When you have been reading for a number of years, presumably you know your own taste pretty well. So why not stick to the kind of books you typically enjoy?
That certainly is a valid argument. On the other hand, there are also good reasons to move outside your comfort zone from time to time.
Variety
Unfortunately, I am the type of person, who gets easily bored. This applies to all aspects of life, not just reading.
Also, it’s a sad fact of life, the more experienced you get, the more it takes to get you really excited. I have travelled a lot in my life, but I still remember my complete awe and wonder, when I saw my first lion or first temple. Whereas I still love to travel, it just isn’t the same seeing the 50th lion or temple, even if every experience is different.
It’s the same with books. When I first started reading crime fiction, I was constantly stunned by all the ingenious plots crime writers could come up with. By now, I’ve seen it all and it takes a lot to impress me.
Picking up a book, which is completely different to what I normally read, is a bit like seeing a lion for the first time. My senses are sharpened and my brain is stimulated at a different level. Books like Love and Other Thought Experiments, The Employees and Piranesi are imprinted on my mind, partly because they are unlike anything I’ve read before.
So if you want to continue to experience a novel excitement for books, moving outside your comfort zone might be a good idea.
Avoid Missing Out
It’s fair to rule out genres and sub-genres, which you’ve given plenty of chances. For instance, I am fairly sure, I’ll never become a fan of chick-lit, rom-coms or romance in general. Poetry and horror have limited appeal as well. That doesn’t mean, I can’t find anything to enjoy within these genres, but my hits-to-misses ratio is so poor, it isn’t worth the effort.
But besides from the genres and styles you’ve already given enough chances, how do you know, there aren’t great reads waiting for you in pockets you haven’t yet explored? Even if you are extremely well-read, new sub-genres, writing styles and themes appear in the literature on a regular basis, which is an argument for continuing to explore outside of your comfort zone.
Japanese literature is one of my most successful ventures into new territory. I’ve loved pretty much every Japanese novel, I’ve picked up. I would have missed out on so many favourites, if I had stuck to my usual reads.
Fantasy is a genre, where I’ve barely scratched the surface and I certainly wouldn’t describe myself as a fantasy reader. But surprisingly I’ve got a fair few fantasy favourites. This indicates to me that I ought to explore this genre a bit more. Watch this space!
Learn something new
Reading nonfiction about new topics is obviously a great way of expanding your horizons.
As someone who hated physics in school, I’ve over time managed to educate myself from being completely ignorant about basic concepts in physics to having a reasonable understanding. Who would have thought that, when I first attempted Steven Hawking’s A Brief History of Time and only understood a fraction?
But it isn’t just nonfiction, which is educational. Insight into other cultures can be gained via global literature. Historical fiction may throw light on periods and events, we are not familiar with (my knowledge of history is rather abysmal, I’m afraid). And reading own voices novels can increase our understanding of minority groups in society.
Challenge yourself
Perhaps, the best reason to be reading outside of your comfort zone is that challenging yourself makes you grow as a reader. I read books today, which I wouldn’t have dreamt of picking up a decade ago. These days, I am much more open towards experimental writing styles, challenging content and books from foreign cultures. Even if I read for pleasure without any higher objectives in mind, that is a nice feeling.
These were some of my thoughts on the topic. But we are all different and perhaps you have another perspective? Are you reading outside of your comfort zone? Why / why not? Feel free to let me know in the comments. 😊
I think there’s much ti be said from reading outside the comfort zone. Reading the thoughts of other bloggers helps me to do so – that’s how I too came to appreciate the Japanese writing I’ve sampled. And in fact literature in translation generally. Our reading group too tries not to stick with the safe and tested. Some things are just a bridge too far though. Science fiction is an area I can’t bring myself to try, and fantasy rarely works either. But this last year I’ve tried more science NF, which is a good start for this non-scientist!
I agree, other bloggers and booktubers often inspire me to pick up books, I wouldn’t have dreamt of reading otherwise. Actually, I follow people with very different reading taste than me just for this purpose. Recently I read a cosy fantasy book about an orc opening a coffee shop. Even as a write this, I can’t believe I actually read this, but it was fun and enjoyable although too happily-ever-after for my taste. Science is fun, I hope you will continue to enjoy reading science nonfiction.
I’ll need to start first 😉
‘to’ be said, obviously …
Yup, I got it…
I agree! I too have genres that I prefer but I am always looking for new ways to be stimulated by reading. This is why I love the shelves of charity shops. Such an eclectic mix of books and tastes. I always come away with something new that I might not have spotted from normal bookshelves.
