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 of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.
November 19: 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 is going to be a very interesting post because 2019 has marked so many huge changes in my reading life, to the point where I really feel like a new person, bookishly-speaking at least. I’ll go in order from the most huge change to least huge change.
1.) Just consistently reading in the first place.
When I was little, reading was my foremost hobby. But in my teen years and beyond, so many other things competed for attention and reading fell by the wayside. From around 2008 to 2017 I experienced the biggest reading slump ever. Finished maybe 1 book or up to 5 books per year and was just focused on other things. There were several books and series that seemed interesting, but to just sit down and finish a book seemed like an unlikely activity that I wouldn’t have the patience for.
In 2018 I was pretty into watching Youtube or having videos running in the background while doing other things and noticed that the lion’s share of anything I was listening to was just kind of random junk that wasn’t too enriching. My goal was to have more enriching yet relaxing and positive background noise.
After unsubbing from a ton of channels and trying to reorient my subscriptions, I happened across various bookish videos. Channels like BooksandLala, MyReadingIsOdd, LilyCReads, and KatesBookDate among many many others. After having bookish videos play in the background, before long I was becoming keenly interested in all kinds of books. The reading community is so positive and healthy (in comparison) to many other communities out there. Before long I was dying to read certain books that were getting a lot of praise or series that sounded interesting. In summary, though I’m only a watcher, Booktube is what re-sparked that love of reading.
2.) Blogging about books.
I never imagined starting a reading blog. The main thing that finally pushed me is realizing how I was reading all these books and enjoying them and having a lot to say about them. July of this year in particular was a turning point in realizing how enjoyable review-writing was and wanting to have an organized space for them outside of Goodreads. Definitely happy to have taken that step and it’s branched out so much further than I could have ever imagined.
3.) Finishing books.
I often abandoned books prior to reading regularly, writing reviews, and blogging. Even if I liked them it was so easy to get distracted, forget about a title, and just leave it in limbo. Reviewing and blogging has helped massively in keeping focused and diligent.
4.) Reading new releases.
Just early this year I’d had thoughts about how I didn’t want to read new releases since I wasn’t sure if they’d be enjoyable and wanted to read a lot of reviews before committing to reading a book. Reading titles with lots of ratings/high ratings was also preferable. To be reading so many ARCs late this year has been a real inversal of that tendency.
5.) Reading fantasy novels.
I never imagined reading a 500+ page fantasy / high fantasy tome and liking it. That A Game of Thrones was likable and readable and at all personally appealing still surprises me. Prior to 2019 I only mainly read romance, contemporary, and some YA.
6.) Reading big books.
I’m thinking of the aforementioned A Game of Thrones and also A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara and even The Shining by Stephen King. Giant tomes. I’ve read long books before but several of them within a year has been startling and now I’m not intimidated by longer books at all anymore, it’s all about the writing style.
7.) Going to libraries more often.
Going to the library a lot this year, observing book sales, and just hanging out. I really regret not going to the library in previous years- it really puts you in a different frame of mind to be in a quiet and relaxing space like that.
8.) Reading less Romance.
I’m still an unabashed fan of romance but had never imagined that genre would be in the minority of overall books read this year. There was a time where romance was the be-all-end-all of appealing genres for me.
9.) Openness to (nearly) any genres.
The sky is basically the limit now as far as what genres can be enjoyable. There are several books this year that I was expecting to dislike that have instead become favorites.
10.) Buying more books.
It probably goes without saying given the rest of this list, but I’ve been more interested in buying books and bookish things lately. For example, an Owlcrate box is coming soon (maybe today or tomorrow?) and I’m so excited to open it. Didn’t even know what Owlcrate was a few months ago or book subscription boxes in general.
Wow this was a long post! Thanks so much for reading and I look forward to seeing everyone else’s TTT. ~ Kitty
Kitty Marie's Reading Corner 
I love that comic… everytime I see it I can’t help but laugh and realize that’s me. Great post!
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lol I love that comic, knew I had to use it when bringing up the buying books topic.
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Great list! I really want to try and use my library more next year. 🙂 Booktube helped me so much, too – when I was at uni it was booktube that kept my interest in reading for fun when I was spending so much time reading for my degree!
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Thanks!! I’m glad that this list has been relatable. 😀 Totally agree with your thoughts on Booktube too, a lot of Booktubers are so enthusiastic about books. Reading course-assigned books can often feel like work so I’m glad you were able to keep in mind all the fun ones out there.
