In my mid-twenties I visited my aunt in Las Vegas and she took me to my first Vegas buffet. My dad loved buffets because you could eat as much as you wanted for one low price; we ate at The Golden Corral many times growing up. However, I was not prepared for the abundance of choice and food at a Vegas buffet. When our family accompanied my now-husband and I to get married in Vegas, we held our wedding reception at The Buffet at Wynn Las Vegas the following morning. It had EVERYTHING you could want for breakfast, no matter your nationality, eating restrictions, or preferences. My vegan parents were spoiled for choice and since that was almost 20 years ago, that’s saying something. My dad still claims that that was the best wedding reception he’s ever been to.
In What Should I Read Next #469: Book Club is for discussing, discovering, and dissenting, Anne and Ginger described the Modern Mrs Darcy Book Club as a buffet, with lots of opportunity and choices and we get to select our level of participation. While some enjoy participating in the forums, discussing the monthly selections, and learning from the classes, I really love listening to the monthly author chats, reading the weekly Sunday Dispatch from Anne and the team, and participating in group readerly activities like Join Us for Journaling. The book selections are diverse and we get to choose what books we read; I have read one out of the three selections so far this year.
The concepts of abundance, possibility, and choice have always felt foreign to me and maybe just plain wrong. Growing up, many things were decided for me, from when and what I ate (no snacking) to the books I was allowed to read (specifically no fiction). If I’m being completely honest with myself and with you, it was comfortable to have decisions made for me. I could blame others if I did not get what I wanted. I always read books I was “supposed” to read, tried hard not to read the ones I “shouldn’t,” and never DNFed a book because, well, I just couldn’t. But I have been thinking about the idea of a buffet since I heard that episode and my brain has started expanding this idea to not only my involvement in Book Club but my reading life.
When I go to a buffet, I generally do two passes. On the first pass, I walk around the buffet looking at everything available. I narrow down my options by focusing on my interests. I choose what I like; any kind of potato will wind up on my plate. When it comes to my reading life, I decide to read books I believe I will love from all of my chosen sources, a buffet in and of itself: Anne, of course, new books that come into my local bookstore, and my favorite authors’ social media. I will always read memoirs of people I admire, inspirational and self-help reads that are helping me become a better person, and fiction and nonfiction books about writers and writing.
During my first pass at a buffet, I also get a small sampling of a few foods that intrigue me, which I am more inclined to do at a buffet than at another kind of restaurant. The stakes are lower; I’m not stuck with a dish that I disliked and paid for. Thinking of my reading life as a buffet gives me the freedom to try a book or a genre that I like. What piques my interest is now enough of a sign to give it a shot, while also convincing the “old” me that worried about what I was “supposed” to read. For instance, I fell in love with the sci-fi/fantasy genre, a genre I once believed that I “shouldn’t” read. The genre is a buffet of choice itself, ranging from gentle to more in-depth. I prefer gentle: think A Psalm for the Wild-Built more than A Court of Thorns and Roses. And how did I know ACOTAR wasn’t for me? I read a sample and found the amount of world-building too exhausting for me. I DNFed. I’ve read a lot of things recently, taking a bite of a dish at the buffet, deciding I either loved it and going back for more or that it was not for me.
While I am spoiled for choice—there is so much out there—I have the opportunity to make selections based on my tastes and preferences and my willingness to try something new. When I think of my reading life this way, I am inclined to try new things but I know that if it’s not for me, I don’t have to continue. Our reading life is a buffet. And we get to decide what we eat, er, what we read. Terrifying, for me, but ultimately freeing.
Do you see your reading life as a buffet? Please share in the comments.
P.S. The single best thing you can do for your reading life and 7 steps to read “hard” books.
About the author
Shannan Malone is the MMD Cohost and Contributor. Her go-to genre depends on her mood! You can find Shannan on Instagram @shannanenjoyslife.