Ah yes, I could imagine charity shops are a good source of inspiration. It must be fun to browse their shelves. I don’t really read physical books anymore, but sometimes I find myself picking up a completely random audiobook from the library.
Great post. I agree with all your reasons for reading broadly.
Thanks – glad you agree!
I love this post and the sentiments behind it – especially your point about variety and novel excitement. Two of my favorite books of all time are Piranesi and The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida…in part because I rarely read fantasy, so reading these books with fantasy elements definitely added novelty to the experience (but also these books are just standalone amazing, hah).
Aww thanks. I am glad to hear Piranesi is one of your favourite books and it’s true that besides from being different, it was also just an amazing read. There are certainly fantasy elements included, but I guess it is quite different from most fantasy books. Hopefully, I will get to The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida at some points, you have pushed me to pick it up sooner rather than later.
Great post! Yes, I’d agree. Sometimes, though, all you want is a comfort read!
Thanks so much! Absolutely, when I am stressed or tired, I typically reach out for my typical comfort books, most often crime/mysteries. I have ocassionally found comfort reads outside my usual sphere such as YA fantasy.
Great post. I stoppedreading by genre a long time ago. Now I pick up whatever piques my interest. As a result, I’ve read a number of books that are “unusual” to put it mildly. Welcome to Lagos, The 56th Man, Valentine, Five Wives, HHhH — to name a few. And what incredible journies they take me on.
That is great! I do think it requires an active effort to read outside your comfort zone, though. Even if I didn’t worry about genres, I would probably have a tendency to pick up certain themes and topics. But it’s great that you have made a habit of reading all sorts of books – I hope I will get there as well.
I would agree that it’s good to try different genres. I use my phone and tablet for most of my reading using apps such as Kindle, Libby and Borrowbox. All of these apps let you download a sample so you get a flavour of the writing style. If, like me, you like a good crime thriller it’s nice now and again to turn to a comfort read, maybe a feel-good romance or something humorous. However whatever the genre I like well written stories that ‘flow’. I don’t want to open a book and find it reads like a perfect school essay. I want good storytelling and I want to be engrossed.
If you are looking for a change of genre but don’t want to end up making an expensive mistake, it’s worth looking at your library’s ebooks and free books from Amazon. You may find some hidden gems.
Samples are great. When I am unsure of a book, I always download a sample first. Since I normally listen to audiobooks, it’s also good to figure out, if I like the narrator and can imagine listening to them for ours. I do like crime thrillers, but I agree very much with your point about good storytelling. As long as that foundation is in place, I will read (almost) everything.
Thanks for mentioning library books, they are indeed very useful, when trying to experiment more with your reading. Unfortunately, my library doesn’t have a great selection, but I am definitely more open towards picking up random books from the library compared to actually buying them. Thanks for a thoughtful comment!
I think what I want to read depends on what is going on in my life. If I’m being ran ragged by work, or if there is a lot going on at home then I’m more likely to stick with a familiar genre that I already know I like. For me, reading something outside of my comfort zone is more likely to be enjoyable when I’m not feeling particularly challenged by day to day events.
Yes, that is a very good point. Normally, I also need a bit of mental surplus to pick up more challenging books. However, I guess “outside one’s comfort zone” doesn’t necessarily mean more challenging, it can also be quite the opposite. At some point last year, nothing I picked up could hold my attention. I ended up reading a popular YA fantasy book, which I raced through in no time and really enjoyed.
I hadn’t thought of books that are outside of our comfort zones being easier to read, instead I’d imagined books with difficult ideas, unfamiliar genres and challengingly big words and ideas but you’re right, that isn’t at all necessary.
You’ve inspired me to think about trying a graphic novel. This would fit into being outside of my comfort zone but possibly not as challenging as I’d originally thought of.
Graphic novels are definitely outside of my comfort zone as well, but I recently discovered my library has a decent selection, which I can read on my Kindle. Don’t know how well that works, but maybe worth a try? Let me know if you decide to pick up a graphic novel and what you think of it.
I’m too old to change now, so I probably won’t read outside my comfort zone in the future! There are genres I will just never, never want to read. I’m a stubborn old coot, and proud of it!
Haha, that is absolutely amazing!! Although, I like to experiment a bit, I also think it’s great to know your reading taste and stick to it!
Thanks for the reminder though, this is very tough for me.
