After I thought a lot about my reading habits before & after blogging, I thought about my reading timeline/journey and how I’ve changed and grown as a reader — and come back to reading even after a LONG gap.
Childhood Years: I was a voracious little reader (aww wasn’t I cute!) and would seriously read ANYTHING I could find. I was ALWAYS reading way above average in school and always felt so bored from an early age because I wanted to read MORE…luckily my parents kept handing me books as fast as I read them.
Pre-teen Years: I read all over the place. Probably this time and now are the height of my voracious reading. I loved all things horror (seriously I probably read every Christopher Pike & RL Stine novel out) and anything that would make me feel grownup. Judy Blume made me feel scandalous and I loved it.
Teen Years: I WASTED SO MANY YEARS WITH MY LAPSE IN READING. About the only thing I read was school required reading, magazines and a FEW novels here and there (Perks of Being a Wallflower & Catcher in the Rye) but I would have no longer called myself a “reader” if asked at this point.
College Years: I was suuuuch a little book snob. I would side-eye my friends reading Jodi Picoult or more mainstream literature. I had a HUGE obsession with the Beat writers. I read mostly classics then. I honestly probably only read 15 books throughout my college years though.
2008 -2010: I got into Goodreads and started reading like CRAZY again. I started reading anything and everything — didn’t discriminate. Goodreads helped me to discover there was SO MUCH OUT THERE. I was introduced to YA (mostly by Twilight) and started putting my feet in the YA pool these years.
2010 – Current: WELL you know me! I started out adding more YA books to my reading list and then suddenly they took over. Still read my adult books & non-fiction but I’m enjoying my YA immersion!
Observations:
1. I’ve always leaned more towards reading a HUGE variety of things. I started that way as a reader, then became a little narrow and then slowly got back to wanting so much variety.
2. Now that I’ve immersed myself pretty much solely in YA I’m ready for a balance again because I miss the classics, the weird non-fiction and adult books.
3. I really now regret that I didn’t keep up with reading during those years and now I feel like I’m scrambling to read ALL OF THE BOOKS EVAR. Oh teen Jamie. WHY?? WHY??
Tell me about your reading life through the years! Were you always a voracious reader? Did you ever have any LOST YEARS where you stopped reading? If so, how long did it take you to come back to it? Did your reading preferences fluctuate or have you always basically read the same TYPES of books? Do you feel like you were more open to different genres when you were younger or now? Were you into any of the same books as ME? Tell me tell me tell me!
ashley says
I love and adore your graphics. Anyhoo, to the point! I’m a voracious reader. Always have been, lucked out, never went through a lull. That being said, even with ALL THE BOOKS. I still feel behind. Forever and always behind on books.
That’s why I almost feel guilty re-reading books, even though I know that’s stupid. They’re made to be re-read and enjoyed!
Michelle B. says
Ahh!! I loved YM magazine! I always thought I was the only one who remembered. Ohh, the memories. š
DannyBookworm says
Ohh lovely post Jamie!
When I was younger all I read was Mysteries. Then during my Teen Years and before I went to University I read Fantasy – all things classic Fantasy, it was awesome!
Then during University times I read a lot of Historical Fiction/Romance. That was all I read – constantly, the bigger the more epic.
Yes and then just like for you, Twilight came and opened my eyes for new books. And now.. *shrugs* here I am!
Melissa @ Writer Grrl Reads says
I LOVE this post! Such a great visual of your reading years :). I, too, went through a “only reading the greats” phase…and now I don’t think I have the attention span to focus on a classic =P
Alexia says
I swear there are some times when I read your post and think “Holy cow she could be my twin!” and this post is definitely one of them. I was a voracious reader from a really young age.I was reading (yes actually reading) by 4 years old.Maybe even 3 1/2 (my mom & grandmother still debate on that) and I was a crazy obsessed reader all through elementary school.I read anything and everything I could get my hands on.Magazines galore in the dentist or doctor’s office. My grandmother had this huge book about the human body at her house and at 8 years old,that was my favorite thing to read.
I was classified a nerd in high school because I was never without a book.During lunch when all the other girls were gossiping,I was reading. When I got to college I was still a reader,albeit not as much as I was before.It took 2 years and a broken engagement for me to get back into reading.
My tastes have always been all over the place. I am discovering the awesomeness that is YA though. But I haven’t given up on my first love.Mysteries & crime thrillers.
