Book Blogger Confessions #1

Hosted by For What It's Worth and Midnyte Reader

While stumbling across blogs, I came across this meme where book bloggers, like myself, can make confessions. Every other Monday, the hosts post a topic and that's when we come in and share more about it on a personal level

This week's question: How has blogging and reviewing changed your reading habits? Do you read a genre now that you wouldn't have tried prior? Or have you been turned off by a genre you used to love?

My answer:

In my pre-blogging days, I would reread the same authors and books, not knowing exactly how to expand and feeling quite comfortable in my little book space. I did feel a little disappointed when I finished a series and realized that I was left without a book to read.

Now being a blogger, I have such a big stack of books to read that it feels impossible to finish them all. NetGalley, library, recommendations from others...so many! On the bad side of this, I realized that I haven't found any time to reread my favorites. I feel as if they're my pets and I haven't shown any affection to them while I'm watching over someone else's animals for a while. It makes me a bit sad.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that my sister Shelver is actually having a reread month in May where we get to reread without any pressures. Stay tuned for more details later.

As for genres, I think it goes with my explanation for rereading. While I still have subgenre preferences, I've expanded my tastes more. Instead of having all contemporary on my shelf with The Hunger Games, I now have The Farm, ARCs of The Hunt and The Different Girl and will be having Cinder with my Sarah Dessen, Ally Carter, and Jen Calonita books on there as well. The second genre question made me think a little harder. While I read YA, I read Adult even more so in my pre-blogging days. Now with NetGalley and the blog (which is dedicated to only YA), I haven't been able to read Adult as much and once again, reread my favorites. But I'm not turned off by the Adult genre, time just seems to be an issue. Besides that, I don't think I'm particularly turned off by a genre as I am careful. My tastes have broadened, but when I read, I seem to put it under a microscope.

Which leads in to my next point about how I process books antithetically now. Before, I would read a novel. That's it. Read it and put it up. If someone asked me about it, I would give a noncommittal response unless it was a book that I fell in love with to the point of being lumped in fandom. If someone asked me what I liked or disliked about it, I wouldn't be able to pinpoint it. "I just like it, okay?" Or the other way around of disliking it. I didn't know how to figure out what made me exactly like or dislike it. Sure, sometimes I would be able to say something intelligent about the characters or the plot or dialogue. I would read something that the characters repeatedly did and think, "That's stupid, I don't like that." But the idea of writing a review for a book was more than daunting.

Now? It's not as if I sit down and ten minutes later, I'm up. I still have to think about what exactly I didn't or did like about a book. But this time, I actually think about it while I'm reading it. Sometimes I even take a picture of it. I still keep reminding myself to actually write things down as I read like so many great bloggers do, but I haven't reached to that point of organization yet. I process my novel so differently now though that I think of every book as a "review book" before I even turn the first page.

So the answer to the confession question: a big, fat YES.

It amazes me how one thing can change another thing. I become a blogger and my tastes have broadened, my reading habits change, and my love of books has intensified.

To all you bloggers and even blog-lurkers, has YOUR reading habits changed? Are they like mine?

Comment below!