3 Bookish Things I Learned About Myself in 2024

For the last two years, for my birthday, I have been doing this post where I talk about bookish things I learned about myself during the year, and it has honestly become one of my favorite posts to do! Well, it's my birthday today (it's so convenient that it's at the end of the year 😆), so I am back with three more bookish things I learned about myself in 2024! (Here are the posts I did in 2022 and 2023.)

I also have some bonus ones at the end. They're things I've talked about in previous years, but I wanted to expand on them this year.

I Didn't Think Memoirs Were For Me, But I Actually Like Them 💁‍♀️

Memoirs is a genre I never really had any interest in. In fact, I hadn't read a single one until this year! And I actually read two of them back to back! Which actually wasn't the best idea because they dealt with some heavy topics so I've definitely learned my lesson there. Lol.

However, I also learned that I do, in fact, like memoirs! I just have to be interested in the person it's about... which I guess is kind of a duh point 😆 Look, idk why people pick up a memoir, but this is the reason why I did. Lol. I grew up listening to Britney Spears's music and watching Jennette McCurdy's shows, so I already had a little bit of an interest there. And I really enjoyed getting a behind-the-scenes look at their lives, heartbreaking as they were.

Space Horror Is My New Favorite Subgenre 👾

I love sci-fi and I love horror, but lately I have really been into sci-fi horror. And to be even more particular, sci-fi horror specifically set in SPACE! Idk what it is about it, but I just love it! I think I'm gonna place the blame on Paradise-1 😆 I read that book last year and I really enjoyed it! It was horrifying! And this year I read the sequel, Revenant-X and I also really enjoyed it!

And another author whose books I have been enjoying are those by S.A. Barnes (aka Stacey Kade)! I liked Ghost Station less than her debut, Dead Silence, but overall they have been really solid space horror novels! I think Dead Silence can also take some of the blame why I've become obsessed with the genre 😆 It was good! And I'm really excited because I just got her next book from Netgalley too! It's called Cold Eternity and it doesn't come out till like April of next year, but I am so, so happy my request for this book got approved!

I Love Manga, Especially Because It Saved Me From A Reading Slump 🏯

I read my first manga back in 2019 when I found out that the last arc of the Bleach manga was not going to be adapted into an anime. I had watched the Bleach anime and was OBSESSED! I literally made it my entire personality for years afterward 😂 Anyway, I was devastated when I learned that they had never adapted the last arc so I decided to give the manga a shot, and I loved it! (Also, the last arc of Bleach, the Thousand-Year Blood War, it started getting adapted into an anime 3 years after I read the manga 🤦‍♀️😂 But hey, better late than never I guess. Lol. It's ongoing at the moment and I really need to catch up!)

But since then, I hadn't read another manga. I've wanted to, but I was very overwhelmed by all the options and I just didn't know where to start. Well, this year, I fell into this terrible reading slump where I couldn't focus on full-length novels and the only things that saved me were graphic novels, comics, and manga. Manga in particular are what really did it for me though 😌 To deal with the overwhelmingness of it all, I started off with two series that I new I was going to love because I had already seen and loved the anime: Cells at Work! and Spy x Family. Then I went on Goodreads and asked some friends who read manga to give me some recommendations and now I have a ton on my tbr and I am SO excited! They are just a quick and easy read AND they really help in the numbers department if you're struggling to reach your Goodreads Reading Challenge goal 😏

Bonus

I Have Officially Entered My High Fantasy Era 👑

I have read at least 10 high fantasy books this year... so far! 😱 Guys, I used to read like 1 fantasy book a year, so this is BIG for me! I like books with fantasy elements... urban fantasy has always been one of my favorite genres! But I was never really interested in high fantasy books, and man was I missing out! In January I read the Six of Crows duology and I LOVED it! It was SO good! I actually read the entire Grishaverse but the other books don't come anywhere close to how good SoC was! And right now I'm right in the middle of Mistborn, which I'm really enjoying! AND I have a ton of other fantasy books on my tbr that I want to read before the year is over! I'm late to the genre, but just like the Thousand-Year Blood War arc of Bleach finally being adapted into an anime, better late than never 😆

I Love Love (When Done Right) 💘

Every single time I read a romance book that I don't end up liking I always think that's on me because just like high fantasy, romance is another genre I was never really into. I mean, I've obviously read a ton of books that have romance, but straight romances where rare for me. But the more romances I read the more I'm starting to figure out what I like and what I don't like. And when a romance is done right, I eat them right up! 😍 Nothing Like the Movies and Assistant to the Villain are two books (one contemporary one high fantasy) where I LOVED the romance! It was cute and they just made my cold, black heart so happy 🥰

So those are some interesting bookish observations I made about myself this year. I'm not doing anything too exciting today for my birthday... just work and probably be annoyed by a bunch of 5th graders 😭 I'm kidding, I love them. Lol. This weekend I'll probably hang out with one of my cousin's whose coming to town so we'll probably do something fun then.
Let me know if you've learned anything bookish about yourself this year!