Whoops sorry for my short novel š
Nae says
I’ve always read a lot of books. I slowed down a little when I was at University (to 2-3 books a week), but I’ve sped right back up now. Especially with my kindle and joining the online book community, I have a MASSIVE TBR. š
I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Nae says
Oh yeah, and I read a lot of everything š
Debby @ Snuggly Oranges says
I loooooooooooove this post!!! Man it’d be cool to do this myself, but it’d also be REALLY DEPRESSING. See, I wasn’t really a voracious reader by any stretch of the imagination until last year. o_o which is scary to admit. I had the Harry Potter books when I was little that I was totally obsessed with, and a few other little series, but that’s about it… My teen years sucked as well. I think I only read required reading books BUT I did read a TON of manga during that time. That sorta kinda counts as books right? ^^; During college I slowly started getting back into reading, with Twilight, Pretty Little Liars, and I Am Number Four ultimately leading me to YA. Then I read The Hunger Games last year and I was hooked and became an addict xD
Yeah, my reading history is depressing.
Amanda @ Hell-Bent to Read says
You thought your teen years were your Lost Years? I didn’t really start reading until May of 2012. MY WHOLE LIFE HAS BEEN MY LOST YEARS. I’m so far behind that I’m not even on the charts anymore, hahaha.
Sheri @ Tangled Up In Books says
I see this all the time, and it’s true for me as well, but Twilight seems to be that one book that even though some of us won’t admit it….got us into reading YA. I’m thankful for it though! I did have lost years, teens as well, where I read very little of books and was more into stuff like Seventeen, Cosmo, Vogue (Those were the years that I thought I was cooler than I was haha) But I eventually found my way back to books by a historical romance of all things. My reading tastes are pretty vast and I try to mix it up as often as possible so I don’t get burned out on one specific genre.
I sort of went from Judy Blume to Sweet Valley High to Chronicles of Narnia to years of not reading to historical romances to Dean Koontz and Stephen King to Twilight and where I’m at today. I started my reading very closed only specific authors and having a really hard time being open to anything new and that really didn’t change as I swept through genres until I started blogging. Blogging made me a lot more open and willing to take a risk and I’ve never been happier, reader wise š
Fun post!!
River says
Omg it’s All. The. Same. I had a bit more hi fantasy in there… But wow. Even the “I’m a snob” era. And Twilight totally got me into YA too…
I love this post! I actually made one similar to this on my own blog here… http://innocencewalker.wordpress.com/2013/06/21/through-the-years/
River says
High fantasy iPad…
Sharon @ The Book Barbies says
Oh, the Total Book Snob phase! I’m ashamed to say I went through one of those for about 2 years of high school. Admittedly, it helped me really expand my reading base, and I covered a lot of classics. So in that respect, I’m really glad it happened. Then, right before the start of senior year, I caved and let my friend talk me into reading a historical romance, and shortly thereafter I discovered YA (which my library was pretty short on during my pre-teen years, so I pretty much skipped entirely to Adult books). My life was never the same again. š
I do intend to start picking up the occasional classic and “literary” book, though; I’ve discovered lately that I miss them! I never intend to let 90% of my reading list get overtaken by them again, though. Too many awesome YA and romance books to be read!
Growing up, I read everything from Boxcar Children to Nancy Drew to the Babysitters Club. We also had this series called the American Adventure series, which had books about American history, but told through fictional stories through the eyes of kids/teens, depending on the book. I was obsessed with those and read through all 48 books like 3 times.
Once I hit my preteen/early teen years, I was secretly devouring old Harlequin Presents romances from my aunt’s basement. I also read anything I could find at my tiny library (Mary Higgins Clark, Stuart Woods, Nicholas Sparks). As mentioned before, I barely read any YA, due to my library’s lack of it. I did read The Truth About Forever for the first time, though. Which was monumental and began the greatest saga of love I’ve held for a book ever. I also checked out the Cleopatra Royal Diary about 10 times, because I was obsessed with Cleopatra and Mark Antony. š Then came 15-17ish, which were the literary snob years, followed by romance and YA, and now we’re to the present!
I’m glad to say that I don’t have any lost years! . Imagine how many books I would have missed out on. D:
I’m so glad you got back into reading! YA is magical like that. Also, what a fun post! You are just all kinds of fabulous. š
Carrie from Stalking the Bookshelves says
I’m there with you. If it wasn’t for Twilight I wouldn’t have started reading YA. Boy would I have missed out.
Sam (A Bookish Brit) says
Oh my, this is an awesome blog idea! My reading life was very similar to yours actually… apart from the college part. I began with Harry Potter, A Series of Unfortunate Events and Chronicles of Ancient Darkness by Michelle Paver, but then moved towards YA supernatural contemporaries. I too was reeled in my the ‘Twilight phase’, and have since moved towards contemporary works.
