Is your reading in a rut?

Helen Jager is breaking her reading rut. Why don’t you break yours?

I’ve been ill recently – I won’t bore you with the details – but one of the more curious symptoms of the affliction whilst laid up on my sickbed was a desire not to read the same old books I’d been in the habit of reading.

I don’t know about you, but my bookshelves tend to heave with the same genres of books – for me, books on marketing and journalism, fun creative stuff, a few slim volumes of poetry, collections of photography, a couple of autobiographies. In other words, books based in the real world. I don’t know why this is, since I have a degree in English, and, technically, fiction should share a larger slice of my bookshelf space.

Until I got ill, that is. Then, suddenly, I had an unholy desire to read ‘Wolf Hall’ – yes, that Wolf Hall, all 650 pages of Hilary Mantel’s masterpiece, and a 2009 Man Booker prize winner to boot. For a while, I was happily lost in the Tudor world of Cromwell and his politics, reveling in page-by-page phrasing such as ‘a wash of sunlight lies over the river, pale as the flesh of a lemon.’

Reading Mantel reminded me of the epiphany I’d had reading Tolkien’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ just a few years ago. I’d tried with Tolkien when I was at school – and failed. Finally, though, I had been ready for him. Again, like Mantel at times, it was like reading poetry in prose – skillful phrasing, adroit word play, and insightful descriptions – just a beautiful use of language. And in a book of fantasy fiction as well!

Does this mean I am a revert to fiction? An avid follower of every prize-giving literary event and list? Well, not quite. But it did remind me that it’s good, sometimes, to break out of any reading rut you may have got into, to try out something new, to stretch the mental and creative muscles in a different direction. Such explorations can refresh the mind and stimulate your own creativity.

So what do your bookshelves say about you? Are there one or two genres of literature that dominate? If you’re a die-hard blockbuster fan, why not try some pared-down poetry? Criminal fiction your thing? How about a gentler biography instead? I’m not saying you have to change your tastes in reading for the long-term, just that sometimes a change can be as good as, well, a rest. It certainly was for me.

Supported by Writing East Midlands.

Helen Jaeger is a social marketing consultant based in the UK. She works with charitiable and arts clients. She is an internationally published author, journalist and photographer. Her books are: As Night Falls, Paths Through Grief, As Day Dawns and A Treasury of Wisdom.