Top Ten Tuesday – Ten Changes in My Reading Life

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.  Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!

This week’s TTT topic is Changes In My Reading Life (Maybe you like different genres or topics, maybe you read faster than you used to, maybe you only like standalones now).  This was a pretty easy topic for me because my reading habits have definitely changed a lot over the years and most especially since I started blogging.  Here are ten changes that came to mind right away as I considered this topic.

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10 Changes In My Reading Life

1. My books read per year count has increased dramatically, especially since I started blogging.  

I used to set my Goodreads goal at 40-45 books a year and sometimes struggled to reach that goal. In the past three years, however, I’ve now read close to 100 books a year.  This year has been my best reading year by far with a total of 131 books as of the time of me writing this post.

2. I read more new releases.

This change is a double-edged sword because while I love read ARCs and all of the latest releases, my backlist has gotten out of control from where I’ve neglected it so much in recent years.  One of my goals for 2020 is to really increase the number of backlist books I read.

3. I have a new appreciation for Romance.

I attribute this change to finally choosing better books that feature romances. I apparently sucked at picking them on my own, but thanks to some great recs from my fellows bloggers, Sam and Tanya in particular, I’m having much better luck with romance reads than ever before.

4. I read less classics.

I have mixed feelings about this change too because I actually enjoy reading them and still have a list of ones I hope to get to at some point.  I’ve just pushed them aside in favor of newer books for a few years now.

5. I read more ebooks than printed books.

This is probably one of the biggest changes in my reading habits because I was very old school for a while there. I completely rejected anything to do with ebooks. No particular reason other than I’m stubborn as a mule and sometimes hate change, lol. I’m all about the ebooks now, to the extent that sometimes even if I own a paper copy of the book, I’ll still get the ebook because I love the portability of it.  Those behemoth George R.R. Martin books immediate come to mind.

6. I now embrace audiobooks.  

I know, right?  This old schooler has really gotten on the technology bandwagon in 2019, lol.  The first time I tried audiobooks, it was back when you could only get them on CD.  I’m lazy and that was just too much work for me.  I also struggled because the narrator’s voice was so slow.  Enter e-audiobooks and apps where you can speed up the narration and color me sold on audiobooks!

7.  Reading isn’t just for nighttime anymore.

This one is definitely a change that took place once I started blogging.  For me, reading used to pretty much exclusively happen at night right before bedtime.  Even though I’d always carry a book around with me, I rarely made time to read during the day.  That all changed when I started blogging and now I try to sneak a few pages here and there at every opportunity throughout the day.

8. I buy more books.

Part of this is just due to the fact that I’m better off financially now than in the past, but it’s also because I consider myself a book collector as well.  I want that home library feeling where I’m surrounded by all of my favorite books.

9. Less re-reading.

I have a few favorites that I still like to re-read occasionally, but by and large, I rarely find myself re-reading these days.  I think this is mainly just lack of time because I’m reading and reviewing so many new releases.  I even tried to do a re-reading challenge a couple of years ago and failed miserably at it.

10. I read more seasonal/holiday themed books now than ever before. 

With the exception of A Christmas Carol, up until recently, I’ve never had much interest in seasonal or holiday reads, but I’ve developed an appreciation for them in recent years.  Like with so many other changes I’ve noticed, I attribute this to getting some great recs from bloggers and realizing that holiday reads, especially Christmas ones, can be all kind of fun.  This change has also been accompanied by a newfound love for Hallmark Christmas movies.  Maybe I’m just the Grinch and my heart has grown three sizes lately, lol.

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What are some changes you’ve noticed in your own reading habits over the years?