Monday Discussion: Too Much of a Good Thing?

I have had a few conversations with readers recently that have got me thinking about reading habits, specifically whether or not you read all the same type of book or not.

There are many staff members at the BPL who read romance and only romance.  They like that the story is predictable and they can just escape into the book easily. But the other day I was talking to a friend who said her mom and sister always read romance, and when she runs out of books to read, she grabs one of theirs. She enjoys it, but doesn't want another. The times she has read more than 1 in a row, she has begun to resent the genre.  But is she reads just one, once in a while, she enjoys them greatly.

This led me to think about my own reading.  I just read the newest Flavia de Luce mystery and I am listening to a Jo Nesbo mystery right now.  But I know myself, by the time I finish the Nesbo, I am going to be "sick" of mysteries.  I will need a mystery break.  It's not that I don't enjoy mysteries.  I really do.  But the genre conventions of the mystery are such that I start to get annoyed by the predictability of the story.  I will need a break.

Intern Elizabeth felt similarly about YA Dystopian fiction.  Again, she admits to "loving it," but she also said she has read so much of it in the last year that she is good for now and is taking a break from the genre.

I think this is an important issue for us to recognize in oursevles and as we help readers.  That's why it is important to go beyond asking patrons what type of books they enjoy and continue the RA conversation with the question, "Are you in the mood for that or something different?"

It is easy to keep reading the same type of book, especially if you enjoy it, but can you have too much of a good thing?

That's what I am asking you here today on the Monday Discussion. Let me know if there is a type of book that you love, but you also know you have to make sure to moderate your consumption of it so you don't move from loving it to being sick of it.

For past Monday Discussions, click here.