If you had told me a year ago that I would be rushing home from work to do some knitting, watch Doctor Who and read children's comic books (not all at the same time) I don't think I would have believed you. However, sometimes it's really good to go back to old hobbies, re-watch something you haven't seen for a while or explore a genre you know nothing about - and which isn't going to show up in your "recommended for you" selections.
In our libraries we look after all sorts of books in all sorts of formats, and we need to be able to talk to you - our users - about them. A few years ago I was looking after adult fiction at a library, however I hadn't read a lot of popular authors. So what I decided to do was to read a book by each of the most popular authors on our annual list. I can't say that I found a new favourite author, but I certainly felt more confident about answering enquiries from fiction readers.
In a similar way, I always wanted to find out more about our graphic novel collections. They seemed pretty popular, but I didn't really know where to start. One day I happened to spy a graphic novel called The Gigantic Beard that was Evil and I thought it sounded fun - and it was! And thoughtful, intelligent and different. I'm really glad I gave it a go.
After that initial foray, I didn't explore much further - so many books, so little time! But then a chum with excellent taste was recommending the work of Neill Cameron. I investigated further and found a series of great children's comics which are funny, feature a range of different characters, explore interesting topics like British mythology and the future of robotics - and which I can't put down.
Yes - it is always good to read a comfort book or author or genre (and I'm so excited that Bright we Burn has just arrived), but sometimes it can be just as good to look beyond your horizons - and with a few recommendations - find a new favourite book or author or genre.
What books (etc) have your surprised yourself by liking?
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