It’s Tues-day, Tues-day! (Nope, doesn’t have the same ring to it.)
Helloo everyone and I hope you guys are enjoying this fine and lovely day, or have enjoyed your day, for those in North America. (I apologize for my terrible little bout of randomness above. lol.) I haven’t participated in Top Ten Tuesday for a while (I think) but I was inspired by the topic this week from The Broke and the Bookish—which is talking about top ten books we read recently that weren’t our typical genre.
Reading books outside our favourite genres, outside our comfort zone, is oftentimes a bothersome and uncertain experience. Most of the times we find ourselves unwilling to reach outside our comfort zone for fear of not enjoying a book from a genre we’re not as used to. Well, at least it’s the case for me, (sometimes). But when (or if) we do, it usually goes two ways: you love it and decide you must read more from the genre and become more open-minded to other-than-your-favourite genres OR you hate a book, and vow to never pick up a book from any outsider genre again (okay, slight exaggeration, but you get the point).
In the case of the former, yay! You’ve decided to branch out from your typical genre, good for you. But if in the case of the latter, well.. that’s what this post is here for. If you’ve encountered an unpleasant experience with a book outside your genre, or maybe several books, and hold an extreme prejudice against books outside your favourite genre, well, in this post, I shall try and convince you why you should get rid of that prejudice! Also known as I shall give you reasons as to why you should read books outside your comfort zone. And if you’re not against reading outside your comfort zone, or don’t care, well, all the more possibility for discussion, am I right? Woot, woot! Let’s do this.
1. You have the opportunity to discover hidden (or not-so-hidden) gems.
Just cause it ain’t something you usually read, doesn’t mean it can’t be good! This is the most obvious reason, to me, seeing how finding well-written books that you might love is always a tempting reason when choosing a book outside your comfort zone. Especially if it’s a hyped book. Like, if you don’t usually read fantasy yet everyone is hyping up An Ember in the Ashes, or Throne of Glass, if you do pick it up, you might find that it’s a book you really love! If you skipped out on them because you don’t read usually fantasy, well, you missed out. 😛
2. You have more reading material.
As you continue branching out of your comfort zone, the amount of reading material grows! If you were limited to favouring only one genre, soon you’ll probably run out of books in that genre to read—and even if you haven’t, you’ll probably get tired of it because there’s only so many unique ideas in books. So if you slowly, branch out of your comfort zone, whether it be one specific genre, two, three or four, soon you’ll be comfortable with a variety of types of books, and hence more new books to read!
3. You’ll (probably) become more flexible about your reading choices.
When you reach outside your comfort zone, the more flexible you become about your reading choices. After you’ve read books that are not of the typical genre you read, and enjoyed them especially, you become more releaxed about your reading material as you start to get to used to other genres. It’s especially great because it means (well, in general, at least) that you’ll also be getting more reading material options—as you can see, I mentioned this point right above. Becoming more flexible about the genres we read can definitely be useful and is definitely a good thing!
4. You’ll be able to come across a variety of styles and stories.
Obviously, different genres require different styles (whether it be in the writing in general, the narration, and whatnot) and obviously, different types of stories. Restricting yourselves to one or two specific genres not only takes away the many other reading options you could have, but also prevents you from being introduced to what may be a collection of engaging stories that you write off without giving a chance to see what it’s about. It can definitely be hard, reading a new genre, but it’s very important to give other genres a shot, for it will most definitely aid in showcasing the many different styles of writing and stories there are.
5. You can learn new things.
You never know how much you might like something until you’ve tried it, am I right? Of course I’m right. In our situation, for example, you can’t say you don’t like fantasy, if, well, you’ve never tried any books in the genre. And even if you’ve read a few and didn’t enjoy them, you still learned something new! Probably. It might even be little things like; you’ve realised you’re not a fan of so-and-so kind of writing, or not a fan of so-and-so plot trope, you know, or other things. Point is, if you don’t reach out of your comfort zone at all, you lose the chance to discover more about your reading preferences—not to mention it’s always good to try out new things. Just ’cause you didn’t like one, doesn’t mean the rest are all bad too!
Okaaay. So. I’ve offered my two cents on venturing outside our comfortable little homes of familiar books and genres… I’d love to hear from you! I know this week’s theme was on books outside your typical genre that you ended up enjoying—feel free to tell me those below, or even, books that are in your typical genre that you hated! Whatever comes to mind. What’s your favourite genre(s)? Least favourite genres? Do you like to reach outside your comfort zone, or would you rather not? Are there any reasons I missed? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below! ❤
Book Snacks 