Don't Limit Yourself to A Single Genre

  
   Every reader has a favorite genre. For me it's probably fantasy, but for others it could be historical fiction, science fiction, romance, dystopian, or non-fiction. And that's okay. There's nothing wrong with liking a certain kind of book more than another. But the question I'm going to ask is this: Should we, as readers, limit ourselves to only reading books of our favorite genre, or should we instead explore different genres, and develop a wide range of books that we enjoy?
      
   The answer is the latter. And to illustrate my point, here's a little story:
   
   Say sweets are your favorite thing to eat. You'd much rather eat something sugary than ANYTHING in the world. Since sweets are your favorite food, it's okay to only eat that for the rest of your life.
   
   Wait- what?
  
   Actually......no. That's not okay.  If you only eat sweets, (aside from the fact that you'll die) you will miss out on some EXCELLENT food. Burgers, mac 'n' cheese, soup, etc. And who wants that, right? It's the same with books. I like fantasy. REALLY like it. But if that's the only thing that I ever read, I would never have discovered what are now some of my favorite books. I never thought that I would enjoy dystopian novels. But I recently read The Hunger Games, and they are now one of my favorite series. And because I loved them so much, I've been keeping my eyes open for more good dystopian books to enjoy. There are also several classics that I like; Little Women, A Tale of Two Cities, Watership Down,  Pride and Prejudice, and A Christmas Carol among them. I've also liked some historical fiction (which used to be my favorite genre).  My least favorite genre is non-fiction. But I've read some very good ones; Soul Surfer, Before You Meet Prince Charming, and The Hiding Place (which I'll confess that I didn't finish, but I plan on re-reading the entire book sometime). Some other excellent books are categorized as Christian Fiction; The Robe and The Atonement Child being two of them.
  
   Another question: What do The Hunger Games and Little Women have in common?

   *DRUM-ROLL*...............................Absolutely nothing. But even though they aren't similar in ANY way, I loved both of them. In fact, they both made it into my list of all time favorites.
   
   The bottom line is this; it's okay if there's a genre that's just not your taste. I don't normally read romance novels. But sometime I might find one that I really like. So what I'm trying to say is this: if you have a favorite genre, then great! Keep reading those books. But don't limit yourself to reading only books that are categorized into that genre. If you do that, you'll miss out on some wonderful stories that you might have otherwise read and loved.  I'm going to keep reading fantasy, but I'm not going to rule out all books that aren't fantasy. 

   And anyway, how can you even know what your favorite sort of book is if you've only ever read one kind?