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I’m definitely in the same boat when it comes to more genres. It’s been so nice!
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I’m glad you’re reading more genres too! It’s very freeing and expands so much on the variety of books to read. Especially for reading slumps, it usually ends up being a particular genre that gets old and moving onto a radically different one cures it. 😀
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Kitty I missed you!!!! I’m so glad I’m finally able to stop and take time to read your posts! I totally agree that I am buying so many books!
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I miss you too Dana :DD So glad to hear from you, hope all has been well. ❤ ! I think we both started book blogging around the same time, buying books is definitely a big side effect of it lol.
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This is such a cool post!! I totally relate to having that several year book slump before getting back into reading again ☹️ I’m so grateful to love books again! Can anyone participate in TTT?
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Thanks!! Glad I’m not alone in having returned to reading after a several year slump. ❤ Anyone can do TTT, you can find details on the themes to cover here http://www.thatartsyreadergirl.com/top-ten-tuesday/ I'd love to read your post(s) if you decide to do them in the future. 😀
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Cool!! It seems like a fun premise, especially since I already make lists obsessively 😂😊
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Great post, Kitty! I relate to so many of the changes you’ve gone through. It’s definitely been the same for me since joining the book community! Never thought I’d start a reading blog either but no regrets at all 😂 So glad you decided to start one too!
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Thanks so much ❤ ❤ I'm glad you started your reading blog too! I always thought it would be hard and way too consuming and while it's pretty time consuming, once I just got the ball rolling it was an easy process and a smooth journey. 😀
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Ah, I had an awful slump around middle school/ high school as well and it took a lot of work on my part to get out of it! For me, Goodreads challenge was super motivating! 🙂 I’m glad we got over it though! It’s so much fun to read and blog and be a part of the bookish community! ❤
My TTT
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oh my gosh Goodreads Challenge was one of my big motivators too! Hope you reach your 2019 goals. 🙂 And much agreed on blogging and being part of the bookish community, it has been a great motivator too.
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Same with buying more books and reading less romance. Great TTT!
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Thanks so much! I’m surprised several people have had the same experience with liking romance and reading it less this year. Hopefully will find some great titles in the genre next year.
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What a great post! I’ve enjoyed your reading adventures.
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Thanks so much Jane! Was worried I had gotten too carried away with this post lol, very glad it was enjoyable. 🙂
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Oh my word! I’m the same with you in regards to romance being my least read genre this year when it’s usually the most frequent genre I read (by far). I’ve had a real fantasy kick this year! I’m also at the library a lot more which is great. I love the atmosphere of my local one! I could stay there all day 😀 Jen
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So glad you have a relaxing and wonderful library! A friend of mine has a 5-storey library in a big historic building that is just gorgeous and I’m jealous LOL. I’m hoping to read romance again with renewed vigor in 2020, so many such titles on my TBR and was so into it in prior years. 🙂
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Thoses are all good ones!
I really need to read more, specially during daytime – though on my case it’s not only because I choose to do something else (imean.. yes 😂 but not only) as I need to build up more concentration and i’m easily distracted… as of which is a pain for reading fantasy also, as I get lost within world — in the wrong side of the term ahah. I have literally so much trouble picturing what’s happening and i’m absolutely lost xd
The community also changed the books i’ve read and made me pickup books I never would’ve before! I discovered contemporaries were a thing, and one of my most loved genre aswell as Ya!
Though i’m still scared of big books, I do loan alot more books via my libby app! (Went there once- compared to well, zero).
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Libby is so incredible! I use it too. Getting a book after a long wait time is such a great feeling! I know what you mean about building concentration and visualizing. When I start a new book that is the biggest potential obstacle sometimes (especially in long books, fantasy/sci-fi, or more difficult books.)
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Love this post Kitty!!! I really know what you mean about going into a period of a number of years where you read so little! It’s so strange isn’t it. This thing that you identify so strongly as suddenly dries up!!… I
Fab take on this week’s TTT :))))
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I’m glad you loved this post! 😀 When I had started reading again it was so exciting and invigorating. I think the break (though it was WAY too long of a break) really helped in building that enthusiasm again. Hope to never have such a long reading slump again though!
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Blogging has been a huge change for me too over the last few years, I’ve met so many more book lovers and have expanded my reading lists again!
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With a few tweaks, your list remind me of changes in my writing style in the last year or so. I enjoyed this.
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