November 19, 2019

Top Ten Tuesday: Changes in My Reading Life


It's weird to think about how my reading life has evolved over the years. Like, I still sometimes think of myself as the same reader I was in 2013 when I started reviewing books, but that's so not true. Here's how I think I've changed as a reader.


1. I make an effort to read more diversely.
I pay attention to publishing deal announcements for authors of color so I can purposefully add them to my TBR. (Especially when the books are historical fiction or cute contemporary romances!)


2. I'm a more critical reader.
I definitely read fewer new favorites every year and I feel like my overall rating hovers quite low. That might be a side effect of reading so many books, but I'm skeptical.


3. I read more adult fiction and nonfiction.
This is a fairly recent development! It started with reading more memoir-type books, but especially this year I've read a few more adult romance books. Then since last fall, I've read a ton more adult historical fiction, and this fall I've started adding cozy mysteries to my TBR lists.


4. I read fewer books every year.
Becoming an adult sucks, if the side effects include having less time for reading. 2015 was a peak year - I read 281 books. In the three years since, though, I've read 223 books, 229 books, and 202 books. If I continue at my current pace for 2019, I'll be at 212 (based on average through October). Still a really good number, I know, but I can feel when I'm reading fewer books. (The middle of September was rough this year, honestly. A bunch of DNFs or books I read ten pages of, then stopped.)


5. I DNF, or even straight up remove books from my TBR, more.
I've gotten more comfortable with DNFing books over the years. Even more so these last few years, if I get a couple chapters into a book and I'm not feeling it, I'll just remove it from my TBR (so it doesn't count as a DNF and affect my overall reading stats lol), or I'll do occasional purges where I remove anything from my TBR where the bad reviews have opinions I'd likely share.


6. I reread less.
I love to reread favorites, and I tend to not buy books unless I think I'll reread them. But trying to juggle all the new books that publish each year with rereads has become harder.


7. I'm more aware of new picture books.
Although this is partially due to my internship, I definitely pay attention to upcoming picture books, and recent releases too. (Ruby Finds a Worry is one of my favorites!)


8. I'm buying more classics...but not reading them.
The Canterbury Classics collection continues to be my favorite classics set, but I discovered the Evergreens collection during my internship, and they have some gorgeous covers too. (And books that CC hasn't done yet, such as North and South and Anne Bronte's works.) But I definitely need to sit down and read more of the classics on my shelves.


What changes have you noticed in your reading life?

6 comments:

  1. I'm reading fewer books these days as well.

    My TTT.

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  2. There are a few that you've got on here that made my own list--like reading more critically and diversely (I'm ashamed to admit that my reads still aren't as diverse as I hoped they'd be, but my TBR definitely has a lot more diversity)! Great list :)

    My TTT post

    ReplyDelete
  3. I relate to 1.3. and 8. I had fun reading this. Here is my post-https://paigesofbook.blogspot.com/2019/11/welcome-back-i-have-missed-doing-top.html.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have tried to read more diversely lately. I find that I am enjoying what I read more and it has helped me learn a lot about myself. Have a great week and great list!

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  5. I'm definitely a more critical reader than I used to be, and if a book isn't good or I've lost interest, I'll stop reading.

    Great list! :)

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  6. Reading your list, I realise that DNFing and trying to find more diverse reads are also things I do now!

    ReplyDelete

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