Hello readers! It’s Friday, and time for Let’s Talk Bookish. This week’s topic centers bookish opinions and how they’ve changed over time. I’m sure everyone’s opinions have changed even a little bit over the years.
Don’t forget to check out my Let’s Talk Bookish Masterlist of all the LTB posts I’ve done!
Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme that was originated by Eternity Books and is currently hosted by Book Nook Bits. The accompanying thumbnail was also designed by Book Nook Bits. Each Friday, bloggers craft posts where they engage in discussions centered around the designated topic for the week.
Prompts: Have your bookish opinions changed over the years, and if so, in what ways have they changed? Do you think your bookish opinions have changed because of being part of the bookish community (including on social media), reading more books, or book blogging? Have your bookish opinions changed in ways you didn’t expect?
It’s been over 10 years and I’ve now been part of just about every corner of the book community from making Booktube videos in 2013 to Bookstagram and Booktok to this blog. It was a really amazing place to find when I was transitioning to adulthood and had my first job.
I found the book community in 2013 when I was 19. I think the thing that changed the most was just where I was able to find new books and what I read overall.
I found a Booktuber’s review of Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian, which I hadn’t read at the time, but I was super excited to see someone talking about a book online. I cannot for the life of me remember her name, but she was Asian and she wore those 80’s style glasses. Let me know if you might remember her! I have searched for a long time and can’t.
I had no problem in high school finding books to try. I would read the same books as my friends, read the same authors over and over, and mostly just read vampire books.
I had Goodreads starting in 2011. That was the first year I read 100 books (most of which were a manga called Bleach). In 2012, I started to make book and page goals for the year.
Back then, the only way to find new books was at the school library, but I left high school in 2012. There were (and still are) groups on Goodreads where you can read books with other people. I discovered The Night Huntress series through that. I didn’t even know spicy books existed at the time, so that was a shock when reading. However, that is one of my favorite series of all time now.
It’s one of those mass market paperback romance series, so I would’ve NEVER picked it up on my own.
When I was 19 (2013), the vampire trend was fading and the new trend was dystopian novels. I did find a few before finding Booktube because I got a Kindle for the previous Christmas and I would read whatever was popular on the Kindle Store, like Divergent or The Hunger Games.
Discovering the book community made me try a lot of new books I never would have before. I read Percy Jackson for the first time that year and other middle grade series like Series of Unfortunate Events. I even read The Fault in Our Stars! I really hated that book and felt so bad that I didn’t even add it to my Goodreads at the time. I was so scared people would hate me for disliking it. Let me know if you guys would like to see my opinions on sick-lit.
I think my bookish opinions have changed the most over time from two things. I’ve read more books and I’m more socially and politically aware.
One really good example is a book I read in 2013 called Eleanor and Park. I didn’t love the ending of that book, but overall I loved it. I reread a few years later and was just more aware of things. Eleanor was really mean to Park, and Park’s first name being a Korean last name. It was eye-opening to see how much my perspective had changed in one book alone. This is why I am so scared to reread books I loved when I was younger.
I really haven’t expected my reading taste to evolve so much over time, but it has. I do think the book community has influenced me to branch out and try things I usually wouldn’t.
But, I love trying books outside of my comfort zone now, even if one is really bad sometimes. Over the years, I have found I can enjoy books in just about any genre when I started out only reading vampire books.
The book community has been with me through so many changes in my life, and it’s shaped my reading more than I ever expected. From vampire novels to middle grade adventures to genres I never thought I’d enjoy, it’s expanded my world in countless ways.
How has the book community changed your reading taste over time? Drop your answers or posts in the comments!
Happy blogging and bookish adventures! 📚🦒✨
This post was created by Allison Wolfe for www.allithebookgiraffe.com and is not permitted to be posted anywhere else.
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Alli the Book Giraffe 
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