Top Ten Tuesday: How My Reading Habits Have Changed Over Time

Posted on by BonnieReadsAndWrites

*Thank you to That Artsy Reader Girl for hosting Top Ten Tuesday.

What an interesting topic! I went all the way back to childhood and thought about my reading habits, and what has changed. Starting with number one, my first favorite book series, I noticed something interesting. Starting with favorite books I read as a kid and working foward, I see a distinct pattern.

  1. Encyclopedia Brown: I loved reading this series about the boy detective when I was a kid. I liked it much better than Nancy Drew.
  2. Johnny Tremain: Fourteen-year-old Johnny Tremain, after an accident, eventually becomes a messenger for The Sons of Liberty and is involved in the events leading up to the American Revolution.
  3. The Chronicles of Narnia: In this series, Lucy Pevensie walks through a magic wardrobe and finds a land of talking animals and a special Lion, Aslan.
  4. Little House on the Prairie: Laura Ingalls recalls what it was like to grow up as a pioneer girl in the 19th Century.
  5. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle: Meg Murray and her brother Charles Wallace search through time for their father, who disappeared while experimenting with time travel.
  6. The Door Into Summer: Dan B. Davis loses everything, but finds a way to get it all back by going to the future.
  7. The Ring by Danielle Steel: Historical romance set mostly during WWII. I loved this book in my twenties, but it is too simplistic for me now.
  8. Harry Potter: I don’t need to describe this one. It’s fantasy at its finest with some of the best world-building I have ever seen.
  9. and 10. The Chronicles of St. Mary’s and The Time Police: About ten years ago, I bought Jodi Taylor’s first book in the Chronicles of St. Mary’s series because it was about time travel and it was 99 cents. She had self-published at the time. Fast forward to the present, and Jodi is now a best-selling author with Headline books and has just published Book 15 of The Chronicles of St. Mary’s. I loved this series from the beginning and now I realize it’s because Taylor took time travel and combined it with historical fiction, both of which have been my favorites for a long time. She provides a history lesson in every book. She also adds a heavy dose of humor. The Time Police is a spinoff of the Chronicles, and Taylor continues her hilarious trips along the timeline.

Looking back, I can see that even from childhood I loved historical fiction and time travel, as well as fantasy, and I have continued that as an adult. I still read mysteries, but mostly historical mysteries. Not much has changed in my reading choices, except for the complexity of the books.

How about you? How have your reading habits changed over time?

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Published by BonnieReadsAndWrites

I love to read and write book reviews in my free time. I review advance review copies of books on Netgalley for various publishers. I am also a reviewer for Historical Novels Review Magazine, the magazine of the Historical Novel Society. I review books from publishers of all size, large to small. I have a special place in my heart for indie authors. I will sometimes post a little writing that I might dabble in occasionally. I also am lucky enough to live in the Smoky Mountains, so I'll be sharing photos of the beauty around me from time to time.

31 thoughts on “Top Ten Tuesday: How My Reading Habits Have Changed Over Time”

  1. I have always liked historical novels or novels set in an earlier time, Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, Gone With the Wind, Doctor Zhivago etc. I still enjoy those type of books but have expanded my interests and read a variety of books now (except horror, just can’t do it)

    1. Thanks Nicki! I would say it’s not totally a requirement, but some events that occurred in the Time Police are explained in the Smallhope/Pennyroyal book. For example, and I hope this is not too much of a spoiler: Luke and Jane find some items that save their lives in one of the Time Police books. The S&P book explains how those items came to be there. That’s just one example. So if you want the total experience, I would read/listen to the Time Police books first.

  3. Interesting question! Looking back, I guess I followed a mystery pattern starting with Nancy Drew, Johnny Tremain (I forgot about him!), Dashiell Hammett and Walter Gibson (‘The Shadow knows’ – I personally knew him and his wife in my late teens), shifted to strictly romance i.e. Kathleen Woodiwiss, then Charlotte Bronte and back to mysteries, Daphne du Maurier, Mary Higgins Clark.

  7. I read some of the Narnia books and really did enjoy them! So much so that I would still like to complete the series. Just have to pick up one I haven’t read. 🙂 Thanks so much for visiting my list today.

  8. Great list and it’s interesting to see how the books measure up to your reading habits now. I used to read every Danielle Steel. Now, I read her occasionally if the book looks interesting.

  9. Great list! I’ve read almost all of these books and loved them, too. I totally am a fan of Historical Fiction and Fantasy. They’re often the best kinds of stories!

  10. I loved Encyclopedia Brown and the Little House books as a kid. HP didn’t come out until I was an adult, but I was totally entranced by the first book and loved the series more as each one was published. Fantastic world-building, like you said.

    Happy TTT!

    Susan

    http://www.blogginboutbooks.com

  11. I used to read pretty much fantasy only. I was just drawn to magic. I also went for series. Less stress when going into a bookshop – just get the next one in the series 😂

    Now I read mainly standalone books, mystery, thriller, a bit of romance.

    Have a great week!

    1. I like a thriller on occasion, as long as it doesn’t overlap into horror. I have read less and less romance as I get older. Now I don’t mind romance, but there has to also be a historical event or some other interesting plot twist to keep me reading.

      1. Yes. I got a surprise with The Book of Cold Cases. It suddenly got spooky!

        I read the odd romance. I avoided it until I read The Love Hypothesis then got quite into it. I’ve been reading a lot of mystery recently.

  12. Quite cool that you continued to read the same genre but just more complex stories within it! My reading tastes and even format in which I consume books has changed a lot

  14. a cool way to look at this theme, and i realize now that historical fiction and time travel books have been among my favorites over the ages too!!

    My ttt is here

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