Why I Need to Venture Out of YA More Often

As you may well know by this point, I'm an English major. That means I do a lot of reading aside from what I read and review here on the blog, but, obviously, that doesn't mean all that I read for class is to my taste. I've read some good stuff this semester, but none of it was as good as Ian McEwan's Atonement. I've seen a lot of mixed reviews for it, but for me, it's just one of those books. Those books that stay with you forever, that shape the way you read, whose experience reading is something you'll always be seeking replication of. In my mind, it's just a gorgeous book.

I don't really have all that much to say here in this post, but it just felt like something I needed to write. A lot of times I find myself getting so entrenched in YA that I forget there's an entire world (several, really) of other kinds of books out there, and it takes an experience like Atonement to remind me. The same happened when I read Never Let Me Go a few years ago.

I love YA, don't get me wrong, but I think I'm missing a lot in not reading more from outside of it. I read enough to satisfy me right now simply because of school, but soon enough I'll be graduating and not have that impetus. There are so many books released that I'm so interested in, but the pressure to have enough books read to review two or three books a week here doesn't really let me venture out of YA, especially as adult books seem to trend towards being longer than most YA.

I've already thought about reviewing outside of YA, so I'm curious of y'all would be interested in that? Otherwise, what are some of your favorite non-YA favorites? How much do you read outside of YA?