when i first began this blog, i was an AVID YA READER with all my heart. i went through the phases. dystopian and its big hits like the hunger games, divergent, the selection; contemporaries like anna and the fresh kiss, fangirl, and the perks of being a wallflower. just seeing the covers and titles transport me to a different time and place.
somewhere along the way, i began to gravitate from my love for YA and reading as a whole. my interests began to go elsewhere. sorta. it turned into a very long slump. i didn’t know what i wanted to read; i didn’t have the motivation to blog; i didn’t know what i was doing.
at first i was worried i would no longer care for books, but i know that’ll never be true. stories will always have a special place in my heart.
change is inevitable. it’s what keeps me going. my nightmare is that episode of spongebob where squidward does the same thing over and over again. i CAN’T.
i feel like this is true for a lot of other book bloggers as well (at least the ones i know). as we grow older, we move on to other genres or fall out of reading completely. i still read YA literature, but i definitely don’t read the same as i used to. i used to binge read a series within a span of days and i honestly can’t remember the last time that happened.
even though i don’t read as much YA anymore, it’s the genre that shaped me into the reader i am today.
at this point, this feels like a breakup letter to YA. but it’s not!!! i still love YA!! and i love the way YA publishing has changed!!! there’re so many more diverse books releasing now than when i was OBSESSED with YA. but… i also love literary fiction and graphic novels and essays and non-fiction and so much more. and the main problem: i don’t read as consistently as i did before.
sometimes, i feel like a fraud with my digital spaces. i know it’s normal to change interests, but do you know? i have a book blog and talk about books on the internet, but i also don’t… really… read?? i do, but not as much as i used to so it feels like i don’t. but i still read more than the average person so that counts for something, right?
i’m honestly unsure what the point of this post is. pretty much: i don’t read as much! i read other genres now! change is inevitable! fun!!
Honestly, I relate to this. Last year, I noticed I just wasn’t reading YA as much as I used to and it really made me not want to blog or anything. There’s this idea I had in my head that if I didn’t blog about YA no one would care. I ended up taking a year hiatus and I think I read a whole 3 books during that time? Even coming back, I still am not super in love with YA BUT now that I’ve read some non-YA I appreciate the YA more. Like the ease and fun of YA books. Does that make sense? Lovely post by the way!
i totally understand what you mean! sometimes it’s nice to take a break and accept change.
I totally feel you on not reading as much YA as I used to. YA used to be basically the ONLY thing I would read, but I’ve diversified my reading so much in the last few years. Now I’m reading more adult fiction, specifically romance, but I still have some YA thrown in there. At first I started feeling guilty for not reading YA as much, but now I’m okay with the amount I’m reading, and what I’m reading.
I’ve noticed that my reading tastes have changed as well. I still read YA and I still love YA, but I find that I have been reading more Adult novels this year when I hardly read them before this year at all. Prior to this year I also hardly ever picked up a contemporary book, but this year they have dominated my TBR. I think that, for me, the changes are mostly due to being a huge mood reader this year. I find that contemporaries are easier and quicker to read than my normal fantasy books and my mind has needed that lately. Another factor is just simply getting older. Tastes do change when you get older so I suppose reading tastes are bound to change like anything else. =)
As soon as I saw the title of this post I knew I had to click and read immediately because I actually wrote a similar post awhile back! I’m totally with you, YA really defined and shaped me but I am definitely moving away from it nowadays and shifting into more genres (for instance, I read a lot more mystery/thriller titles than I used to, I’ve read the genre for almost as long as YA but never as much until now).
I love thisss. change is inevitable, but it’s not always a bad thing. proud of you for embracing the good too! (◍•ᴗ•◍)
I relate to this so much! The past year I’ve started really enjoying non-fiction. I went through a phase where I read a lot of graphic novels too. I’m also looking at reading more adult fiction now which is exciting!
Great post!! I feel the same!! I started blogging almost 10 years ago and was reading nearly 100% YA for years. Then I read almost exclusively adult fiction the last couple years.
I would say now I read a pretty even split between adult and YA, but I also seem to be reading less overall. That makes me sad, but at the same time, because I have a better sense of my bookish preferences, I’m enjoying more of the books I read now than I did when I tried to read absolutely everything.
I think it’s totally normal and fine not to read as much! People grow and they change and evolve much like you said and even sometimes I feel like I have to step back from YA every once in a while because sometimes I fall into that slump. I say just do what makes you happy and find happiness in what you do : )