The Black Hole of Genre

I have a twelve-year old niece who is very into fantasy and science-fiction. Her mom is a little bit worried about her limited literary diet, which naturally got me thinking about reading preferences. I tend to get sucked into certain topics or genres, myself. For example, my obsession with World War II. I read a book on World War II, and while I'm reading, I start to think of all these aspects that I've never learned about before--the ghettos, the war in the Pacific, the Holocaust, the battles in North Africa, D-Day, etc. So then I want to read more about those things, and I find books and read about them, and learn more things I want to know about. Or with fantasy--I just get caught up in it, and want to read more. Eventually something else makes it into my reading list, and right now, I've got a pretty good variety on my to-read shelf, I think. But I do go through phases.

The best is when I am reading stuff like Jane Austen. You can always tell, because I start to talk like the books. And that is after only one book. I'd hate to see what happens after reading several novels back to back. I haven't had that problem with fantasy that I've noticed, or World War II, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were subtle changes in my vocabulary. But the worst so far is Jane Austen.

Anyway, I don't think one has to worry too much about the genre black hole, but diversity is good too. For one thing, it expands your conversational repertoire. But more importantly, if you branch out, you'll never run out of things to read.