Mixing It Up

I was at work last week thinking about my reading and audiobooking while I have been on my surprise blog read (due to reading slump), and I realised that the stories I chose to read were mostly in genres I don’t normally gravitate towards. 

Not sure why, but I found this realisation really interesting that during this time, the stories that I class as my bread and butter (crime and fantasy) were the stories I would DNF. 

So, I thought I would have a little chat and show you so you vaguely know what happened over the past few months and try and figure out if this is the route I will be going in the upcoming months. 

so, throughout July and August (if you followed me on my socials, mainly Instagram), you would know that these were my reads. 

Mostly, there were all short stories barring two, which I would class as novellas. We have one collection of crime short stories (The Man in Black and Other Stories by Elly Griffith - write-up can be found here), four MM romance short stories (Marrying the Guide by Nora Phoenix, Only One Beach House by K.M. Neuhold, The Head Coach by Charlie Novah and The Stargazers of Copper County by May Archer), one historical fantasy novella (Queen B by Juno Dawson) and a Disney Twisted Tale (Sally’s Lament by Mark Mancusi).  

And these were fun. I had a blast (though I do admit that most were very much candy floss reads, but sometimes, these types are reads are exactly what you need. Plus, I haven’t read much MM romance this year so reading short stories was wonderful and a perfect pick-me-up and a good way to give me a good shake with my reading as, at times, I do put a lot of pressure on myself to read certain types of stories and genres for one reason or another. While that’s fine for me as a book blogger (I have a ton of books/ebooks/audiobooks I have to read for review purposes), but as a reader, this is very restricted and kinda sucks the fun and the flexibility out of it. Reading should be a pleasure and while I adore reading within certain genres, I have become a reading magpie and like to try new genres. 

Which, I sense, is exactly what I did throughout September and for the rest of this year. I’m allowing myself to try new things and being impulsive while attacking the neverending TBR shelves on all my platforms (physical, ebook and audio). 

And for those of you curious, this was what I (mainly) audiobook throughout September and the beginning part of October:

Ok, I fib. Two of these I audiobook and finished (and they were engrossing). We have Marple: Expert of Wickedness by Mark Aldridge (which looks into the creation of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple) and Getting Away with Murder by Lynda La Plante (a memoir of the prolific writer). Like I said, both were engrossing listens (though there were occasions I wish both were a little more critical). And the book I planned to read through September but is carrying over into October is Jandy Nelson’s When the World Tips Over, and this is a such a solidly five star read, I am savouring my time with it (very similar to when I read Sword Catcher by Cassandra Clare last year and am planning to do next year when its sequel, The Ragpicker King, comes out). 

And now I am eyeing what I might be reading over the coming few weeks and, yeah, I sense I am going to fall into this pattern of “It’s my genre read, but not at the same time…”. Wanna see what I mean?

Does that mean I’m going to stick to up maybe TBR? Nope, highly doubt that (mood reader). But, am I going to allow myself the space to pick books outside my comfort genres? Yep. And that’s what I’m weirdly excited about. The chance to try new genres, new stories and share them with you in new/different ways.