Put Down the Swords & Spaceships: Reading Outside Your Comfort Zone

*is slapped by an assortment of things*

Laptop difficulties = Drastic drop in productivity. Moving on.

Less than a month from today, I will be starting college (which, by the way, may lead to another drop in productivity. -_-)

Once I get to college, I'll be starting my first college English class there, and a few weeks ago I got a postcard informing me that the sunday before classes, the students in this English class would meet to discuss a book that we would read over the summer--

Me: Forcing me to read some boring memoir instead of all the pretties on my shelves? UGH...

--while chatting and getting to know each other and eating desserts.

Me: DESSERTS? BEST CLASS EVER.

So I got the book. The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls. And for a while it sat on the desk next to my notebooks and stacks of manga, because I was fairly sure I wasn't going to like it, and I had other things to read--things with magic, and knights, and dystopian societies, and gizmos, etc. etc. etc.

I am a YA scifi/fantasy nut. It's what I write, and it's what I love to read. I've diverged a bit here and there, but all in all I haven't branched out and read outside that genre very much, which of course blatantly disregards all e-advice to the contrary.

I've heard so many authors say "Read, read, read. All the time. ALL the books."

But sometimes my gut response is, "There are so many books in my genre to read. I don't have time for anything else."

I got time to read The Glass Castle the day the kid I tutor played hookey. I pulled it out and started reading at the kitchen table, half expecting the aforementioned kid to walk through the door.

...and I read.
...and I read.
...and I read.

Until, for the first time in a long while, I'd finished a book in one day. In one sitting. I could not put it down.

It was strange, and good, and well-written, and interesting, and not what I expected, but fascinating. And true.

And not a witch or wizard in sight.

It is important to read outside your genre, whether it's as a break from what you've gotten used to, or just a really, really good book. I hope to branch out more in college, and I can't wait to have that discussion with my fellow classmates.

What have you been reading? What do you usually read, and when was the last time you read something vastly different?

And how have you been, guys? I missed you.