Hi friends! Today I’m here to talk about my reading habits and the changes I’ve noticed over the years. I thought it would be nice to talk about this before I published my end of year posts. I’ve been a voracious reader my entire life so my reading life has been through some things. Let’s get into it.
1. I track my reading
This is the biggest change to my reading habits and I didn’t realize that until a few weeks ago when I was brainstorming a bookish edition of the 10 year challenge going around on social media. I didn’t start tracking my reading until I joined Goodreads in 2017. I kind of feel sad about that because I’ve read sooooo many more books that what’s on my Goodreads. Would’ve been nice to compare my reading.
2. Before joining the online book community, I mostly read adult books
Sure I read Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia, and a bunch of other childhood books (see list of favorites here), but once I made it to middle school, adult fiction became my jam. I read YA books sporadically in high school and college (Twilight and The Hunger Games), but still adult was my thing. And then I joined the online book community, discovered the vast world of YA lit, and got YA-wasted because it gave me the representation I craved.
Important note: I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that adult books appealed to me because the YA landscape was very different for me growing up (I’m 30). Harry Potter, Twilight and The Hunger Games really changed the game.
3. I love audiobooks
If you told me three years ago that almost half of my reading would be audiobooks, I would’ve scoffed at you. Audiobooks weren’t my thing until they became my thing in grad school. I tried reading them before that time (The Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes in 2015), but I couldn’t get into it. And then grad school happened. I’m glad I gave audiobooks a chance again because they’ve changed my reading life drastically.
4. I read less non-fiction
I used to read a lot of non-fiction books, including memoirs. I don’t know why I stopped. I don’t have a desire to read more of them, but maybe I’ll sprinkle a few in my reading next year.
5. I read romance
Fantasy is my favorite genre, but I’ve branched out this year and have been exploring romance with the help of my bookish friends, Mychelé and Lynell. I plan to read more next year.
6. I’ve rediscovered my love for mystery/thriller
Mystery used to be one of my favorite genres and I kind of abandoned it for some unknown reason. I’ve rediscovered my love for this genre over the past two years and I’m so freaking excited.
7. I don’t want to collect multiple editions of my favorite books
This is a very recent thing, but I’m over collecting multiple editions of the same book. I’m not going to stop collecting the books I’m still in the middle of collecting (Harry Potter illustrated editions and The Daevabad Trilogy), but I definitely won’t be collecting new favorite books or series.
8. I’ve fallen out of love with YA fantasy
This is the hardest one to talk about because I’m sad about it. I don’t know if I’m burned out from reading so much YA over the past few years or if the new releases this year didn’t appeal to me. Either way, I made the decision to read less YA fantasy in August and I plan to continue that in 2020.
Merline Reads 
I think the biggest change for me has been audiobooks and ebooks. I never read them until the last few years and now they’re most of my reading!
It’s funny how things change over time!
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It is funny! I used to be against audiobooks because I thought they weren’t for me, but gosh I’m glad I was wrong.
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Same!!!
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Collecting multiple copies of a book always made me anxious, because as much as I want them, my wallet ain’t made like that XD and I don’t have the room tbh
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Listening to audiobooks has also been a big change in my reading life!
(www.evelynreads.com)
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I definitely don’t think I’d read as much if it weren’t for audiobooks.
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I think I’ve fallen out of love with YA fantasy too, this year’s releases have been mostly disappointing for me 😦 I still don’t know which genre I should read next though haha. I also started tracking books I’ve read ever since I know goodreads and blogging 😀
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This year just wasn’t a good year for YA fantasy. Most of the books I was looking forward to turned out to be a disappointment for me.
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Yea.. I also joined GR either in 2016 or 2017, and didn’t track any of my reading before that, which is sad… I tried going through the books I own and read, adding them to my GR, but there are still A LOT of books I missed or forgot about.
At least for the next decade, we can do the “proper” comparison. (I’ll be 38 and still reading YA that I’m sure of 😀 )
OMG, me too! When I was a teen I mostly read Adult thrillers, because that’s what my mom and grandma loved, so ofc I read what was already available to me. The YA binge only started 4-5 years ago when I discovered booktube 😀
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I’m sad about the Goodreads thing. I added a few books the other day that weren’t already on my read shelf after someone mentioned them and I was like, “I’ve read that before!”
Joining the online book community made a huge impact on my reading life. I’m happy that it helped me discover new favorites, but also happy that I’m starting to focus more on my reading taste.
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I recently discovered audiobooks and I love them. They’re just such a great way to get my reading in while I’m commuting and walking the dog.
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Yes! My commute is long so listening to an audiobook while stuck in traffic always gets me right!
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Whoa! I feel like we’re so parallel on a lot of things.
I started goodreads when it started, but wasn’t active and missed a ton of books too (and obviously previous to that).
And same on the audiobooks! I found my love for them when I moved out of the city and had a slightly longer commute, even though I am back in town and only 5 minutes from work, my mornings just aren’t a good morning if I’m not at least cramming in like 15 minutes of audiobook time while putting on my makeup.
YA fantasy burn out has to be a thing. I have been sliding back into my love of contemporary romances or chick lit and definitely less of that rabbit hole of YA sci-fi fantasy.
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I’m really sad about not using Goodreads before 2017. I remember creating an account in college, but I never used it and don’t even remember the login information.
I’m taking a huge step back from YA next year and planning to be selective about the ones I pick up. Of course there are a few that have been on radar for a while so I’ll still read those but I’d love to keep YA to a minimum (preferably 10 books next year).
I would love to add more contemporary romances to my reading.
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I’m very resistant to audiobooks but maybe one day I will have a turn around like you did, lol. I also ‘burnt out’ of YA fantasy very quickly. I never read much of it, and now I’m particularly picky about which titles I’ll try. Too many of the same tropes (I feel the same way about most traditional fantasy books for adults though, so no shade to YA in general.)
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I’m planning to be selective about the YA titles I accept or request for review. I hope you find the right audiobook!
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