Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and 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. This week’s theme is:
November 19: Changes In My Reading Life
The way I read has definitely changed over the last few years, and so have the books I choose to pick up. Here are just a few of them.
1. I read web comics
Up until a year or two back, I’d never discovered WebToon and never really read web comics. I read manga and graphic novels, but I’d never discovered the jobs of online comics. What was my life. Now, I have four or five series that I read and keep up with at any one time.
2. I request more books from the library
If you go back five or so years, I didn’t even know that requesting library books was a thing. But when I finished university, I started using my local libraries more often and found out it was possible. A true revelation.
3. I don’t read as much manga
This is one that saddens me, but I definitely don’t read as much manga as I used to. When I was a teen, I bought a lot of it, but then I got back into reading fiction and started to buy more of that. So it’s become a bit of a sliding scale really. As my manga intake increased, my fiction intake dropped. But now, I read much more fiction and less manga. I wish I could make time for both!
4. I treat myself to special editions more
While I was at university, I didn’t really buy myself many books. Occasionally I would buy one second-hand, but I mainly borrowed from the library or from friends, and asked for them for Christmas/my birthday. I saved the majority of my money for rent and bills, so buying books was a bit of a luxury. I certainly wouldn’t have bought special or collector’s editions – they were too much. But now that I work full-time and have a salary, I can treat myself every now and again.
5. You’ll never find me with less than four books on my Goodreads ‘currently reading’ shelf
It’s true. Gone are the days when I would merrily read one book at a time before moving on to the next. Now I have at least two e-books, two physical books, and an audiobook on the go. *cackles maniacally*
Help.
6. I read more new releases
I think this has happened because I’m reviewing more books for publishers, so I read a lot of new releases just before or just after they come out. And I’ve been really enjoying keeping up-to-date with what’s popular and well-loved as well as which books are releasing soon.
7. Audiobooks are here to stay
At the beginning of 2019, I discovered audiobooks and I’ve never looked back. I now have a Scribd account and listen to 2-3 audiobooks per month. It’s a whole new world.
8. I’m a more critical reader (I think)
I think this is partly because I studied literature at university and became more analytical, but I imagine it’s also because I’ve read enough of certain genres now to know what I like and what I don’t. (I also hope I’m reasonably good at separating strong writing from weaker writing and judging what works/what doesn’t, but I’ll let other people be the judge of that!)
9. I have a Bookstagram
I only started doing this about a year ago when I decided to turn my Instagram account (which I was barely using) into a bookstagram account. Photographing my books is pretty fun, but I need to work on posting more consistently.
(Follow me @readingthroughinfinity for IG story spam of food and book mail.)
10. I read more LGBTQ+ books
Looking back at the books I read growing up, not many were queer. This was partly because I didn’t seek them out as actively, but party because they didn’t exist as widely. Thankfully, the number of LGBTQ+ books is increasing year on year, especially in YA. When I look at how many I queer books are available and accessible to read now, compared to five or ten years ago, it makes me very happy. We’re here, we’re queer, and we’re gonna read some gay romance.
How has your reading life changed over the last few years?
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Love this list! I need to start using my library more in the new year, and I have to agree about special editions – now that I’m working and earning my own money I’m in a position where I can treat myself to special editions of certain books and I love it. 🙂
I discovered audio-books this year and it was an incredible experience, I’ll undoubtedly be listening more next year 😍👏🏻❤️
Great list! I just followed you on IG! 💕
I can relate to so much that you’ve listed here. I discovered Webtoons this year and wow, it’s a smol obsession 😂 How did I survive without it before? So good! I am learning to really appreciate more audiobooks and I’d like to think I’ve become a more critical reader as well. Wonderful TTT list 🙂
My TTT post
I have been finding that I’ve reading a lot more queer books this year too. Without even realising it,lol…But I’m going to go and look up this Webtoon!
I’ve actually been reading more manga this year, as I tentatively checked out the selection my library has & because of the library I have also read more graphic novels and comics 🥰 They are amazing to read in-between novels and I’m so sad that I didn’t read more of them in earlier years.
Hmm I’ve started buying books more often and exploring different genres that I never thought I would. And in a very unexpected turn of events, I might have started liking audiobooks. That’s one thing I never thought would happen!