Today’s Top Ten Tuesday is about the changes in my reading life. I’ve been around the blogosphere for nine years now, and I feel like my reading life and habits have changed a lot. How has yours changed?
1. I’m a more analytical reader
This is also partly thanks to studying English Literature, and also partly thanks to watching and analysing countless TV shows, but my reading life has also been greatly affected! Since starting blogging, I’ve become much more analytical with my reading because I need to think up things to say about the books I’m reading, whether it’s for a review or to discuss with friends!
2. I have a lot of people to talk to about books
Back before I started blogging, I had no one to talk about books with. That’s part of the reason I – and many others, I’m sure – started a blog. Now I have hundreds of people who are around pretty much every second of the day who will talk about books with me, and it’s an amazing feeling! I’ve made some incredible friends through blogging, but I also really appreciate all the acquaintances I’ve made on Twitter and Booktube. If we’re not considered friends yet, I hope we will be given the time!
3. I read a lot more diversely
Over the years my reading has become more and more diverse. I’m thankful to the people around me for this, because so many people I know are amazing advocates for diverse reads, and without them I don’t think as many diverse books would be on my radar. It also helps that the publishing industry is publishing more and more diverse books every year (although it has a long way to go).
4. I can discover books more easily
I used to have such a tough time discovering new books as I lived in a small village and could only shop for books in charity shops (poverty problems!), but now I have access to an amazing community who will recommend me books at the drop of a hat. If I’m not on Twitter, I can find books through Instagram, Goodreads, Booktube… almost anywhere!
5. I have more reading apps on my phone
What did we do without reading apps?!
6. I read less urban fantasy and paranormal romance
Related to the charity shops thing above, I used to read sooo much urban fantasy and paranormal romance books! I first got into the genre at about 16, and I blew through so many series. I think I kind of wore myself out in the genre, because now I rarely find myself picking it up. I’ve moved on to thrillers and epic fantasy now more than anything. This could also be related to the genre trends in publishing changing, rather than just me being different!
7. I read so many more books
Not to brag, but I went from reading about twenty books a year (that was my absolute minimum) to reading about one hundred and thirty. This might be because I’m not at school any more, but it also seems to be related to how much I have going on in my personal life. Is that obvious? I just noticed that when I first started blogging I jumped up to one hundred plus books a year, and then the first couple of years I was with my partner (and had a few rubbish things going on) I was back down to about fifty books. Now I’ve jumped up to over one hundred and thirty again and I don’t know how that happened because I’m still quite a busy person!
Great list! Yes, having people to gush and rant about books with in the book blogging community is so much fun, and is one of the main reasons I blog. I do know other people who read in real life, but I feel like I can unleash my inner fangirl when I’m blogging.
I agree, it’s much easier to fangirl online!
I’m reading less paranormal fantasy these days as well.
Here is our Top Ten Tuesday.
I think it’s a common trend!
Love your list! I personally still turn to UF or PR for a palate cleanser between heavy reads. It is still definitely my comfort book genre of choice!
I recently read an adult UF and it was the perfect palate cleanser!
I definitely don’t have trouble discovering new books. In fact, that seems to kind of be a problem for me. Too many books, not enough time. I enjoyed your list!
Haha me too!
Great list, I definitely identify with a lot of these. The best changes after starting a blog for me were also having more people to talk to about books, being more in the loop of new releases due to seeing everyone talk about them and reading more! In my TTT list I talked mostly about things I’ve learned about my reading tastes 🙂
That’s a good idea! I wasn’t sure how people would approach this topic, but there seems to be a lot of different takes!
I love how easy it is to discover new books within the book community too!
Yes! It’s such a great community.
Reading apps make life so much easier. Fun list.
My TTT.
Agreed.
I read way more books, too. It’s awesome! 🙂
I agree!
I honestly don’t know what I would do without my reading apps. 🙂
I’m always on the lookout for more!
Love my reading apps as well! Great list!
My TTT
Thank you!
Definitely hear you on the buzz about books. People these days seem so much more dialed-in, particularly as regards their favourite genres/age-range/authors. Makes me wonder if it’s only certain genres that are leveraging social media like booktube and bookstagram? Because to hear some publishing houses talk, they’re constantly on the verge of bankruptcy o.O
I think it’s definitely only certain genres! I could talk about that topic for ages, but it definitely seems as though a few genres are all anyone talks about. And they have the biggest fanbases on Booktube and IG, whereas certain genres have much smaller niche vloggers/bloggers who talk about them. I wouldn’t listen to that talk from the publishers to be honest. They keep having their best years yet!
Great list. I definitely find I now have people to talk about books (finally! That was the whole point of blogging) but it’s still annoying when you read a good book and twitter/blogging friends haven’t got to it yet so who can you talk to about it? I feel like the biggest thing for me is I have a more diverse range of books on my shelves (not just one genre) but also the books I do read are way more diverse. And the biggest thing? My TBR list has got a thousand times bigger and I can never hope to read them all.
I tend to seek people out if none of my friends have read the book! Or I nag my friends until they do read it haha.
So glad to see you’re also reading more diversely!
Thanks Kirsty!
It’s weird, because I’ve never thought of it before, but now that you mention it, I definitely think blogging and studying lit have made me into a more analytical reader, which also shows in how I watch movies. I definitely read more diversely and I can discover books more easily as well – before I joined the book blogging community I would mostly read books that were hyped (mostly in my own country, Hungary) and ones my friends recommended. I would go on to goodreads to look through the genres and lists, but without blogs, I really had a harder time of finding books. Either way, I love this post, and I relate to a lot of it. 🙂
Amazing list!! I definitely started my blog purely because I needed to squeal about books with someone other than myself XD
Since I started blogging and reading blogs, it is so much easier to get good recommendations ( although my TBR is not happy about this….. at all)! And much easier to find diverse recs too! I’m so happy to see so many new diverse reads coming out, but I definitely agree that publishing has some ways to travel yet!
What is a reading app???? I didn’t even know there were reading apps? What? T _ T WHY AM I ALWAYS SO LATE AT DISCOVERING AWESOME READING THINGS!!!
I forgot to put it on my list, but number 2 is a big change for me too. Before I started blogging, I didn’t have anyone to share my love of books with.
It’s so nice to have fellow book lovers around so we can discuss the books we love. I think I read more now that I used to, maybe not compared to childhood me when multiple books could be devoured in one sitting, but certainly, more than I did about 10 years ago.
Aww, I love the have-people-to-talk-books-with change. That would apply to me too. Love when a post inspires conversation about a book or fangirl thing. It’s one of THE best things about blogging and writing. 🙂 Thanks for the Finding Wonderland visit last week.
I think I could check all the points of your list haha