This post starts out with a memory, because one of the first books I truly loved was recommended by my mom. At the library as a child, she told me to read Anna To The Infinite Power by Mildred Ames, and I was hooked. The book at that point was older, and she’d seen the movie, but I don’t recall if she’d read the book or not. I like to think that book is a large part of the reason that I like science fiction so much and write it today (I still have a paperback copy of the book). As I got older, I don’t remember there being many more middle grade or young adult science fiction stories that resonated with me as much, and I didn’t do much more reading in the genre until later in life.
In my early twenties, once I no longer had to read for school, I read almost exclusively literary fiction. There were so many exciting books and I hadn’t defined a lot of my tastes yet. I read widely, and found books that are still among some of my favorites today. I will always have a soft spot for many fo the titles I read back then, like, The Kitchen God’s Wife, and A Prayer For Owen Meany. I heard Jhumpa Lahiri read from Interpreter of Maladies when she visited Cambridge, Massachusetts and quickly read her next book, The Namesake.
Then came Chick Lit, which was a fun part of women’s fiction aimed at my demographic, basically targeted to women my age. The covers appealed to me, and I was reading books that were laugh out loud funny, and about women that I related to on a level that I hadn’t before. There had been books that moved me in the past, I will keep The Joy Luck Club in my heart forever, but I don’t remember having such a good time reading fiction until I read Chick Lit. There was a lot of dreck to wade through, because the popularity of these books had exploded, taking over prime shelves at bookstores and suddenly, everyone was writing a book for women and shoving it out the door with an eye-catching cover. There were some real stinkers out there, but that happens in any popular genre. But I found a lot to love there as well. I will always appreciate the honest and feminine perspective on life and tragedy that came from Marian Keyes’s books, especially Sushi For Beginners, which remains a favorite of mine.
When Chick Lit inevitably fell out of fashion, I delved into romance. I’m still a bit romance reader, but I also dislike romance in a lot of other genres. Maybe that’s because I am a romance reader and hate when a subplot gets shoehorned in, throwing two people that only have lukewarm reactions together for the sake of ease and harmony in a story that gave their relationship time to properly develop. As I said, I loved reading romance after coming out of Chick Lit, or Women’s Fiction as much of it is now called, but I’ve never been content to stay in one genre.
I remember reading through the New York Times bestseller list in 2004, and though there weren’t very many books on there that year because it was dominated by the epic success of Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code, I liked branching out and figuring out what I loved about the stories on the list. What stayed with me and which ones had I forgotten. I found out that I loved thrillers that focused on action, like The DaVinci Code, whereas The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Alblom was a quick read that I can’t remember much about these days. But I remember how I felt when Professor Langdon was called in to see the body of Sauniere, and how much I enjoyed the crime and thrills of the twisting plot. It lead me to read more crime fiction in general, a genre I hadn’t fully explored up to that point.
My advice to you is that if you’re looking for a book and branching out, try a lot of different books, stories and resources for finding new authors. Try to challenge yourself to read more stories written by women or people of color as you work to expand your worldview. Ask for recommendations, especially from librarians. Go to author events and get your book signed; since we’re virtual, make sure you attend local bookstore events and ask if the author is going to come in and sign some copies of their book. I will probably never read much literary fiction in the future, but I will all cherish hearing Jhumpa Lahiri read from her book.
What kinds of stories do you like to read? How did you get started as a reader?