We all have our favorite and autobuy authors, whether they are ones we’ve followed from the beginning of their careers or those we’ve discovered along the way. However, occasionally it may happen that our tastes change and those authors become ones that we don’t seem to look forward to their new releases. Maybe their stories have become formulaic or they write in a genre that you are growing out of. Whatever the reason, sometimes we decide an author is no longer for us.
In terms of genres, I tend to not read as much YA as I used to – I have a few authors whose YA novels still excite me, but most do not anymore. The kids either act too young or too old – it is a very fine line to make teenagers seem believable. Additionally, there are a few authors lately who I have read many books from, but they seem to have become very formulaic. The books seem to run together, rely on the same tropes and events and are not as distinct to me anymore. These particular authors are very prolific as well, easily putting out at least five books per year, meaning I would have to devote lots of precious reading time to just keep up. Because there are just too many great books in the world, I have decided to take a break from these authors and I probably won’t keep up with their new releases for the foreseeable future.
I probably put too way much thought into this but it bums me out to decide to not follow an author anymore after I have enjoyed their works in the past. I enjoy supporting authors in their endeavors but with limited time and resources, I just can’t read ALL the books. I want to be excited every time I pick up a book, not just feel like I’m checking a box.
Do you have a hard time moving away from authors or are you normal? Have your reading tastes changed over the years?
As you mentioned, reading time is precious, and one wants to give that time to a book that excites them. I, myself, have seen my YA reading dip dramatically. I find YA authors have become a bit too preachy for my tastes, and all the books seem to feature the same few issues, over and over again. I guess that's what the target audience wants, but not me.
ReplyDeleteSpot on - there has to be something special about it for me to seek out a YA now.
DeleteTotally agree with YA stories - I've moved away from them almost completely. There are other authors that I've tried because they are super popular, but after a couple of their books, I've realized they just aren't for me.
ReplyDeleteI find that too sometimes with the super popular authors, I just don't jive with them.
DeleteI feel exactly the same. I've been moving away from YA too, aside from a few auto-buy authors that are close to my heart.
ReplyDeleteUnless I see good reviews from people I trust, sometimes it is hard to want to take a chance on them!
DeleteI feel the same about YA. I still enjoy it occasionally, but I found myself picking up a YA book less and less, and that's okay. Maybe it'll come back, maybe it won't. But I won't force it either. It's like you said, we can't read it all, so we may as well spend our time on books we really enjoy.
ReplyDeleteYes, definitely!
DeleteI agree with you regarding YA. That is what I normally would read when I started this blog, but after a few years, most of the YA novels I was reading fell flat for me with the exception of some by Ruta Sepetys, Jenny Han, Sarah Dessen, John Green, etc. It's probably now b/c I'm in my 40s and YA just didn't hit like it used to since I'm old. haha. Great post, Michele!
ReplyDeleteThank you! LOL and i agree - I'm pushing 40 and it is definitely hard to relate to the issues of a teenager. Sometimes it is nostalgic to read about a time in our lives when life was simpler, but it is hard for an author to please all ages with a YA novel.
DeleteIn the past I seemed to go through phases where I read certain genres for a year or two before moving on to something else. I spent a year or two on King and Koontz (horror), a year or so on historical romance, a couple years on mystery thrillers. And I used to read quite a bit of YA. These days I'm pretty much solely a contemporary romance reader. I might toss in the rare historical fiction or mystery thriller, but otherwise it's contemporary romance all the time. And it's been ages since I was drawn to YA. It's just hard to relate to the issues in YA and that time in life when it was more than 30 years ago. LOL
ReplyDeleteI've mostly given up on YA novels in the last year or so for the exact reasons you mentioned. I have a couple of favorites like Emma Lord that I still gravitate to, but that's about it.
ReplyDelete