Should we try to read out of our interest zones?

talktidy

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Probably off on something of a tangent to the OP's topic, but perhaps expanding what one is inclined to read reaps greater rewards in the context of non-fiction.
 

Marian Perera

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Here is a rule I would strongly encourage you to adopt if you are trying to expand your reading: You don’t have to finish anything. Life is too short for a book you aren’t enjoying. A lot of people feel like they have to keep slogging through something that isn’t working for them—I know, I feel it too—but it’s really, really okay to give yourself permission to put something down. Knowing that you aren’t committing to the whole thing might free you up to try something that’s new to you.

This is good advice. If I spend money on a book I feel like I have to read it all, but for free books or excerpts, there's less self-imposed pressure. But as you said, not having that pressure for any book might well make a difference.
 

Marian Perera

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Personally though, I am trying to take myself out of my comfort zone in respect to reading. I'd like to start reading more fantasy and science fiction for example as I've read so few and I'm sure I'm missing out on many gems as a result.

I once read a copy of Wayne Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials, which looked awesome (illustrations of various aliens from different SF books and brief descriptions of them), and I decided to get copies of all those books, reasoning that they must have been good if a professional artist had spent time painting the aliens in them.

A few turned out to be dull, but the experience introduced me to some great authors I hadn't read before, and leading with the aliens (which I find really intriguing) was the right approach for me.
 

druid12000

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Several years ago I decided I needed to read 'The Classics', because I thought it would broaden my mind and perhaps given me new insight into my own writing. I wasn't wrong, it did help in both respects. BUT (and this is a very big BUT), it also made me realize that just because something is a 'Classic' does NOT mean I am going to enjoy it. There were a couple that I just couldn't finish, Moby Dick and Robinson Crusoe being the big examples (though I am going to give Robinson Crusoe another chance), for a variety of reasons I won't bore you with here. There were many that I thoroughly enjoyed, The Picture of Dorian Gray and Lost Horizon were brilliant, and I will most likely read again.

Most of the books I attempted were out of my comfort zone, I prefer horror and fantasy/SF. A couple of the books were solidly in my comfort zone, that's why I chose them, and *insert wah-wah sound here*, I was disappointed. That, however, doesn't mean that I won't ever read another 'Classic'. It means I tried something different and it didn't work out. So I'll try something else, or maybe give them another shot down the road because as I get older my tastes change, subtly for sure, but they have and do change.

Of course this is all just one individual's experience, but I will continue to delve out of my comfort zone because I was able to learn something from each one, even the stories I couldn't finish or just didn't like. Even if that 'something' was to teach me how I don't want to write.