When I went off to my first year of college, I didn't expect to completely lose time for reading for pleasure. I went four years with almost no book time save for one 3-day binge. By the time I graduated, I'd completely lost track of what I'd liked before. I remembered that I'd read fantasy almost exclusively but not much more than that, so I decided to start from a clean slate. Try a bit of every genre to see if my tastes had changed.
I started with Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton. I like dinosaurs, so why not? Turns out I'm pretty into thrillers. Next up was Stiff by Mary Roach. A bit disturbing at times, but I liked the mix of science and history. I kept trying new things and found out I don't hate sci-fi, horror, or historical fiction. I don't like specific subgenres or tropes, but I do like others. I love people's history. I'm generally not a fan of contemporary settings unless they're nested in a more exciting genre, I don't think I'll ever like urban fantasy or self-help, but there is so much I hadn't even considered trying that I now look for regularly.
It's so much more fun to read a genre after taking a break from it than it is to read the same genre back-to-back-to-back. I still read a lot of fantasy, but it's gone from 100% to about 50% of my annual book count. Are y'all jumping across genres or do y'all tend to stay within the same one or two?
by valleydoodle
4 Comments
I’m a many genres gal.
I think if I read all within one genre, I would be bored.
It’s always a good idea to stretch a bit outside your comfort zone and try something new. If you don’t like it, that’s fine! You’ve learned something new about yourself. Being open-minded is what’s important.
I thought I only liked one genre until I forced myself to pick up something completely different and it actually refreshed my interest in reading
100% agreed with mixing it up genre-wise. I burn out on a genre if I stay there too long. Branching out helps me appreciate the parts of genres I *already* like even more, and also introduces me to authors/genres I’ve come to adore and never would have discovered without branching out.
I simply cannot relate to people who only read one or two genres. It’s just far too monotonous to stay in the same place for too long. I do tend to gravitate most towards sci-fi and literary spec fic, but I can and do enjoy reading just about anything.
The funny and hypocritical thing about me saying that though, is that I’m the opposite with music. If I find a song I love, I will run it back over and over and over and over again until I’ve stomped it so far into the dirt that I can hardly stand it anymore lol.
I’m sure there are people who read from just one genre most of the time but I’ve never been the type. I feel like when I read too much of the same kind of books too close together, the genre conventions and tropes become too glaring and feel formulaic.
One thing I have noticed is that as I get older I don’t really like fiction in any medium that is too realistic. I want to escape! So I’m happy to live with the sillier aspects of fantasy, romance, and horror.
I also never need to consume another story in a WW2 setting.