//used for reflection only
@SuppressWarnings("unused")
private static final List<MyObject> EMPTY_MY_OBJECT = null;
private static final Type MY_OBJECT_TYPE;

static {
    try {
        MY_OBJECT_TYPE = MyClass.class.getDeclaredField("EMPTY_MY_OBJECT").getGenericType();
    } catch (Exception e) {
        ...
    }
}

private List<MyObject> readFromDisk() {

    try {
        String string = FileUtils.readFileToString(new File(JSON_FILE_NAME), null);
        return new Gson().fromJson(string, MY_OBJECT_TYPE);
    } catch (Exception e) {
        ...
    }
}

private static final Type MY_OBJECT_TYPE = TypeUtils.generate(List.class, MyObject.class);