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Has your taste in reading changed over the years?


Athena

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As I was thinking back to the kind of books I read when I was a teenager and how nowadays I read different kinds of books, I thought it'd be fun to make a thread and ask if all your reading tastes have changed over the years.

 

When I was a child and younger teenager, I read a lot of both fiction and non-fiction. It was about evenly split, because the library allowed x books in each of those two categories. Fiction wise, I read many kinds of children's and teen / young-adult stories. I didn't really think about certain genres, though from what I remember most of what I read was contemporary fiction, historical fiction, chick-lit, horror and fantasy. There weren't many science-fiction books for children in the library. Non-fiction wise I read about many subjects, including health, technology, biology, science, history, zoology, astronomy and psychology. I read a lot of the non-fiction books in my library, only skipping a very few number of categories (ie. the section on famous people, this was less interesting to me).

 

When I got older and started to learn more in school, and we moved, I kind of stopped reading non-fiction since I already got a lot of information at school. Also the non-fiction adult books at the library (I read all the non-fiction children's books and was getting older) were either too simple or too complicated. For adult books I read a lot of thrillers, a few detectives and horror, such as It by Stephen King, Dutch and English literature for school (I started to buy more books now that I was older and got pocket money, eventually I stopped going to the library because I felt I read most of the interesting books there, they didn't have a big English section either). I also read the occasional science-fiction novel (Dune by Frank Herbert stands out as well as the Mars series by Kim Stanley Robinson). I also read some chick-lit, mainly by Virginia Andrews (I suppose it'd be called YA these days).

 

I discovered the fantasy (adult) genre by borrowing the books of one of my friends and started to read a lot of that from the library. I also read the Otherworld series by Tad Williams, they're science-fiction / fantasy. Slowly I started to read less thrillers, horror, detective and paranormal and more fantasy stories (and the literature for school). A few years later I started to read more science-fiction (inspired by my boyfriend's brother, he recommended ie. Peter F. Hamilton and Joe Haldeman). I was a Bachelor student at the university and felt non-fiction books didn't really teach me a lot anymore than I already knew and wanted to know, so I didn't really read many of them.

 

A few years after that I discovered how much fun contemporary fiction and chick-lit are/were, and started to read (and buy) more of those.

 

These days I'm reading more non-fiction books than a few years ago, mainly self-help books (mainly on the Kindle). After not reading much historical fiction the past ten years, I'm rediscovering my love for that genre (ie. The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber or the books by Penny Vincenzi). I'm also rediscovering literature, horror and detective stories. I'm reading a lot of contemporary fiction, chick-lit, fantasy and science-fiction, and to a lesser extent the genres mentioned above.

 

I don't remember the exact times when all the above happened, but this should give a general outline. In so far as comics and manga go, I read comics (mainly Donald Duck) when I was a child but not much once I got older. I discovered manga when I met my boyfriend and have been reading some manga now and then (mainly borrowing from him, and I've bought a few).

 

In terms of format, when I was a child I didn't really care whether my books were hardcover or paperback. Many books only had one of the two available so I kind of just bought what was available. In the library all books are hardcover. Slowly as I got older I started to prefer smaller paperbacks (easier in the hands, no unhandy flap, my hands are small so it's easier to hold, it's cheaper).

 

In terms of ebooks vs. paperbooks, I was quite against an ereader at first but I've had my Kindle since a few months and am finding it quite handy, especially when travelling. I'm reading both fiction and non-fiction on it, though it should be said I haven't actually read a long fiction book on it yet, mainly self-help books and short fiction stories (unavailable in tree book format).

 

That's kind of my story genres-wise (with a bit added about format), what about yours? Have your reading tastes changed over the years? Has anyone influenced you to read more of a certain genre?

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During the years my tastes are changed, but not radically. I have discovered new genres (like histotical, thriller, YA) but I read also non-fiction like my first books.

 

My testes are axpanded, but no one have influenced me, though I have borrowed a lot of book from my uncle, who has other tastes.

 

Initially, I'm also favorite hardcover than paperback, later I began to buy paperbacks, as because they are more comfortable as for the price. 

I love books, but, for economic reasons, I read more on my ebook reader.

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My reading tastes change all the time!  I think the main thing that stays with me is that, with regards to fiction (which is the bulk of my reading), I want to read a good story and be entertained.  I'll accept recommendations and inspiration from all directions, and joining the forum opened me up to a whole load of avenues that I never would have followed otherwise.

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My tastes have changed fairly dramatically over the years. 

 

Until I joined a book club (and then here) in 2006 I pretty much exclusively read chick-lit or travel writing.   I still love the latter but don't enjoy the former any more - they don't have enough substance for me and I find them largely predictable.   There is the odd exception - I do enjoy Emily Barr's books still.

 

When I was a teenager I read Catherine Cookson a lot!  Then I went on to Dick Francis and read him pretty exclusively - I wouldn't read Cookson now, but I'd probably still enjoy the odd Dick Francis.  :)

 

Nowadays I have quite a varied reading diet - in the last 7 years I've read some cracking books that I wouldn't have attempted before joining the book group.  :)

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My taste in reading hasn't changed through the years. I still mix generes quite a lot: non-fiction, sci-fi, YA, fantasy, thriller.. I read all sort of books. I'm reading more fantasy in the last few years, but it's only because it's much easier to find them now than 15 years ago. 

