I've been a reader pretty much my entire life, but I would say that I've actively been reading more since 2016 when I found the book community. I've been reading a lot of my back list titles recently and thinking about my book collection more. It got me thinking about how much my reading tastes have changed since I became involved with the book community and it inspired me to write this post. This is about the evolution of my reading tastes and how I've become the reader I am today.
2016
This was the year that I actively started tracking what I was reading. I spent a lot of time reading books that I saw other book people talking about, thinking this was what I had to read in order to be a proper reader. I hadn't fully developed my reading taste yet and I spent a lot of time rating books 5 stars that I would not do if I was to read them now. I mostly read a lot of fantasy books with a few contemporary books scattered in. This time period did help me to understand what my reading taste was like and I wouldn't change anything about it.
2017
2017 was the year I started to read more widely. It was also the year I tried to read more consistently. It's only in recent years that I have made reading an important part of my life. Again, there are books that I read then that I would not rate as highly now. However, you can see that I am starting to get a bit more critical with my reviews and star ratings. I read more out of my comfort zone and more books that weren't as popular within the bookish community. 2017 was an interesting reading year and a personal year. I was moving into that mindset of a "mature" person, no longer thinking like a young teen. It had an impact on my reading.
2018
This was by far my best year as a reader. Yes, I included a lot of books that I read for college and university, but it was the year that I found my foot as a reader. You can see how my rating process changes once I started my degree and that I've become a critical reader. There is a slight sadness to this as I did feel for a while that I lost the ability to read for fun. I did reread a lot of books in 2018, the entire Shadowhunter chronicles (that were out at that time) and the HP series. This year was crucial for me as a reader as it is really the year I started to figure out what type of reader I was.
2019
I feel that this is the first year that you can see a big change in my reading. For once I read an equal balance of contemporary books and fantasy. I also started to branch out into more modern lit, books that were definitely outside of my comfort zone. I did catch up on a lot of back list titles. I may not have read as much as I did in 2018, but 2019 was probably one of the years that I was happiest as a reader. I had found a way of approaching books that worked for me and I felt proud to be a reader. I read a lot of all time favourites in 2019, which hasn't happened in a while.
It's too early to assess my reading habits for 2020, so I'm going to include some general comments here. I have read over 300 books (according to goodreads) yet looking at them, there's maybe a very small handful that I would consider all time favourites. As I've grown older and I've worked out what I like in books, I've grown more critical as a reader. It is harder to find books that I love, which means books I do love, I love every fibre of my being. I'm now approaching my twenties and I suspect my reading tastes will change even more as I grow. I do miss just reading for pure fun, but I'm glad that I'm able to read books in a different way. My tastes will continue to grow, but even in the past four years, they've stayed very similar. I love fantasy books and contemporaries. I occasionally dip my toes into other genres. I'm always surprised when books outside my usual taste end up being books I love. My reading tastes have evolved over the year and I've become a better reader.
Carenza :) x
