Liam Livings
Twitter
  • Home
  • Books
    • Kieran series >
      • Kieran's Out
      • Kieran's Pride
      • Kieran's Prince
    • Kev Series >
      • Adventures in Dating...in Heels
      • Rocky Road of Love...In Heels
      • Kicking Up My Heels...in Heels
    • Regiment of Majestic Gays Series >
      • The Regiment of Majestic Gays
      • I Should Be So Lucky
      • Say You'll Be Mine
      • Don't You Want Me
    • Christmas Books >
      • Plus One Christmas Elf
      • Coincidental Christmas Boyfriend
      • Bear Best Friend
      • Mistletoe Kisses
      • A New Life For Christmas
      • Silver Daddy Jingle Bells
    • Standalones >
      • And Then That Happened
      • Wrong Room, Right Guy
      • The Guardian Angel
      • The Player and the Geek
      • The Journalist and the Dancer
      • Unlocking the Doctor's Heart
      • Guarding the Prince
      • Wild for You
      • Love on the Dancefloor
      • Finding Home
      • Perfect Catch
      • The Trouble With Rent Boys
      • When Robbo Met Daniel
    • Non-Fiction >
      • Marketing the Romance
  • Contact
  • GHOSTWRITING SERVICES
  • Liam's Lovely News

Why it's important to read outside your usual genre

16/8/2013

0 Comments

 
I normally read romance books, not only MM romance (and why that is, is another post) but happily ever after, love interests get what they want, romance books. I’ve also been known to read the odd trashy autobiography as a massive guilty pleasure. If anyone’s looking for something to read by a beach on holiday, the best autobiography, BAR NONE, is Danniella Westbrook’s The Other Side of Nowhere. You will not be able to put it down, trust me. Does she sell her vacuum cleaner for drugs? Does she turn up on set at EastEnders on no sleep, full of drugs from partying all night? Does her nose fall apart? The best bit is the way she’s so *hands up, fair cop gov* about the whole thing.

What was I saying...oh yes, read things you don’t normally read. If all you ever read is the same genre, you’re missing out on gems in other genres. I’m not saying you have to abandon your favourite genre and start reading something completely different. I’m just talking about say, every third book, or something like that.

And why is this so important?

Well, I am testament to this being successful. I do like a good book which makes me cry – see books which have made me cry post. That is essentially still in my usual genre. The second book which made me cry, Gypsy Boy, by Mikey Walsh, is also in the same genre it’s an autobiography (not a celeb one, I’ll grant you, but still autobiographical.)
I was hankering for something a bit different, so I grabbed Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones from my TBR pile. I’ve seen the film, so I knew what to expect. I couldn’t sleep one night last week and thought, I’ll just read a few pages to help me nod off. I finally turned the light off four chapters in. And I finished it after a week yesterday. Me finishing a book in a week, is pretty impressive. I don’t have much of a commute, and generally will prioritise writing over reading. But The Lovely Bones, just kept me gripped.

The language used is beautiful. The concept, although it seems pretty gruesome, is handled positively. The book deals with Suzie Salmon as she watches from her heaven as her friends and family deal with her death. It could have been executed so badly, despite the idea being great, fortunately it’s not awkward, or clunky, you easily slip between her watching down from her heaven, and flashbacks while she was alive.

The concept which I really found very moving, and interesting was about how a person’s death affects those left living. ‘As I watched my family sip champagne, I thought about how their lives trailed backward and forward from my death...’ This is where the book’s title comes from: ‘These were the lovely bones that had grown around my absence: the connections – sometimes tenuous, sometimes made at great cost, but often magnificent – that happened after I was gone...The events that my death wrought were merely the bones of a body that would become whole at some unpredictable time in the future.’

Anyone who’s ever lost a member of their family will understand this, and a book which explains that concept – even if it doesn’t have a happily ever after, or some celeb gossip, was definitely worth leaving my standard genres to experience. I will keep my eyes open for other Sebold books in the future. 

Have you ever gone off piste to a different genre and liked it? perhaps you went off piste and hated it. I’d love to hear from you.

Until next time

Liam xx


0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Liam Livings

    Gay romance & gay fiction author

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    Archives

    February 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    March 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    June 2019
    April 2019
    December 2018
    September 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.