Hello, blogosphere! I'm sorry this edition of Wednesday Words is coming later than usual. Not going to lie, I've been a little off on days of the week because last week my school district was on a blissful spring break, and jumping back into the groove of things has taken some time.
Anyway! Remember when I said not that long ago how important it is to read outside our comfort zone and try new/different things? I've actually been taking my own advice! Well, for the most part.
Last week, I was in Wilmington, NC and visited a fabulous used book store called Old Books on Front Street. This store is fantastic. While I wasn't able to find a few titles that have been on my list, I did make two purchases which I'm excited about. I'm about halfway through Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five and I have to say, it really makes me miss some of my awesome classmates from college and the crazy intense discussions we used to have on books like this that are about so much more than the plot. Reading a "grown up" book was definitely a good move for me.
I also got F. Scott Fitzgerald's This Side of Paradise which I'm also really looking forward to reading. In fact, I planned on reading that next, but when I got back to work, we've been processing some new books that we ordered a while back, many of which I'm really excited to get my hands on. So even though I said "no more dystopians for a while," I totally checked out Crossed by Ally Condie and Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver, both the second novels in what are shaping up to be truly epic trilogies.
So yes, I went right back to my comfort zone, but I think that's okay. Mixing things up is all fine and good and absolutely necessary to facilitate growth and help us examine our world and ourselves in new ways. However, it's okay to like what you like. I'm not embarrassed that I love YA as much as I do. However, I think that I do need to make more of a conscious effort to go back and forth between each of these zones to really consider myself to be a well-read person.
But that's just me and those are just my thoughts. What do you all think? Is it better to just stick with what you like, or do you like to mix it up now and then too?
Comments welcome and as always, happy reading!
I think it's really important to mix it up genre wise, especially if you write. The more you read, the more you learn. And often I think we learn the most from books that we necessarily wouldn't gravitate to on a regular basis (they give us a different perspective).
ReplyDeleteIt's so easy to stick with what you like and I am always reading a YA book because I love them so much, as you do. But I always make sure to be reading something completely different at the same time.
For every YA book, I always have an adult book in the background to read (either a classic, a philosophy book, an action thriller and my newest found hobby -> bios about famous writers or philosophers).
Like right now, I'm finishing up Clockwork Prince and Foretold, both YA books, but I am also reading a biography on Michel de Montaigne and I just bought Angel Time by Anne Rice. And when I was gonna buy them, believe me I almost put them down for more YA books but I reminded myself that I can't limit my reading.