It’s that time of the month (no, not THAT time 😉 ) where I have ideas spontaneously bursting about book discussion.
And I wondered what are your reading habits ? Do you stick to a preferred genre? Do you seek diversity? Would you read everything or shy away from some kind of books? So are you reading fluid? What’s your literary journey?
My personal reading journey has seen many genres. I think the only kind of book I did not read, aside for studies, are non fictional books. Or technical books. I read to evade my day to day life, to learn, to dream….
I read my first “real” books (non illustrated ones) when I was around 10 or 11. I began with Stephen King (Carrie and Cujo) and J.M.Auel “The Earth Children series”. Not really children books I know.
From 14 to 15 I fell in love with historical books. I read plenty novels about Egypt (especially Ramses and Atchepsout). I shifted to Italy with the Medici. I love art and the Italian Renaissance is my favorite period. This was followed by The Three Musketeers and all novels written by Alexandre Dumas father or “cape and swords” books.
It was better than my history class as I learned tons of interesting facts and details about these centuries. Enormous help for my exams and so much more fascinating than my old dusty teacher.
As a “late teenager” /young adult I read The Pillars of the Earth, extraordinary book by Ken Follet. As thick as The Bible and again fascinating. It also was my first read in English (I know, it’s go big or go home with me 😉 ).
Then I fell in love with Dirk Pitt and Jack Ryan. In other words: adventure books or spy books. Dirk Pitt is that handsome single guy with green green eyes working for the NUMA and sauntering from one adventure to the other while sleeping with gorgeous girls he impresses with his collection of old timers. His creator : Clive Cussler. Jack Ryan well I guess you know him by now.
Momentarily fed up with adventure and male heroes I fell into RomCom or chicklit as a young woman. My mentors were Sophie Kinsella, Marian Keyes, Jane Green and Katie Fford. Some Lauren Weisberger too (The Devil Wears Prada).
I already had my kids when I discovered Twilight. It was pure random as I was at the bookshop and heard conversation between a teenager and the shopkeeper. The book was out of stock and it picked my interest. It was my first vampire book. Don’t laugh (or maybe laugh as it’s good for your health) but I must have read it 4 times! I fell in love with YA books and never fell out of love so far.
I devoured Fallen; Hush Hush; How to Date a Vampire or in contemporary “If I Stay” etc….
Always curious and looking for something new I tried erotica with Fifty Shades Of Grey (everyone spoke about the book I HAD to know what all the fuss was about) then dark and twisted with The Dark Duet by CJ Roberts and Twist Me by Anna Zaires.
I also tried M/M romance with Wolfsong by TJ Klune and it’s been one of the most moving and beautiful books I’ve read. I certainly did not expect it!
But you know what? After all these books, I still have to read a book about a gender fluid character! As that seems the hype I’m sure I’ll take the plunge one of these days 😉
Conclusions/questions
Is it easy to be “reading fluid” as a reader? Hell yes! It opens the mind feeds my curiosity and is a big perk bonding with my kids/teenagers now.
As a blogger…it’s not so clear cut! If your goal is to gather thousands of followers from my own very short and biased experience it seems a weakness. When you’re only into sweet or hot romance you have a label and amateurs of the genre flock to you. They know they’ll find the latest hot news for their preferred genres.The same if you (nearly) only blog about YA. Or I would guess about other genres.
Blogging is a way to express my passions. To show who I am and what I love. To chat with people sharing the same love or have totally different tastes (I like diversity as you have guessed). And I am ALL the reads above.
So I guess it will be like high school. I’ve never been the Queen Bee followed by a flock of eager friends/acquaintances ready to gather crumbs of my attention.
I was more like the nerd with a small bunch of friends making up in loyalty and kindness for their small number. And I never would have traded these friends for fame.
True to myself I’ll stay: an avid and curious book lover ready to embrace the literary world’s diversity 😉 and maybe a UFO among bloggers.