Samantha @ Reading-AndCoffee says
Beautiful post! As much as I hate to admit it, we have to give Twilight *some* credit for getting a lot of people into reading YA, or just reading in general. My story is very similar to yours, in that I had always been an avid reader, had a dark period, then picked up Twilight and got back into things!
Alisa Selene says
This is an awesome post! I totally read Christopher Pike at that age..and yes little house etc. I went through the snobby teen years and as an adult I love YA! Great!
Kaley @ Books Etc says
I had a similar childhood – I read EVERYTHING. My mom was great with my sister and I and always encouraged us to read and brought us to the library weekly. That carried on right through until high school and then I started working at the library so I still read a lot all through my teen years. I think I tried to hide it but I found a BFF who also loved reading (we discovered Jessica Darling, the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, and Sarah Dessen together when we were 14 – 12 years ago!!) so that helped. Then, university meant lots of required reading plus Cosmo during the school year and as many chick lit books as I could read during the summer. Now I’m trying to branch out a little bit more. I like what I like and don’t want to force anything on myself but I’m trying to read more than just chick lit and women’s fiction. I think I’m succeeding š I LOVED this post, Jamie! It was great to think back to my reading journey over the years š
Brittany @ The Book Addict's Guide says
Haha that almost exactly sums up my reading life too! Love this post — It’s so much fun to see!
I had some lost years too. Shame on me for wasting so much reading time! But I had to learn that by trying to be cool, I totally wasn’t haha š
Shannon N. says
Oh wow, that brought a lot of memories! I’m a bit older than you, but our childhood tastes definitely overlapped. I read a lot as a teenager. My tastes trended towards High Fantasy (Raymond E. Feist FTW!) and Mystery/Thrillers. But I did have lost years in college too and then right after college. I was a liberal arts double major so there was a LOT of required reading. Like 300-500 pages a week. It burned me out. But at the same time, I was nannying a couple pre-teens and that’s when I started reading YA. I loved that it was easy to read and quick. I just didn’t have the head space for longer novels or complicated plots or philosophical musings. I do think high school and college ruined me on classics. I have a severe distrust of them. Now I mostly read YA, but also recommended adult novels. I will sometimes throw in some non-fiction and mystery novels. š I feel like I am making up for lost time now though. I commute by bus so I have lots of built in reading time and get through so much! Love it.
Tiffany says
I read so many of the same books as you growing up! I have always been a voracious reader except through the college years (too many text books!) when I read novels sporadically. Christopher Pike and R.L. Stine were my favorite authors preteen. And I’m with you with Twilight, it really made me get into YA and now it makes up the bulk of what I read.
Sara at WhatANerdGIrlSays says
I love this post! I never sat back to really think about this, but now I’m going to be writing a post about it on my blog š I am totally giving you credit for the idea though. I super love it!
Alexa Y. says
It’s actually entirely possible that I could write a NOVEL in response to this post and just thinking about my reading over the years. But I’ll try (keyword: TRY) to keep it short!
I’ve always been a big reader. I can’t remember a life without reading (even at my busiest and most stressful times), because I’m that girl that CONSTANTLY has a book in hand/in bag/on phone. It’s a non-stop addiction for me to get more, more, more books and stories in my hands.
My preferences naturally progressed from children’s fiction to middle grade to more young adult things, though young adult and adult were two genres that I kind of went into at the same time. While I read primarily YA these days, I kind of like to break it up with adult stuff now and again to make it less monotonous. I’m always open to various genres, though I draw the line at erotica, and am not overly fond of thrillers and horror.
Hadas says
Inspired one of my own.
http://bookbugsbite.wordpress.com/2013/06/28/my-history-of-other-peoples-stories/
This really is a fantastic idea and it’s interesting how you returned to YA literature even now.
Emmah says
I read a lot of books when I was a kid and then when I hit high school, I barely read any books for pleasure. In the past two or three years though, I’ve really gotten into reading again. I definitely read more of a variety of books now than I used to.
Molli says
I thiiiiiink we were book soulmates as kids/preteens. SERIOUSLY. I was ALL OVER some Mouse on a Motorcycle/Boxcar Children. Did you ever read the Wayside school books? I loved those. And I read all those cheesy books like My Teacher is an Alien, and They’re Torturing Teachers in Room 104 (the end of which made me cryyyyyy.) Then I was TOTALLY a SVH fangirl, Babysitter’s Club, etc. I WISH I had written down somewhere all the books I loved, because now I can’t remember all of them, and sometimes I’ll think about one of those series that only had maybe 10 books (like there was one I SWEAR was called The Practically Popular Crowd, but I can’t find it), and then there was this series about a group of friends that were like 12 and I LOVED them but cannot for the life of me remember the name. )
NOW I’M ON GOODREADS TRYING TO FIND THEM ALL.
