Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Don't Read That

So... March?

It's trying real hard around here to be spring. The trees are growing some buds, the weather's warming up, and there's even a new baby around. I guess this month's theme is pretty obvious, isn't it?

'Tis the season of new, and I'm going to latch right onto that and say that this is the month for doing something new. This is the month to break your routine, your habits, and that rut you've unknowingly fallen into.

"Um," you say, "That was last month, wasn't it?"

Okay, we're operating under a similar theme. It's the specifics, you see, that are different. Last month was all about shaking up your writing routine. This month is all about shaking up your reading. We've all got our reading stand-bys, whether they're a specific genre, author, or genre (I love how there are two meanings for "genre"). We've also got those that we haven't ventured into yet. Now's the ideal time to do just that.

I hardly ever read poetry. Mostly, my poetry reading experience has been limited to Lit. Survey classes and poetry workshops, i.e. limited. I've decided that I'm going to work on broadening that experience and picking up some poetry books the next time I'm at the library. In the meantime, I'll revisit my old class books. I feel an itch to re-read Frank O'Hara's "Why I Am Not a Painter."

So, whatever you usually read, I'm going to encourage you not to. Read something else instead.

What's your reading comfort zone? How are you going to go outside of it?

1 comment:

Debbie said...

That could be tough because I usually read a bit of everything--non-fiction, mainstream fiction, fantasy, mystery, thriller, some sci-fi and horror, poetry, plays, screenplays. Okay, I know romance/chick lit/etc. are missing, but I read almost nothing else for so many years that I feel it's still covered. And a lot of the mainstream women's fiction I read can be pretty heavy on the romance.

I'll have to think about it. Maybe a non-fiction area that I don't normally read, like religion or something about one of the wars.