Let’s chat:
Now who are you? What genre do you read? What’s your reading path? Would you rather stay true to yourself or trade everything “For Fortune and Fame” (Nickelback song Rockstar).
I feel like I like a wide variety of genres, but lately have tended to stay in the ya genre. I enjoy crime/thriller, horror, historical fiction, sci-fi and fantasy, as well as most genres within ya. I have never been a fan of romance, but have read a couple Nora Roberts trilogies for their fantasy story-lines. I like to be diverse, I just haven’t been lately.
Hi Darque Dreamer horror may be the only genre I’ll never read. Too chicken So I admire you! Do you like to be frightened? The thrill?
Good questions. I’m not very fluid. I stick to romance these days.
I started my reading path with books like “The Golden Compass” and fantasy, mostly. Then Harry Potter in my teens and Twilight also in my teens.
When I was 15 I fell in love with adult paranormal romance: Sherrilyn Kanyon, JR Ward, etc.
Then I shifted from NA to YA before I ditched YA almost entirely. I also used to read lots more rom-coms, while now I’m picky because sometimes I find them juvenile and too silly. I need some meat in my books!
Now it’s mostly contemporary romance, some NA and PNR from authors I love.
I discovered MM around… 3-4 years ago, with “Lover At Last” by Ward, which unfortunately wasn’t that great, IMO, and Seth and Grayson’s story by Sorensen. Now, I’m a big fan of the subgenre. I especially loved Him, #Junkie, #Finishline and Wolfsong.
Oh, and lastly, I’d never read books just for the fame. Reading is my hobby and it’s something that’s very personal, to me. I read what I love and if other people don’t care about it, then that’s their loss.
I so love your way of thinking Talia, their loss 😉 But my JR Ward at 15!!! My daughter just blushes if she reads the word “sex” in a book and she’ll be 16 next Monday LOL
Thinking back, it was early! Also I was using my father’s account to buy those books. I still remember when he asked: are these books appropriate?
Ahahah, I just smiled angelically and told him the sexy covers were a marketing strategy.
Ahahah Talia I began reading my father’s books 😉 He was a big reader and still is and I had a tight budget so … No sexy covers for me just spy covers!
And I wondered what are your reading habits ? Do you stick to a preferred genre? Do you seek diversity? Would you read everything or shy away from some kind of books? So are you reading fluid? What’s your literary journey?
I’m a mood reader. Big time. Have always been that way since the first time I started reading. I choose to read whatever I’m in the mood for and sometimes change the book if I don’t feel connected to it right away (except with ARCs). I don’t stick to certain genre but I can read the same genre for months if the books are calling me. I do find myself not enjoying YA these days, though. I don’t feel connected with the genre anymore. Maybe it’s an age thing. The older I get, the more interested I am to adult and at times NA books. I prefer Adult books now. But who knows? I might be back to YA someday. As I said I’m a mood reader. Hehe.
Sorry with the long answer, Sophie. Haha.. Awesome discussion. I love this. ❤️
Don’t be sorry for your answer Geybie! Never! I love reading other’s reaction about the posts and discussions. That’s the purpose of blogging isn’t it? Well I’m a mood reader too that’s why I keep room aside from ARCs to ensure I still get to read books I’m in the mood for. As far as YA are concerned, maybe you’ll get back to these books in a few years. Thank you for commenting!!! 😉
Good points, Sophie! I have read other genres in the past like Stephen King (Salem’s Lot scared the crap out of me when I read it in middle school!), Dan Brown etc. But I’ve always been mostly a romance genre book hog though I read everything from paranormal to erotic to suspense to YA etc. Although I don’t intentionally stay in this genre, its just what I’m drawn to!! Awesome discussion!
Thank you so much Trisy! And I remember reading a story about ghosts and haunted houses when I was around 13. It was the middle of the night but I could not put the book down. At one point the ghost was about to murder someone when my door opened… and I screamed! My dad was checking on me as I still had light in my room. I thought I was going to die from heart attack. I never read a ghost’s story or horror story after 😉