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My taste in books has changed in a huge way, most of it down to this site and the people on it. I used to read non-fiction almost exclusively but then I read Brave New World because if a mention in a podcast about psychedelic drugs (random but true, for someone who doesn't do drugs I know a vast amount about them). This got me interested into reading more fiction but I didn't know where to turn or what to read so I searched for a book forum and this was the best of them. If I had been told 10 years ago that I would love a book like Memoirs of a Geisha I would have thought you had gone crazy.

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Hard to say honestly. I have always been a 'everything kinda gal' - meaning I like almost everything. There is maybe only three or four genres of music I avoid, one genre of book I avoid, and one genre of game I avoid. Only thing I find changing all the time is my taste in food.   :giggle2:

Edited by Devi
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My taste has definitely changed.  As a teen I read things like Judy Blume and moved onto similar things in adult books as I got older.  At some point (can't remember when) I tried crime and stopped reading 'romance' as my llbrary called it.  I mostly read crime still, but sometimes read what I call family sagas - Maeve Binchy sort of books.  Sometimes I read thrillers and things like Jodi Picoult (my library has her books as general fiction).  My library organises books into sections by genre, so it makes it easy to find something similar to what you like.  I've read a little bit of science fiction and fantasy but didn't like it.  I also read a bit of non fiction, mostly history, and true crime.

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My tastes have also changed a lot over the years. As a child and young adult I used to read mostly mass market paperbacks and historical fiction, but as I got older and into my late 20's and 30's I read more non fiction - predominantly revisionist history and religion and so on - I did though spend 5 years writing a book on those subjects and so had to read a lot of that stuff in order to do my own writing and back up my own theories. After I finished writing though I turned back to reading more fiction. Since I got my Kindle 2 years ago now, my reading has literally exploded, to the point where it takes me now an average of just 3 days to read a book (it used to take sometimes 2 weeks). I find I am reading more and more international fiction, which I love as it teaches me so much about the world around me and how different people see and experience things.  

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  • 2 weeks later...
My book interests lean more toward "literary" and, while I peruse most genres with an open-mind, I tend to have sort of snobbish tastes; I'm picky when it comes to style and openings. Those types of books beginning with "a hook" will oftentimes not hook me. I don't enjoy "book tricks" or "popcorn style reading."

 

As we live in the Age of the Image, I see that tragic trend of explicit transitions, telling us a story as if it's a film. And the art of storytelling seems to be eroding from the mainstream literature hitting shelves. Publishing houses will more than often aim for what makes the most money; it's particularly why I avoid Young Adult and Romance.

 

Growing up, I read strictly adult fantasy. Now I just can't enjoy it. Even Neil Gaiman is too fantastical for me.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I used to read a lot more fantasy and sci-fi than I do now. There's no real reason for that, I still enjoy both genres. The biggest change over the last ten years is that I have the patience now to read classics like Jane Austen or Dickens which I certainly didn't in my teens or twenties.

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I have to say that my taste in books hasn't really changed over the years, I started out reading terry pratchett and LOTR and then went ono other fantasy books. I also read what I call historical action adventure books :-) . I have very little patience for none fiction books unless the are really really intresting. So no real change for me the only thing that really changes in what I read is what book I am going to read... action... Catch the bad guys...or something with magic and dragons in it? :-) lol

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  • 3 weeks later...

My tastes tend to cycle, but not really change. There are phases where I read a lot of crime stories, then, when I get bored with them I go on to fantasy and Victorian stories. Then I might start to read some old-school sci-fi in between before getting back to what I was doing.

But I can't even remember the last time I started on an entirely new genre.

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Back in the day I used to love reading Tom Slemen's Haunted Liverpool series. In the beginning he used to compile a book full of short stories based on local legends and folk stories and apparently used to research them thoroughly etc. In the later books it seemed like he was just writing lazy fiction/horror stories with no believability or substance. I couldn't read one of them now because I'm too cynical. Also, back around the same time I bought a big book of Edgar Allan Poe, read about five stories and got bored. Just read one of those same stories last night and was blown away by how good it is.

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When I was younger I enjoyed reading Fantasy novels, but as time has moved on Fantasy novels have grown into sets and I find myself reading more Crime Fiction.

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I think I have relaxed in my reading choices and am more accepting of who I am through them. When I was younger I was always very conscious of how I was viewed by others and felt I should be viewed to be reading things not because I enjoyed them but because they "looked good". Now I am happy to submerge myself in fantasy and a lot of young adult books as I feel its important to enjoy what you are reading and I feel you can encourage others to read by being passionate about your choices.

My friends and I started a book club which introduced me to authors I may not have usually read and think I will probably join the reading group on here to broaden my choices further 

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I did that too, now that I think about it. I read a lot of Shakespeare in 8th grade (his comedies where quite enjoyable, but I wouldn't recommend the German translations to anyone), and I remember trying to get through Heidegger in 10th.

As you can imagine, I was not very popular. ;)

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