While reviewing my previous year’s reading in preparation for our annual Team’s Best Books event, I noticed an interesting trend. After a year where I had one of my worst slumps ever, my usual routine of reading widely was not working for me. This insight got me thinking about reading widely versus focusing on only one or two specific genres at a time. To quote the fabulous Carrie Bradshaw, “I couldn’t help but wonder” if one approach was better than the other. (Spoiler alert: not at all but it depends on the reader.) 

Let’s chat about what reading widely and reading more genre-specific mean. Reading widely means choosing books that span genres, and offer a variety of styles and formats from all kinds of authors and time periods. In other words, a little bit of everything. Reading more genre-specific means opting for a narrower selection of titles from a specific genre. For instance, my father-in-law primarily reads historical nonfiction and my mother-in-law prefers cozy mysteries. As a bonus, their tendencies to read more genre-specific makes holiday gift-giving easy for us.

Since I had previously enjoyed reading widely, I was surprised to find myself becoming easily distracted, often bored, and more likely to abandon books that “on paper” should have worked for me. When I am reading widely, I often read a variety of titles I discover from our MMD community and Anne’s seasonal reading guides, including my favorite go-to genres—mystery, romance, and sci-fi, along with books that strike my fancy regardless of genre.  Luckily, while researching a book list for the blog this past year, I read seven mysteries in a row and I couldn’t have been happier. Focusing on one favorite genre paved the way for me to get back to the stories I love and keep me engaged. With even more reflection, I realized this is an aspect of the literary lifestyle that I’ve come across many times and discussed with bookish friends and fellow book club members regularly over the years.

Now it probably goes without saying, but seasons of life can impact how widely we approach our literary pursuits. As a young and single professional, I would often pick wildly different books from week to week. It was common for me to wrap up a huge fantasy novel (I’m looking at you, Name of the Wind) and start a historical fiction, memoir, or family drama the same day. I had loads of time on my daily commute to tackle hefty audiobooks and plenty of weekends to dive into a new-to-me series. With such a large playing field, sometimes my reading choices would strike out while others were home runs but I was content with the assortment of titles. It kept my choices exciting and engaging and helped me hone in on what types of books I liked best. 

Flash forward to 2020: like many other readers, I found solace in romance novels. As a mother of young kiddos with limited time to read and many worries swirling in my mind, I needed a love story that I could root for and a guaranteed Happily Ever After. Reading widely just wasn’t the kindest choice for myself or even practical at the time. To be a “Reader,” I had always believed (or been taught) it was integral to choose important books. As a result, I had thoughtlessly looked down on romance and other genre fiction for far too long, which truly was a disservice to my own bookish joy. After listening to Anne discuss these very types of readerly insights on What Should I Read Next for years, I finally realized that it was time to stop telling myself I should read certain things and gave myself permission to focus on the genres that were making me happy. Later on, once I was feeling more space in my life, I slowly added back in more variety, deciding I was ready to include books that didn’t always promise a happy ending. I started by dipping my toes into historical fantasy with The Song of Achilles, adding new-to-me classics like Rebecca and 84, Charing Cross Road, then reaching for thought-provoking mysteries that are grittier than my normal fare like Magic for Liars and The Dry. 

However, I recently started to doubt myself when I felt the need to narrow my choices again. With the state of the world feeling heavy, I knew my current attention span and mental capacity would benefit from escaping into reads I would find comforting and entertaining. (Right now that is rompy romances with fabulous chemistry and humor; The Ornithologist’s Field Guide To Love is a great example.) Yet I felt the weight of shoulds leading me to try every type of book under the sun, like a player in Deal or No Deal searching the briefcases for an elusive jackpot. I decided to let my numerous book clubs choose the more broad choices in my reading line up and keep my personal choices more specific to my favorite genres that make reading fun for me. Hopefully this will be the best of both worlds and, if it isn’t, I know I can switch up my focus at any time. 

I would love to hear the types of genres and level of bookish variety you choose in the comments below. Do you try a little bit of everything to spice up your reading life or do you prefer to deep dive a genre? Have you found your literary scope broadening or honing in over the years? Tell us all about it!

About the author

Brigid Misselhorn is our MMD Book Club Community Administrator. Her go-to genres are mystery, romance, and sci-fi. You can find Brigid on Instagram @brigid_emily.