Did my taste in books change over the years?
If you know me/have been following this blog for a while, you know that I’m a little (read: very) obsessed with keeping track of what I read and getting all kinds of statistics on that. Something that’s always fascinated me the most is what genres I read. It often seems like my taste in books changed quite a lot over the past few years but I think it mostly just seems that way because I’ve been trying out new-to-me genres and then discover that I like it and keep reading it. I really only ever fell out of love with one genre and that is Contemporary. And I can’t really say that it ever was a favorite genre, I just read a whole bunch of books when it was new to me but then realized pretty fast it’s not something I can constantly read.
How many books did I read per genre each year?
It’s obviously not the best idea to just compare numbers because I didn’t read the same amount of books each year BUT it’s still interesting to compare the amount of books I read each year in the different genres (and I like making these kind of statistics so who cares, as long as they are fun, right!?)
The most extreme change is definitely in the number of thrillers and crime books I read. That’s mostly because up until 2010 it was pretty much the only genre I read. Like, it would be super boring if I included numbers from 2009 (which I don’t even have *sad face*) because every genre but crime/thriller would have zero books anyway.
You can definitely see that 2010 was the year when I slowly started reading other genres. Some (SciFi, high fantasy, magical realism) are still at zero in 2010 and I only started reading those in the years after. Â
Percentage of each genre each year
Because I can’t get enough of statistics and looking at the percentage instead of number of books makes more sense, I obviously had to make a statistic on those too.
(I’m having so much fun with these, I could stare at them for hours LOL)
This one shows even more that I’ve never really been into Contemporary, only that Ihad a phase when I was reading a bit more but it went back down again pretty fast. And apparently I read less Science Fiction to be able to read more High Fantasy, which I hadn’t realized before. I thought it were other genres that went down for it.
I can’t wait to add my statistics for 2016 at the end of the year. Science Fiction definitely went up again, and Magical Realism too.
So, did my taste change?
I don’t think my taste in books actually changed. I still love thrillers and crime books, but I just discovered other genres in the past few years that I like as well and because I’ve only just started reading those, they seem more interesting at the moment. Sometimes I want to hit myself for only starting with other genres so late because it seems weird that I discovered what I love this late but on the other hand, I loved all the books I read when I only read crime and thrillers, so I don’t regret reading all those. I just have a lot to catch up on.
I’ve definitely reached a point in recent years where I became really good in judging what kind of book I’m going to like though. I easily DNF books, but I don’t even have to do that very often, because I’m pretty good at reading a synopsis and knowing if it’s going to be a book I’ll enjoy.
Has your taste in books changed over the years/recently or has it always been the same?
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Annemieke
Oh I love it when people show statistics like this.
When I was younger I would read pretty much anything. These days it is mostly fantasy with a preference towards high fantasy. I do have to say that urban fantasy has been appealing more to me in the last few months so that might change things up a bit.
Sebastian
It’s so sad that your taste almost completely went away from reading thrillers, it’s such a great genre ;P
I’m pretty sure though that my statistics for the time before I started blogging would have looked almost the same as your year 2010 but I don’t think my taste has changed as drastically as yours in the past years. I’m definitely more open to fantasy now and read quite a few scifi novels but it still feels as if 75% of the books I read are thrillers and crime novels (even though my 2016 spreadsheet says it’s only 50% this year so far :D).
I think the reason why my taste is still almost the same is because I just never get tired of solving puzzles so that I just can’t get enough of all the murder mysteries etc. I know that only a few thrillers are still able to provide something original and fresh ideas but I don’t really mind as long as the mystery is exciting.^^
That’s why I can’t imagine that my taste in books might change a lot in the near future but I’m quite happy with the way it is now :D
Ashley
This is such interesting data! I love how you put it all together. I’d like to do this too. :) And I’m like you in that I have no problem putting a book down. I’m so over wasting my time with books I don’t love.
Cait @ Paper Fury
*raises hand* Yep, for sure.? I used to read very little fantasy because the size of it always scared me. Like, I always enjoyed it?? But I’m also this rabid person who likes to read a whole book in a day so if I couldn’t get through a fantasy in a day I wouldn’t start it. I KNOW IT’S BIZARRE. But luckily I’ve grown old and wise and reading isn’t a race. AND FANTASY HERE I COME. And also I think some of my tastes have changed a bit…like now I’m interested in adult fantasy and most contemporary YAs just make me die (but not all!! and I do read a lot of them because of unsolicited ARCs). But when I look at my TBR of books I’ve bought/acquired on my onesome…bahaa. It’s 90% fantasy. NO REGRETS.?
(Also stats and graphs give me life. I love how good you are with them!! I could stare at them for hours too basically.)
Maraia
Eeep, this is awesome! I need to do this because i know my reading stats have changed drastically over the last year and a half and it’s always fun to see stats in charts. (God, numbers are the best. :P) My interest in contemporaries has gone waaaay down (only 6 this year \o/). Fantasy has stayed about the same, but contemporaries have been replaced with mysteries, thrillers, and sci-fi. I think my tastes have changed more in adult vs. YA than in genre, but reading horror and thrillers is definitely new for me. Before last year, I’d only read a few classic mysteries and Robert Galbraith, but nothing beyond that.
How do you, personally, divide fantasy from fantasy? I have such a hard time with genres. xD
Becky @ A Fool's Ingenuity
This is such an interesting post to read and it’s so cool you have stuff recorded that you have the figures and can create these graphs to compare your reading and the different genres you read over several years. I think it would be really interesting to see how my reading preferences have changed over time because they have. I know when I started my book blog I began to be exposed to lot of new books and genres so I did find myself reading more widely. I’m a bit like you that I tested new genres and kept a lot on when I discovered I liked them.
I do think you’re right that your graphs cannot be interpreted as your tastes changing as such, it’s more you’ve discovered various genres you enjoy and some of your old favourites have fallen by the wayside as you try and catch up with other books. You’ve refined your tastes and that is a good thing because as you say you are now far more confident in what you will and won’t like reading and are swifter about DNF a book. I am getting better at that too. I always feel bad about DNF but I am confident that I am doing it for the right reasons. Sometimes you know it’s not working and you have to let go.