Hello, happy Friday! And a Happy Samhain from me! I am currently celebrating at a friend’s place where we’re going to go for a walk, have a bonfire, eat soul cakes and drink seasonal punch. Lovely.

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly bookish discussion meme created by Rukky @Eternity Books and co-hosted by Aria @Book Nook Bits and Dini @DiniPandaReads. Each Friday, bloggers will write posts about a particular topic and share on their blog.

This week it’s a freebie week! I was going to choose something Halloween-y, but then I remembered I don’t read anything scary. I instead picked a topic from November 2022, all about defining your reading tastes.

How would you define your personal reading tastes?

Over the years, I have really narrowed down my reading tastes, and I would describe it as moderately eclectic, only on the account that I do like to mix up my genres. I enjoy books for a ‘feel’, or a particular type of character these days over specific plot devices and, both of those things can be found across multiple genres. While I have favourites, of course, I dabble in most things, from fantasy to mystery and contemporary. I like to choose my own books too, and by that I mean that I am not generally influenced by what other people are reading and loving on social media, so I don’t tend to pick up ‘popular’ books that often.

What kind of books do you like to read?

I typically pick up fantasy, science fiction and nature non-fiction books.
For my fiction, I tend towards books that have female main characters, friendship over romance and hopefully an animal or two. I also love unique worldbuilding and interesting magic systems in fantasies. Of course, these aren’t rules and I do read quite diversely in the genre, having enjoyed polar opposites like The Bloodsworn Trilogy by John Gwynne just as much as The Very Secret Society Of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna.

For my non-fiction I always choose nature writing, but I am not fussed what it is within that; I’ll read anything from memoirs to research. Some of the books I have loved the most talk about plants in some way, but I also have enjoyed books about climate justice, the ocean and cultures other than my own.

As I said before, I also dabble in other genres, the most common being mystery and translated fiction (is this a genre? It is in my head…). I love a good classic mystery book – think Agatha Christie here! My translated fiction likes are harder for me to define. I like things that are poignant and beautifully written, but if it gets too heavy-handed with the messaging I tend to lose enjoyment.

For an idea of the books that I have really loved, check out my Pagebound Favourites Shelf!

How do you pick what books to read next?

I fall somewhere between a mood reader and a TBR maker. I have such a type-A personality, but in recent years I have discovered that I need flexibility in order to enjoy my reading as much as possible. I’ve landed on a happy medium which has been working for me so far, and that is making a loose plan of books for the month to pick from, but also not imposing a strict rule about sticking to it.

I’ve been using Pagebound to do that of late (I swear this isn’t an ad lol, I just love that website!), as they have a really cool ‘plan’ feature that lets you create monthly TBRs. The first thing I do is add any ARCs I need to read for the following month, as I like to be ahead of things there, and then I add in any other books that have caught my fancy recently. This helps make sure I know exactly what ARCs I have due, while also not letting me forget books I’ve felt like picking up. Generally, I’ve stuck to my reading plans, but I have absolutely veered off course a few times!

Do your reading preferences change often?

For the overarching genre choices, no. I have always, and will always be a fantasy and nature book reader. I genuinely don’t ever see this changing, no matter how sucked into mystery novels I get – I’ll always return to these two genres.

Within my fantasy choices, however, my tastes do shift. I’ve said that I enjoy female characters, friendships and animals, and that has stayed pretty true, but I do switch up the sub-genre preferences from time to time. Last year I was really into epic fantasies with extensive worldbuilding and really complex plots. I still enjoy those things now, but they are no longer my first choice. At the moment, I’m reaching for books that have folklore elements to them, that have atmosphere and witchy vibes. I’m really enjoying small-town, cosier stories too.

I have really varied tastes, so I do see this changing again, but in general I’ll read most things so long as they tick one or two of my ‘likes’ boxes! I am very good at knowing if I will like a book or not, and sometimes I’ll pick something up that really excites me and then I’ll seek out all the similar books I can find and before I know it my preferences have shifted again!

YOU TELL ME: Has your taste in books changed recently?