Heeya!
As most of us have been readers since we were younger, thus having a distinct “before” and “after” we started book blogging in terms of how and what books we decided to read, I decided it’d be quite interesting to compare the two!
So here we go! 😄
Related; “What makes me pick up a Book” Tag
My “Before” ;
I didn’t knew much about books by then, genres and stuff were not as expended as it is today – then again, it was in the 2000s, so i’m not even sure what there truly was back then either xd
I didn’t knew what was popular either, except for Harry potter and later on the hunger games, as it were movies and such.. the only other reader that I knew being older adult (my godmother), I knew what books she enjoyed like Agatha Christie, but definately not something more “my age”.
As I wasn’t bilingual at all back then (only started to really grasp it in 2012/2013), most of what I was picking were books written in Quebec.. or bigger publishers translations.
I had no other way that just browse the library or book store and figure what book looked good for me to read.
My “after” ;
Now? Although i’m still quite confused on genres (especially YA..), i’m now aware of things that I didn’t before: diversity, reps, etc.
I do know what’s popular books now!! Although it doesn’t mean that i’m that attracted to read them 🤣 as they are mostly fantasies.. I also do have so much more reader friends; around my age or even younger/older, my godmother and mother aren’t the only ones I can talk books with anymore !! ❤️
With the progress that I made within my bilinguality, I now have the opportunity to read books in both my languages – opening so many new doors to books I would’ve never had gotten to read, as i’m not even sure they would get a translation in the future!! (Eliza & her monsters being one)
Added to the casual way of browsing and picking what I find interesting, I now have a LIST of thousands of books i’d wanna get my hands on.. as I am now aware of my peers talking and gushing about them! Goodreads is also a tool I didn’t had back them – which allow me to browse even more books with themes that i’d wanna read (like Organ Donation, or dachshunds)
What are your Before & Afters?
Is it more gradual, or a high jump like mine did?
Interesting post!
I’ve definitely noticed the same thing where I had a distinct ‘before’ and ‘after’ blogging. Before blogging I had no idea what was popular either and just read books randomly. I didn’t even have a TBR list, I just picked something random when I wanted to read a book. Now I have a huge list of books I want to read, and I know more about new releases.
Exactly! Although- technically I had a TBR list.. which consisted of the random unread books on my shelf 🤣 but I can’t remember how I organized them, if I still had the read/not read division 🤔