Anyway, I was a reading machine until high school, when I started reading a little less, then after college I dropped down to reading maybe 10 books a year. I still LOVED reading, but I narrowed in and started reading more paranormal romance and women’s fiction. Then I read a little bit of YA (Twilight, Vampire Academy) but it wasn’t until I read The Hunger Games and started thinking about blogging that I REALLY opened back up to YA and to some genres I hadn’t tried much of before.
Jen @ Pop! Goes The Reader says
This is such a great idea for a discussion post!
I think we’ve all experienced various stages in our reading history. There was a period of two or three years in my life where I read absolutely nothing apart from non-fiction. Whether it was a historical biography or general study of a historical period (Particularly Georgian or Victorian England or Revolutionary France), for whatever reason I had absolutely no inclination to pick up a work of fiction. I rediscovered the YA genre last year when I began working more seriously on my own YA novels. I wanted to familiarize myself with the market I was writing for, and now I’m hooked! I will say that my reading habits are a lot more varied than they used to be. I read predominantly YA fiction, but I now also enjoy adult romance, particularly historical, and still make the time for non-fiction reading which I still really enjoy. I think I’ve finally struck a balance in my literary life, and for that I’m very thankful š
Amanda @ Late Nights with Good Books says
I think our reading habits/history tell a lot about us as people. I’ve always been a voracious reader (though I also read less in college simply because books weren’t as accessible to me). What I think matters most is when readers make the conscious decision to become readers, and come to realize the influence of books and how powerful they can be. I think we all have lost years to some degree, but what’s most important is recovering from them, which you obviously have done. š
LOVE The Bell Jar, although I haven’t read most of those you read during college. Not yet, at least. I think there’s nothing wrong with reading “snob” books either. There are just too many books out there to restrict ourselves to one type.
Angie says
I feel the same about my teen years. I didn’t read a thing. Partying, boys, working at McDonalds took up all my time. I didn’t start reading again till college. And then I was back in the game!
Wendy says
I was always a voracious little reader! haha! I’d come back from the library with a stack of books and just whip through them. My friends at school always made fun of me for how many books I went through. But I LOVED it.
College was when I lapsed in reading — I didn’t really know what to read and things were just so BUSY. A few things here and there but that was about it! And then recently, I got back into YA and now that I’m immersed, I LOVE it so much and am trying to catch up with all the wonderful books that I haven’t read! It’s great! =)
Spencer says
THIS. So hard. If you knew how many times I say “Me too!” when reading your posts, I’m sure it’d creep you out. But it’s worth the stalker rep for me to say it again: Me too! I was SUCH a huge book nerd in elementary/middle school then my love for reading fell by the wayside high school through part of college until stumbling across Goodreads (and our College Students group)!
Recently I’ve been in a huge slump (the biggest one since HS) and I’m grateful for post like these and social media because it’s way easier now to become inspired to pick up a book again or get recommendations.
KUDOS for your spot-on posts… Your blogs always come at the perfect time in my life!! š
Cassay says
I remember YM!!
My mom used to read to me when I was young all the time and I loved it. I stopped reading once I hit school so probably around 6 and I struggled with reading school required books because I hated reading. I think in grade 5 for a bit I read the Charmed books but that ended until my 2nd year of collage so about 19ish when I picked up a Supernatural book to read while I was waiting for the now hubby to get out of classes. My reading became a daily thing later that year when I started working when I couldn’t finish a puzzle anymore dying lunch break because I was on expert level and decided to read Harry Potter. Which then started my mom to think I was ill because I was reading.
My reading gap was huge!
charity dobing says
This is a old post but I stumbled upon your page through another book reading blog and after reading this blog entry about your reading history, I think we are reading sisters…lol. I have been reading for so long I can’t remember when I started. I remember in Grade 7 needing to get a note from my parents so that I could read Stephen King’s It during reading time. I would spend so much time in the library searching and reading back covers of books, hitting the bookmobile (a mobile division of the library) every week. I went through years where all I focused on was a genre; horror, romance, historical romance, fantasy, science fiction, paranormal romance, post apocalyptic fiction. Now I am more well rounded and read just about everything although my favourite is still science fiction and paranormal fantasy. I find myself reading book blogs to see what others are currently enjoying for recommendations. I now own a Kindle and all of my reading is done on that, but I miss the smell of the library and books.
Jamie says
We TOTALLY would have been friends in school reading things that were technically above our reading level! š