet place, wherever is fine. / Any quiet place is fine.
• 大学生なら誰でもわかる問題ではありません。
  This is not a problem that any college student can understand.

本など何でも ("everything such as books") makes little sense in this context.