There aren’t that many changes in my reading life in the years that I have been active both as a reader and a blogger so this won’t be a ‘top ten’ thing.
The biggest change I noticed is my genre preference. It comes naturally with age, I think. Back in high school, I read a lot of middle grade and young adult books almost always in a high school setting. I remember binge-reading The Princess Diaries series (all ten books), Vampirates, Twilight, Fallen, and some lesser known title “Please Don’t Be True”.
It stayed the same up until my early 20s. The change only happened a few years back when I’ve finally outgrown young adult contemporaries. I feel I’ve had enough of high school themed contemporaries for the rest of my life (but you never know — I certainly don’t want to speak definitely because I happen to enjoy high school movies still).
Nowadays, I read a lot of adult romantic contemporaries, suspense and historical romance. I still read Young Adult of course, but mostly in the fantasy sub-genre.
The second change that comes to mind is my reading enthusiasm. Back in the day, I read a hundred books a year — sometimes more — but now I find myself having a hard time finishing a meager fifty. I attribute that to becoming a picky reader. Over the years, I’ve developed a specific reading taste so I rarely ever venture out of my favorites or give other authors a try.
At the same time I’m reluctant to try new authors in my favorite genre (romance), I’m now trying to expand my reading genre. Recently, I’ve picked up books from authors I haven’t read before and from genres I haven’t tried; example is Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman, my first foray into General Fiction.
I also started reading “The Ocean at the End of the Lane” by Neil Gaiman, a fantasy (not to be confused with YA Fantasy).
When I was younger, I felt the stigma around romance and its readers so I kept that fact about me a secret from acquaintances and some friends and family members. These days, I don’t much care about what people think of my romance reading preferences. Social media and the blogging community helped me through that.
I think that sums up all the ‘changes’ in my reading habits. I would love to hear yours and more so I’ll leave the link to Top Ten Tuesday topics here.
I’ve found myself picking up fewer YA as well. I’ve seen that on many TTT’s this week. It’s interesting. Either we’re all getting old or the genre is changing. 😉 Great post!
My TTT
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Makes you think, right? It’s both I would say or maybe because all the stories started sounding alike.
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I’m reading fewer books these days as well and for the same reason.
My TTT.
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Sad to hear that but on the positive side, reading fewer books mean more money saved or set aside for other expenses.
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Funny, I think I had kind of the opposite shift. I read YA books as a teen, but almost only fantasy and science fiction. Only recently have I started reading contemporary YA that has nothing fantastic about it (except the writing! 😊). I still tend to gravitate toward fantasy and science fiction, but I’m enjoying mixing in the occasional real-world-based story as well.
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I think the problem with contemporaries is that themes can be pretty repetitive after a while so the reading experience deteriorates quite fast as opposed to fantasy that appeals to everyone and is not limited to any thing at all. It has several sub-genres too so there’s definitely going to be something for someone.
But same, I like mixing it up as well just to keep my reading “palate” fresh if you get what I mean.
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Yes, that’s true. There is generally more room in fantasy for innovation. Because I didn’t read as many growing up, the themes in contemporaries are newer to me, but I’m already starting to see the typical patterns more. The ones that deal with less mainstream perspectives sometimes mix it up a bit, so I tend to reach for those first. 😊
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