The Multi-Genre Reader

Summer vacation is over!  School has begun!  My son is finally out of the house and I'm back to peace and quiet!

Well, that's a bit of an exaggeration.  It once was like that, when he was in elementary school. Back then, I'd be trying to write or read, he'd come in, I'd tell him I was working, he'd leave, he'd come back in.  But he's a teen, now, so the summer was actually quite pleasant and I got a lot of work done (yeah, I know — teen equaling pleasant doesn't seem right, but that's they way it rolled).  Still, there's something to be said for total privacy.

And on that note, I've noticed that my rate of reading drops over the summer (or any vacation period).  Already, after only a few days of school, I can see the difference.  I'm reading a lot more now and not feeling the pressure to finish up fast.  I'm not really blaming this on my son, it's my own psychological failing, but it does happen.

So, now that I'm reading more, I've been thinking about the types of books I've been reading, and it brought up something that boggles my mind.  I don't get how some people out there can only read from one genre exclusively.  Only SF.  Only military history.  Only chick lit.  I don't get that.  Do you only watch one genre of television?  Will you only see movies of one genre?  Do you only listen to one type of music?  I suppose there are some people with such severe OCD that they not only experience only one genre of anything but it might even be the same book, film, show, song every day.

Thankfully, for the rest of us, there is a huge amount of variety out there, and thanks to the internet, all of that variety is relatively easy to access.  Don't get me wrong.  There's nothing inherently evil in preferring one genre over another.  I love SF and fantasy and horror.  My absolute favorites.  But historical fiction can be awesome, too.  And some of the most powerful reading experiences of my life came from literary fiction and mainstream fiction.

So, try out something new today.  Listen to a new song.  Indulge in a new TV show.  Watch that movie that never would appeal to you normally.  Give it all a try.  You may not like it all, but I have no doubt that you'll find something new and different that'll open up a greater world to you.