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Original poster

Has your Taste in Books changed over the Years?

29 replies

BaconAndAvocado · 16/02/2014 22:03

I'm 44 and have become aware that the books I'm drawn to these days are very very different to the ones I read in my 20s and even 30s.

Back then I would read the likes of Milan Kundera, Nabokov, Ian McEwan, quite literary fare?

And the books I would have sniffed at, crime, thrillers, I'm really enjoying now.

Have I dumbed down in my mid-life literary crisis or am I now just less of a book snob?

Currently reading a Mark Haddon, which apparently, according to a writer friend, falls into the "accessible literature" category.

OP posts:
GypsyJo · 17/02/2014 14:38

As a teenager I read lots of horror - Stephen King, James Herbert, Dean Koonz etc.
Then in my 20s I got into classics, particularly Thomas Hardy.
Now I'm really into psychological contempory mystery stuff. It's funny how things change.

MiddleAgeMiddleEngland · 17/02/2014 11:27

I think my tastes have stayed fairly similar. I've always loved Victorian literature, not just reading the novels but also studying the subject as a whole (and did this for part of my degree). I still read a lot of fiction from that time, and of course many of these are re-reads - unfortunately Thomas Hardy, George Eliot and Elizabeth Gaskell aren't going to produce any more titles!

I also read a lot of more modern fiction, and try to explore new authors - at the moment I'm reading The Poisonwood Bible (see my thread Smile as well as authors I've enjoyed in the past.

I don't feel the same compulsion to finish a book if I'm not enjoying it, and don't bother with things I know I'm unlikely to get anything from. However, a friend recently came up with the idea that every seventh book you read should be out of your comfort zone so perhaps I might even try a fantasy novel at some point....

Aliama · 17/02/2014 08:39

Yep, I used to love fantasy, but recently have been turning more to crime fiction. I still look at that section in libraries, but just find that nothing really appeals. Not sure if that's because my tastes have changed, or if its because publishing has changed, and they aren't publishing the same epic fantasy that they used to.

But then I have had the first book in the new Robin Hobb series on my kindle for ages (at least 2 years) and haven't started it yet, so I suspect it is me.

I'm also much more likely to give up on a book if I'm not enjoying it.

DuchessofMalfi · 17/02/2014 08:27

Interesting thought, Bacon. I used to read a lot of classics as a teenager and into my 20s, interspersed with Agatha Christie and the such like. Then drifted into more chick-lit type books Blush.

Now, in my 40s I'm becoming more focussed on reading better books, and slowly getting back into reading classics as well. I read an Ian McEwan novel for the first time last year, loved it, and am slowly working through his novels. But I'm also interspersing with crime novels/thrillers (my favourite genre :))

My problem, I find, is I have become distracted by the bestseller lists, and novels that are sold cheaply in the supermarkets. I need to wean myself off them and get back into searching for quality books.