I find it’s easy to get stuck with certain types of books, which I know I will enjoy. It certainly requires some effort to seek out something new.
wasn’t Piranesi wonderful? absolutely unique. I’m a lifelong reader, and have read literally thousands of books, and am always thrilled to discover an original novel – be it the content, style, setting, characters or plot. So I read very widely, based mostly on book reviews, but also what’s available on the Public Library shelves. Try anything written by Vendela Vida,
Nicola Barker (completely unpredictable!) or Tim Winton . Happy discoveries …
Yes, I did love Piranesi and it really took me by surprise. It sounds like you have read more books than most, which may make it more rare to find something truly unique. I hope, I will continue to expand my horizons and maybe end up like that myself. I feel quite open-minded, but there are still many corners of the literary universe, which I haven’t yet explored. Thanks for the recommendations, I will definitely look into these authors.
Sometimes I venture outside my comfort zone when I’m assigned a book by my book club or to review for the publication I write for. But I don’t read romance, or much fantasy, sci-fi, or true crime stuff. But I like Japanese Lit … and maybe foreign translated works is an area I wouldn’t mind branching into as out of my comfort zone. I like historical nonfiction. I think it’s good every once in awhile to try something different. I have not read Piranesi yet.
A book club seems a good way of getting to read a broad variety of books. Does the publication you write for ask you about specific books? Or can you make suggestions yourself about what to review? I like international literature. Quite often other parts of the world have different writing traditions and it can be a fun and educational to read something from other cultures. Having said that, my reading still has a high overweight of US and UK authors. I really need to do something about that.
All excellent points. I do try to branch out periodically and try new genres. The experiment doesn’t always work (YA fiction leaves me cold) but the process is fascinating. My venture into the unfamiliar is mainly through literature in translation. I find that often more stimulating than yet another book by a British/American author.
That is the thing, if you branch out, it’s inevitable to get some dubious reading experiences from time to time. But overall, I find a little experimentation rewarding. I agree completely about literature in translation (or global literature as I prefer to call it, because it isn’t really the fact that it’s translated, which matters to me).
I Agree! My favorite books are mostly horrors. These days, however, I decided to try a little more psychological thrillers as well as other genres just to try something that’s new to me.
Good luck with your journey into other genres! It can be fun digging into new territory, but you may encounter a few duds along the way.
Thank you. I’m sure I will encounter many of them!
This is such a thought-provoking post! I agree that the more one reads, the harder it becomes to be genuinely surprised by something. I want to believe I am reading out of my comfort zone all the time since I read all genres, but some books do surprise me. Though I do draw a line with some romance and fantasy books. But here, the reason is that I generally find them so poor that they are not worth me continuing. Perhaps it is snobbish, but that’s how it is. For example, I wanted to love and review Jemisin’s sci-fi The City We Became, but progressed little and I tried very hard. Piranesi is also not original for me after Clarke’s Jonathan Strange (and some Dan Brown) since I did notice evident parallels.
It’s a fair comment on some romance and fantasy books. I believe, I feel the same about most romance books and tend to be annoyed with myself, when I’ve read one. As in “why did I spend my time on that”? Unfortunately, I haven’t quite learned to DNF. With fantasy, I am willing to give it a try. The City We Became has been on my radar as well together with Babel and a couple of others. When starting a new genre, it’s probably normal to pick up books you dislike until you’ve figured out what is your taste and which authors do you gel with in that particular genre. So I won’t give up on fantasy even if it isn’t an immediate success.
It’s a while since I’ve read Dan Brown, but I didn’t think of him when reading Piranesi. However, that may be due to my bad memory.
I completely agree with all of your points! I also grow bored if I read the same type of story too often in a row, so reading a good mix of genres is probably actually IN my comfort zone… Even if fantasy will likely always remain my top genre! 🥰
I do try to push myself a little, though, because I love learning new things and discovering literature gems I never would’ve picked up otherwise. Like, I actively try to pick up a certain number of international novels every year to expand my cultural horizons and to read in other languages to improve my fluency in those. That last one in particular can be really exhausting, but I always find it so worth it in the end!
Exactly, it’s great to mix it up and switch between very different styles and genres to avoid getting bored.
Ah you read in different languages as well, that is amazing! Unfortunately, I can’t really do that. Technically English is a foreign language for me, but it doesn’t really count, since I mostly read in English these days. I can just about get by in German, but it would be a slow and not very enjoyable process to read a novel in German (maybe I should try a short story? 😆)
Thanks for your input and for stopping by!