“Books are sometimes windows, offering views of worlds that may be real or imagined, familiar or strange. These windows are also sliding glass doors, and readers have only to walk through in imagination to become part of whatever world has been created or recreated by the author. When lighting conditions are just right, however, a window can also be a mirror. Literature transforms human experience and reflects it back to us, and in that reflection we can see our own lives and experiences as part of a larger human experience. Reading, then, becomes a means of self-affirmation, and readers often seek their mirrors in books.”

― Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop

I only just recently learned of the above quote and it prompted me to stop and reflect on my own reading choices. I tend to be quite selective with what I choose to read, and I imagine most people are, considering how many books take hours to finish. However, it didn’t take long for me to recognize that through my pickiness, I had become a bit of a creature of habit.

Of course it’s all good and fine to have preferences; I’m still someone that would always choose something green over any other color. That being said, I did begin to wonder if I was growing too comfortable with all of the windows, doors, and mirrors that are housed inside of my preferred preferences. While I’m all too familiar with walking through the door into a fantasy world like in the A Song of Ice and Fire series or finding a mirror of my own anxieties and fears in a horror novel like Pet Sematary, I was completely unfamiliar with what views and reflections could be found within the Walt Longmire series or an Emily Henry romance plot.

The more that I thought about it, I began to realize that my preferences had become more than just preferences, but instead became full blown limitations; no, don’t read Born a Crime, you don’t like memoirs. No, don’t check out an e-audiobook on Libby, you don’t like listening to audiobooks. When was the last time I had even given a memoir or an audiobook a chance? Why am I so adverse to listening to an audiobook instead of reading a physical book? Why is nearly everything I own green? I’m not even sure green is my favorite color anymore!

Alright, admittedly maybe I’m getting a little off track, but these thoughts motivated me to challenge myself by renting an audiobook on Libby, which I had never done before. More importantly, it was a completely new genre of book to me: a grouping of essays titled The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green. Although the author’s last name being “Green” is admittedly ironic, the most important piece of it all was that I enjoyed the book and format a lot more than I ever thought I would based on my “preferences”.

I had no idea how much I would come to appreciate being able to listen to a book while getting ready for work in the morning, driving between errands, and cooking. I was grateful for the generally self-contained chapters and was surprised by how captivating I found it despite it being non-fiction and having no formal plot to follow. These were things I told myself I didn’t like, or wouldn’t find engaging, even though I never fully gave any of them a chance. As it turns out, all I had been doing with my “preferences” was holding myself back from finding more great books to read and more ways for me to read them!

Now, I’ll admit that I do still have preferences in choosing what I read, but pushing myself out of my comfort zone really expanded the windows, doors, and mirrors I’ve discovered in the literary world. As it turns out, the format and genre aren’t nearly as important as being curious about how you will see yourself and aspects of your own life within a book; the windows, doors, and mirrors are always there, you just have to be willing to look for them.

To get you started on your own journey of expanding your literary preferences, I would encourage you to consider looking at the library’s Book Links webpage. We keep these lists of titles, organized by genre, updated with some of the most popular books from the past few years. It can make it a little less intimidating to dive into a new genre – though, it will be up to you to decide if you want to pursue this new genre in a format you’re less familiar with too!