How My Reading Has Changed in the Last 10 Years (And Some Ways It Hasn't)

With my 10 year blogiversary having come earlier in the week (omg), I thought it would be interesting to look at how my reading has changed in the last 10 years. And while looking back at that, I realized that there are some aspects where my reading hasn't changed that much.

Less Review Books

There was one point in my life where I would take ALL the review books that sounded interesting to me. I tried to read them all in a timely manner, and I succeeded at first. But I started getting behind and soon this blog and even reading started feeling like a job. I'm a full time nurse, so I don't really need another job on top of that 😅 So, I stopped going to Netgalley daily and I even put a note on my Review Policy tab that I'm not taking requests anymore. I felt really bad, but I just couldn't juggle ALL the things. Now, I visit Netgalley only one or two times a month, and I only take review requests form authors I've worked with in the past. I don't read as many recent releases, but honestly, reading what I want when I want was definitely the right move for me.

More Adult Books

Ten years ago I only read YA. But in 2011 after having read Soul Screamers, I needed more Rachel Vincent in my life and decided to read her other series, Shifters, which just so happened to be an adult urban fantasy series. I absolutely loved it, BUT I didn't really read much adult besides that. I would read the rare one here and there, but nothing too extensive. Then in 2015 when I ran out of YA Jennifer Estep books to read, I started on Elemental Assassin and I fell in love again 😍 Since then, I've been more open minded when it comes to the adult genre and there have been some great books I have found because of it. Riley Sager's mystery/thrillers? They are fantastic! YA remains the genre I read the most books from, but adult books are definitely close behind now.

Less Paranormal Romance

I used to really like PNR, but recently I've noticed that while I do enjoy when books have romance, I don't particular love when the romance is the main plot of the story. I just need MORE to my books than just romance. And maybe it's just the books I've read, but I feel like they tend to be very instalove-y 🤢 Yuck. Get your instalove away from me. Lol. I actually just finished the third book in the Bigtime series by Jennifer Estep and omg I do NOT like the romance! I just can't with the instalove! Reading Bigtime has been such a bizarre experience for me because I absolutely ADORE Jennifer Estep's books! BUT all of her other series are either urban fantasy or epic fantasy, so romance is not the main plot. But in Bigtime it is and... I'm not into it and I feel bad for saying that because I love Jennifer Estep 😩 Lol.

More Contemporary

This one is quite a surprise to me. I used to not read any contemporary AT ALL. They are were just too everyday life for me... I needed some paranormal goodness in my life! However, in 2017 I read a book called It's a Mall World After All and I loved it 😱 I actually really enjoyed Janette Rallison's other books that had some supernatural elements to them, so I thought I'd give one of her contemporaries a chance and I ended up really enjoying it! For a while, I only ever read Janette Rallison contemporaries because I knew for a fact that I would enjoy them, but since then I have been very slowly reading other contemporaries by other authors. Now, I don't read a lot of them... maybe 1 or two a year, sometimes none, but it's definitely more than I used to read 😂 Right now I'm actually reading Instant Karma by Marissa Meyer which I would say is a contemporary, although it does have a little touch of supernatural, but I am really loving it! It is SO freaking cute! Look at me expanding my horizons 😅

Less Dystopia

The last dystopian book I read was apparently in 2014 😲 I don't really know why, as I really like dystopian books. In these recent years, I know that it has to do with the fact that it feels like we ARE living in a dystopian world 😩 But before that, idk. I definitely want to go back to reading dystopians, especially because there are still a lot of series in the genre I have not finished.

New: Audiobooks

I'm not a big audiobook reader/listener. The first one I listened to, Spider's Trap, was in 2018 and the only reason why was because I won this book in a giveaway 😂 BUT I didn't just listen to the book, I borrowed the paperback from the library and read along as I listened. I just feel like if I don't do that my mind will wander and I'll miss something. Since then I have listened to exactly one audiobook (the Tales from the Gas Station series) a year using this same method. And the only reason why I even picked up the audiobooks is because of the narrator. Lol. I have been listening to MrCreepypasta's narrations on YouTube for YEARS and I absolutely love him! Otherwise I have no interest in audiobooks 🙈

New: Manga

I love anime! In 2019 I watched the Bleach anime and I fell in love! However, shortly after finishing the anime I found out that the last arc of the series was never adapted, so I picked up the manga and read that last arc. Of course, just last year we found out that they WILL be adapting this last arc soooo yeah 😂 We actually haven't had any recent news on this, so who knows when it will come out, but I'm glad I read it either way. It was a very interesting experience for me since I had to learn to slow down and actually look at the illustrations because at one point some guy lost an arm and I didn't even know when 😂 I haven't read any more manga since then, but that's just because I don't know where to start. I really want to read more, but I haven't decided what yet.

Same: Young Adult

As I previously mentioned, YA is my favorite genre to read! It's my favorite even after all these years 🖤

Same: Sci-Fi

While I was doing research for this post (and by research I mean I was just perusing through my shelves on Goodreads 😂), I discovered that sci-fi is another genre I have been reading consistently over the years. I really thought I had read less as the years went by, but no! I guess it just feels that way because this is another genre I don't read a lot of.

Same: Horror

Horror! I have always loved horror and I've been consistently reading a lot of it throughout the years!

Same: Mystery/Thriller

Same with mystery/thriller! I read this genre year round every single year. It's one of my favorites!

Same: Urban Fantasy

But my all-time favorite is definitely urban fantasy! I just love this genre and have not grown tired of it yet!

Same: Mythology

Mythology is another genre I love! I almost feel like I don't read enough of it, but I do read a handful of books a year every year.

Same: Epic Fantasy

Epic fantasy is one genre I just don't find that alluring. I don't know why, but it's just a genre that doesn't call to me, which is crazy because I feel like it's really big right now! But idk, I'm not super into it. I literally only read one epic fantasy book a year. And if it wasn't for Jennifer Estep, I probably wouldn't read any 🤷‍♀️ (And yes, I already read my epic fantasy book for the year 😂 Capture the Crown was great!)

Same: Graphic Novels

Here is another type of book I don't read much of: graphic novels. According to Goodreads, I have only read 7 graphic novels in the last 10 years. I just prefer novels, I guess 🤷‍♀️

Same: Nonfiction

And lastly, nonfiction. Another genre I don't read a lot of. I'm just not into nonfiction, unless I'm learning something. I really enjoyed the Serial Killers one and I kinda want to read more like that one. And I also want to get more Japanese books to help me with my learning of the language, but we'll see about that. Lol.

This was a very interesting look into my reading habits of the last 10 years. I discovered some things that were quite surprising to me, but other things weren't a shock at all. I'm very interested to see how my reading will continue to evolve over the years.
And let me know if you've noticed any changes in your reading over the years!