For those of you who’ve only come across me or my blog recently, first of all, hi! Thanks for dropping by. I really appreciate you for keeping up with my ramblings. 💖
I’ve actually been book blogging since May 2012. I know! I was 12-going-on-13 at the time, and I am still constantly wondering—how much did I really have to say as a 12 year old? 🤔 (The answer is, apparently, a lot.) I started blogging about a year after I found myself addicted to reading (my origin story deserves its own post 😂).
So that’s about 13 years of readership! And while I did take the world’s longest hiatus after my huge university reading slump, that’s still the longest time I’ve been able to keep up with a hobby. Goodreads says I’ve read over 650 books in that time. Wow.
I’ve changed a lot in those 13 years (and it would be concerning if I didn’t lol), which, of course, affected my reading habits and my ability to blog and talk about books.
It’s easier for me to figure out whether or not I’ll love a book before I read it.
It’s so much harder for me to choose what books to read because, since my reading slump, I’ve been trying to make more conscious decisions when choosing to read something. (Keyword: trying!) It could be because of age, or it could just be because I’ve read so many books at this point that I can read a blurb for a hyped-up romantasy book with hot guys and dragons and think, This sounds like a trainwreck…
Until the FOMO kicks in and I still end up reading it. 😭 But I could at least go into something with low expectations, and read a book I know I’ll at least enjoy right after to cure the brain damage. 😄
My attention span has gone to hell and might not ever return.
The reason I managed to read so much pre-Great Reading Slump was because I used to read 2 or more books at a time. I remember that I had a system—I’d have a physical book to be my “main read”, and I’d have an ebook (different from the physical book) for when I go out and can’t lug a 500-page paperback around with me. I’d literally read anywhere and everywhere.
Now? I can’t even get through a whole meeting at work without zoning out for at least 5 whole minutes, let alone read more than one book at a time!
I am quite okay with the reading one book at a time thing (NOT the attention span thing bc it’s so bad 😭), because I won’t be comparing the books I’m reading against each other. And I won’t have to go back a few sentences to figure out where I’ve left off or what’s happened or who’s talking (though I still do this sometimes… it’s definitely less).
I’ve transitioned to an ebook girlie, AKA adulting is hard and physical books are freaking expensive.
I’m bringing up my 6-year-long reading slump again because you wouldn’t believe how shocked I was coming out of my slump and finding out that books have almost DOUBLED in price where I live. A paperback would cost around $14 – $18 here now, and that might sound pretty standard for people who live in the States, but where I live, that’s a week’s worth of food and transportation. 😅
I’ve come to appreciate ebooks, so I guess that’s fine. I can lie down on the bed in any position I want and still be able to read without my arms tiring out. No fear of paper cuts!
ALSO! It’s really hot and humid where I live, so it’s difficult to take care of physical books. (My books from 13 years ago are now brown. Not even yellow—brown.) My hoarding tendencies will disagree with me, but ebooks are definitely more convenient and more practical.
This former ENFP is now an ISFJ.
12 year old me had no fear of screaming to the Internet void, posting about everything bookish on social media, and writing reviews with a million curse words.
I don’t know what it was about unviersity that transformed me into an incredibly anxious person, but that’s who I am now. I realized during the pandemic that I’ve become so socially anxious that even writing this post right now is making me a bit jittery 😭, and I miss the old, fearless me. But I’m trying. Because I really do love talking about books. I love having meaningful bookish disucssions, and figuring out what everyone else is thinking while sharing my own thoughts. That’s something that hasn’t changed in all these years. 🙂
So I do hope I can continue to chat with you all about my love of books! And maybe some day, I can do it without sweating and feeling so shy. 😄
And if you can, please bug me a little to be more active on Bookstagram and Booktwt (I’m @aimeecanread on both)! I’m so intimidated by those two platforms and get so anxious every time I open them. But I do want to be more active, and I think I might be able to do that if I have the right push. 🥺
Some things changed, but some things stayed the same.
I jokingly tell people that I feel like I’m returning to my 12-year-old self because I’m also noticing a few bookish this that have stayed the same despite all the time that’s gone by!
I’m definitely still into the same genres (I will always be a high fantasy girlie 💖) and tropes (give me a good friends-to-lovers story and I will eat that shit up any day!). I still need to get some reading done right before I go to sleep. I still count the pages I have left before the end of a chapter. I still prefer the good boys to the bad boys! Always.
It’s cool that a lot has changed, but that there are still some things that have stayed the same. And that those haven’t changed in 13 years is crazy. 😂 I guess I’m still kind of predictable. 🤷♀️
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Let’s chat!
How long have you been a reader/blogger? 💖 Have your reading/blogging habits changed at all over time? Do we share any experiences? Tell me everything. 😊
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