My Reading Habits Throughout The Years

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“Find a girl who reads.” – Rosemarie Urquico

I’ve been thinking recently about how my reading habits have changed over the course of my life. While 27 years isn’t that long in the grand scheme of things, it’s still a long time for habits and hobbies to change and grow. From the early days of picture books all the way through to reading large fantasy tomes, my reading habits have definitely altered over the decades, and have made me the reader I am today.

The beginning

Like most of the population (probably?), I don’t remember when I learnt to read. There’s no memory of reading my first word, or learning my letters; no recollection of the first book I read (albeit slowly) cover to cover. But I can’t remember I time when I couldn’t read. It was there, obviously, somewhere between birth and school. Reading has been a part of my life for literally as long as I can remember.

Books like Where’s Spot? and The Very Hungry Caterpillar were the first in my life, along with book such as Green Eggs and Ham and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as I got a little older. These books were read to me though, long before I started reading stories for myself.

Reading in the primary school years

The reason I can’t remember too much about what I read in primary school is probably due to the fact that I went to about 6 primary schools. However I do remember reading Roald Dahl stories, Charlotte’s Web, Anne of Green Gables series, The Chronicles of Narnia and the like.

When I was 8 years old, my dad read me the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy, and while I remember getting annoyed that he insisted he read through every single Ent song and every Elvin poem (they went on and on and on), it definitely began my love of fantasy. Middle Earth would forever reign supreme above all other fantasy worlds.

Reading in the intermediate and high school years

The only books I remember reading in intermediate were the first two Harry Potter books, The Philosopher’s Stone and The Chamber of Secrets (books that properly kick-started my love for stories, I would say). I don’t recall reading any others in those middle years between 11 and 13. If it was just Harry Potter, then I am totally okay with that.

In high school, I don’t recall reading a lot. Every year there would be another Harry Potter book released, and I read the first few books in The Wheel of Time series. Cassandra Clare’s Shadowhunter series began in my second-to-last year of high school, which I quickly got hooked on, but like HP were only released annually. The Twilight series was big while I was in high school, and I remember reading Twilight before it got super popular.

The books we had to read for school were always a bore and I didn’t like any of them. The one and only good one was The Hobbit, which I had already read by that stage and so got top marks for that entire term.

Reading at university

I have to say that I think my 3 years at uni was where I spent the least amount of time reading. There was definitely reading happening, and most summers were spent out by the pool or under a tree devouring whatever novel I had found, but there were long weeks when I wasn’t reading anything, or it look me weeks to read one book.

Perhaps it was because I was going to and from uni a lot, attending classes, spending a lot of time with friends. It wasn’t because I was busy studying – I didn’t really spend my days studying unless there was an exam the next day – so it wasn’t because I didn’t have the time. Uni was a reading mystery to me.

Reading post-university

When I moved to England I lived round the corner from the local library, and it was there I discovered that I could request books for free (you had to pay $1 here in New Zealand for reserving a book), and simply pop in when I needed to pick them up. For the first year of my time there I didn’t have a job, so I started reading a lot more. In between applying for work and exploring the country, I read. And I read and I read.

It was really in these few years that I rediscovered my love of reading. I’d always liked reading, but now books had become a part of who I was so much more than they previously had. In 2013 I partook in the Goodreads Reading Challenge for the first time, and read 45 books throughout the year. It was that year that I found the Young Adult genre, and read quite a few books that would then start my fondness of various authors, such as John Green, Veronica Rossi and Marissa Meyer. 2013 and 2014 saw me guest posting for Blogger’s Bookshelf and then becoming a regular reviewer and part of the team. Through the BB blog, I discovered even more YA books, and made those bookish connections with people, and later on, publishing companies like Hachette Publishing NZ.

Reading today

Now I rocket through at least 45 books a year, often more, and am always ‘X amount of books ahead of my Goodreads Challenge’. I read on average a book a week, sometimes more, and I’ll never not have a book with me, even if I know that there won’t be a chance in my day to read it. You never know when you might be stuck somewhere or have a spare 15 minutes to dive back into the story.

It’s really interesting looking back at my reading history, and seeing how it’s changed (and not) over the years. I wonder if it’ll ever slow down again, like it did through uni, or if this is my life now: a book a week for the rest of my life. I sincerely hope it’s the latter, but you never know what life throws at you.

I’d love to know what your reading habits have been over the years.

Have you always loved reading? What was the book/s that kick-started your reading?