How my Reading Tastes Changed and Evolved Over The Years

E-reader on a pile of books, displaying the message, “READING BOOKS MAKES YOU BETTER.”

Over the year, I’ve been noticing on how my reading tastes have evolved and changed, thanks to a game-changing conversation with a relative of mine. It was the night of Christmas Eve 2022. I was talking to one of my relatives who is also into books. This relative has read more books than I have and is around my age, between 20-30 years old. Around that particular age range. We were sitting on the sofa talking amongst ourselves and this relative and I started chatting about books. I remember my reply to her after she asked me, “What book are you currently reading?” Without any hesitation, I responded that I was reading the biography of Abraham Lincoln, who is one of the best leaders to ever grace the presidency and leading the U.S out of its most turbulent moral conflict. What she replied to me immediately was a definite game-changer for me because without her commenting on my readings, I wouldn’t have made the decision to change. Her reply: “Gee, you need to broaden your genres.” I remember feeling a bit ashamed of myself because biographies were, at that time, my most favored books. But then again, I believe that the time was right for me to explore other genres when my relative told me to broaden my horizons when it came to reading.

“Broaden your genres, JES.”

How My Reading Tastes Have Changed: Mid-Late 2000s Struggles

Growing up, I was never a reading nerd. To be honest, I once belonged to the group of kids who wasn’t into reading and was never fond of going to any book fair nor the library. My tiny little mind couldn’t grasp at the time on why people read. However, I did read books that were assigned in the classrooms since I understood that there were going to be exams related to the readings and that I had to do well. I never had a problem reading in the classrooms. However, outside of school, the reality was completely different. I would spend most of my time playing or hanging out with friends from the neighborhood. I rarely spent my energy into reading. During that time frame, from the mid to late 2000s, the Harry Potter Saga were the books that were in everyone’s mind, held the literary community on a frenzy, and I was somewhat part of that fanbase. I remember reading a few chapter of the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, but gave up from reading more. The stamina to read more wasn’t there, but the seeds were planted inside my mind towards my love for fiction and fantasy, escaping into imaginary worlds… It was just a matter of time.

Discovering How My Reading Tastes Have Changed: 2015-2021

“JES read about me first.”

High school was a formative time for me as a person. Readings were more frequent and assigned books came to dominate the syllabus of literature class, where I excelled heavily. It all happened slowly. Tablets were being introduced and granted students to access information and assigned readings with ease. One day, I started surfing on the Internet about Simon Bolivar (The George Washington of South America) and his life. If you read my previous post, 5 Simple Tips To Read Big Novels, then you should know from reading the first tip that you have to choose a book that piques your interest and have at least decent knowledge of what its about. I related to this man. I am from the same country where he was born and heard about him during my early school years back in Venezuela. So, I decided to give it a try… little did I know that it was going to change my life. I read thoroughly Marie Arana’s biography of Simon Bolivar and it did a lot for me. A small reading habit was planted and I had the hunger to read more biographies. That is where my interest for biographies started. With that rich book about a general who liberated six nations in Latin America. Going onwards, I would read any biography and self help books.

How My Reading Tastes Have Changed and Broadened: 2022-Present

“Expelliarmus!”

As I said in the introduction, my reading tastes broadened when a relative of mine told me that I had to broaden my horizons when it came to reading. By Christmas Eve of the year 2022, I had read many biographies and philosophy books, including Albert Einstein’s, Robin Williams, History of the French Revolution, The Prince, and other self help books. Rarely did I venture into fiction until my relative’s reply. Throughout the year of 2023, a year after that reply, I heavily invested in fiction books and other works that are regarded iconic in the English language. Since that comment, spoken by my relative, I’ve read Catcher in the Rye, half of the Harry Potter books, Stephen King, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Ernest Hemingway, Paulo Coelho, Anthony Doerr, and many other authors that specialize in the fiction genre, fantasy, historical narrative, and magical realism.

THAT’S MY JOURNEY, UP TILL NOW, ON HOW MY READING PREFERENCES HAVE CHANGED OVER THE YEARS

DO YOU HAVE A SIMILAR READING PREFERENCE STORY? IF SO, COMMENT.

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