In the fall, due to a project I was working on, for a few months I was only reading books from two imprints of a publisher. They could be any books from the last year, so long as they were from those imprints, which did help somewhat with me feeling "forced" to read them. It was an interesting exercise as I'd never done that before, not even when I worked at Thomas Dunne Books did I only read books from one imprint. I've always read very widely and I've enjoyed that very much, so this was a different and somewhat eye-opening experience. One of the imprints, which in the past I'd held in very high regard, I've since decided I really don't like all that much. I found a lot of their books to be ponderous, overly academic, and snobbish. The other imprint, which I hadn't thought much about one way or the other previously, I came to like very much and found its books were entertaining, well-written, and fun. I think it would be a very interesting exercise indeed to do that for a year--each month only read books from one imprint. I think I'd learn a lot about those imprints and what differentiates them from all the rest. However, I could never do it. I am having trouble enough with my decision to only read books written by women this month (and the majority of the books I own are written by women, but I am still struggling with it.)

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2 comments:
I laughed at your dilemma. It could describe me completely. I am part of a mystery book group and I've been part of other groups that read more widely - regular fiction/non fiction. When I moderated the second group as part of my job at the library, I read the books, even if they weren't quite to my taste. I stopped going to that group after I retired from the library for the very reason you mentioned - I had to force myself to read the books. And I liked so few of them. I've resigned myself to only being part of a mystery group. Usually, there is not an issue there and there is the bonus that I select the books - members suggest, but I make the final picks. Good luck!
Oh, that's even more frustrating! I like the majority of the book club selections so there's no basis for my reluctance to read them. Just my brain being dumb.
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