Today's Musing Mondays Question at Should be Reading is, "How has your reading changed over the years?"My reading has changed over the years... when I first graduated college (eight years ago) I was reading nearly all non-fiction books, many were of the spiritual formation variety, but some were biographies and cultural critiques. Then I went through a phase where I was reading strictly genre fiction, consuming copious amounts of chick lit, reading nearly the entire John Grisham bibliography, and dabbling in Tom Clancey's work.
Now, my tastes center around two themes: literary fiction (re-reading the classics and partaking in contemporary award winners) and award-winning young adult literature. I'm trying to steer clear of literature (both YA and adult) that, although entertaining, doesn't utilize symbolism or unique language to propel the plot, character, setting and theme forward in an interesting and evocative way. I'm really on a bender that if a book is simply a story (without an intriguing lesson to be learned by seriously considering the underlying meaning of the book), I would do better to save my time by watching entertaining television and movies.
The books I've read recently that fall into these categories are: The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare (her stories aren't just about vampires/demons/warewolves/faeries), The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst (not just a story about gay sex and drugs), and Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier (which was about so much more than just two kids in London). The books on my "to be read" shelf that fit this mold are: Looking for Alaska by John Green, Atonement by Ian McEwan, and Perfect by Natasha Friend.
That's me (in my current state) in a nutshell. What about you?
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4 comments:
Excellent question today. I do find myself reading more ya fiction that has a moral to the story. I too went through the tom Clancy, John Grisham stage.
Happy Reading!
Robin of mytwoblessings
I've never read Tom Clancy or John Grisham.
I hope you enjoy Atonement. I think it's McEwan's best.
Easy...I used to read a lot...and now I can never finish a book! haha!
I used to read stuff like Anne of Green Gables and Left Behind, This present Darkness, the writings of Francis Shaffer etc. in my spare time...now I read books either about homeschooling or random books that have been recommended to me (like the star wars books hubby is insisting I finish and the Twilight and City of Bones books that I REALLY want to read!)
Unfortunately, I cannot read more than one book at a time- I just don't have the attention span so I'm plugging along slowly on my personal book list.
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