Booking Through Thursday: Trends

This week's BTT topic:
Have your book-tastes changed over the years? More fiction? Less? Books that are darker and more serious? Lighter and more frivolous? Challenging? Easy? How-to books over novels? Mysteries over Romance?

My first reaction was to say yes, indeed – my taste in reading matter changes all the time. But on further reflection, I think that's not exactly the truth. I don't think my basic tastes have changed all that much. But my situation has.

I've always enjoyed reading across a wide variety of subjects and fields. But these days, since I don't have to read anything for a job or a class, I'm free to read exactly as I please. And when I was younger, I think I was more concerned with reading all those books that always wind up on everyone's list of "necessary" or "absolute must" reads. You know – Six Thousand and Forty-two Books You Should Read Before You Turn Ninety.

These days I'm less concerned with that sort of thing. I know there's plenty of wonderful literature out there that I'll never get around to reading. But that doesn't bother me as much as it once did. In fact, it doesn't really bother me at all. I make my own lists of must-reads.

Hmmmm. It seems like we've had the "do you read how-to books" question before. I'm not a person who would read "how-to" or instructional literature for the fun of it. But I do like looking at books on needlework – I suppose that would qualify.

And as for other subject matter – well, I think I've always read more fiction than nonfiction. Some dark, some lighter – I usually prefer a mix. I love books that have humor in them, but I don't shy away from more serious works, as long as they sound like something I'd enjoy. I love mysteries and thrillers, and usually have at least one who-dunnit going, in addition to whatever else I'm reading. I guess Nancy Drew got to me at an impressionable age.

At one time, I read a lot of science fiction; but haven't read quite so much in the last few years. But I still like sci-fi, and I've gotten back into it recently. And there was a time, back in the 1980s and 90s when I read a lot of poetry because I was editing a poetry journal. But since the journal folded, I really haven't read much poetry at all. Again, it's still something I enjoy; I've just been neglecting it for some reason.

I don't read much romance fiction these days – although as a teenager, I was addicted to Victoria Holt and Mary Stewart. And I'm not a fan of what's now called "Chick Lit." Or at least, I don't think I am – I've never really read any because the descriptions and reviews never make it sound like anything I'd be interested in. Maybe I'm just too old for it, or maybe it's just too young for me.