in which a girl reads: falling out of love with books

9.12.2010

falling out of love with books

Something rather crushing happened yesterday, when I went to dig through my bookshelves for this novel I used to love when I was in sixth grade. I started reading it. It was okay, but not wonderful like I remembered it to be.

I mostly noticed how I didn't care for the voice, or the way author described things, or the dialogue. I used to love every inch of that book and reread it obsessively, but yesterday I realized it was just kinda not that great.

I'd fallen out of love with a book.

Now, I still love plenty of books I loved in sixth grade. But some books I was sure I'd love forever--well, they're not that loved anymore.

And I think it's because I review books.

Before, if I didn't like a book, it was only a vague, unsettled feeling in the pit of my stomach after I read a book and decided I'd wasted my time and then decided I'd never read it again. But I didn't put this dislike of a book into words or even think much about why I disliked a book until I began book reviewing.

Now, it's hard for me to put my critical mind aside when I'm reading. The flaws in a book stand out.

And I think that's why--not just because I'm older and different--I can fall out of love with a book.

And I wonder if that's really a good thing. I mean, I can have comfort in the fact that there's a reason I love or hate a book, but it's not as comforting to know that I can't just pick up any book I want and have an enjoyable time reading it, or even expect that my reading favorites will still be the same books a year from now.

Why do you think you fall out of love with books? Is it just time passing? Different tastes? Or did you suddenly become aware of flaws you hadn't noticed before?

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mrsderaps 56p · 762 weeks ago

What I've found since becoming an avid book reviewer is not so much that I've fallen out of love with books, but that I see the merit and stick with books that I would probably not like so well if I were not reading them for review. I read all sorts of YA from all sorts of genres. This is mainly because I want to read them and then recommend them to my students. I am careful to keep an open mind when picking up a new read because even though I might now love it, someone else will or already does.

Because of this, I've been exposed to a wide range of books and have ended up loving some titles that I would normally have never even picked up in the first place.

An aside--You're making me wonder what book it was that you went back and reread...
My recent post Book Review- The Eternal Ones

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Bookish in a Box · 762 weeks ago

Since I've become a reviewer, I've had the problem of falling out of love with books, as well as having a harder time finding GREAT books. I think it's because I have so much more choice now. I used to have a few hundred books that I owned and loved, but now I have access to so many more books that the scale slipped. I'm also reading more books that I wouldn't have before, and therefore have a greater chance of disliking them. On the plus side, it makes truly great books mean THAT MUCH more.

I'm wondering what book you went back and re-read too. :-)
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Audrey · 762 weeks ago

I kind of know what you mean, and I think personally, it's just because I've grown up and my tastes have changed. Maybe when i was younger, my taste would be some non-stop action. And now, I care more about the writing and story depth, stuff like that just change my opinion of novels. Maybe when I'm older, I might look fondly upon my YA years and think "I can't believe I read stuff like that" (doubt it! haha).
But as of now, I'm more concerned about finding a book to fall IN love with rather than out, it's been a while since I've read something spectacular :p
nice post :)

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Tere Kirkland · 762 weeks ago

I recently reread A Wrinkle in Time, and while it was good, it was not as good as I remembered. I'm thinking it's a style thing, not a plot thing, which made it more difficult to "get into" it than it was when I was a kid, starved for science fiction that was geared toward someone my age. The style/ voice was a little dated by the time I read them, but still, I devoured the books about the Murrays and then the other books because they filled a niche.

Now it's so much easier to find YA speculative fiction, so I guess I read a little more critically than I used to.

Still, my memories of those books fill a special place in my heart.

Great post!

~Tere

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Heather Rae 52p · 762 weeks ago

I know what you mean. Since I started reviewing books, I've noticed that I read them differently. I look at them with a more critical eye, and I notice when something doesn't sit right with me. Also, in the past, I probably read fewer books. I read a ton of books now, so it's easier to compare and contrast one writer's style with another, and I have a real feel for exactly the types of books that I like. On the other hand, I've also found more books that I enjoy because of this. I pick up books that I otherwise might not have, and I read all different styles and genres, so there are also many more books that I enjoy that I would have never known existed. There are some definite pluses and minuses when it comes to reviewing books.

Also, I will sometimes read a book that I really enjoyed, but when I reread it, it doesn't carry the same weight with me. I just chalk it up to the fact that I've already read it, and the magic of a first-time read can only last so long. At least I loved it the first time I read it -- and that's enough for me. :)
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Sandy · 762 weeks ago

I'm curious to know what book you fell out of love with!

I definetely think that it's because we're book reviewers; we have to read all the time and we don't JUST read for pleasure anymore--we have to analyze an author's writing style, their way of world-building, if their characters are believable, etc. The way we view books now is completely different from when we were reading for fun. Books that I would've given 5 stars in the past I look at now and think, "3 stars, at most!" I always catch myself analyzing a book and think wow, I never would've noticed this if I hadn't started book blogging. It's quite interesting o.o
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Chrystal · 762 weeks ago

I'm very curious to know which book it was that led you to this post. It is a great post by the way. I am partial to the idea that I may have just outgrown a topic or genre. I can also see being a reviewer could change how you see a book. Before I think I'd read a book and just enjoy the story, now I read and think about why I like it/don't like it, how the author wrote different sections, etc. I have gone back and re-read books and not been as IN LOVE with them as before, but they have stayed OLD favourites because I think of how they made me feel back then. :)

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amelia · 762 weeks ago

I've definitely fallen out of love with books. A lot of the time, they're books that I read because of all the hype, and then later realized that they weren't so great after all (HUSH HUSH for example, and somewhat with the MI series, lol!). In order for me to un-love a book, though, it has to be more than just poor writing style or even a lukewarm plot. It has to be something that really turns me off that I never seemed to notice before.
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Sandy Shin · 762 weeks ago

As I grow older, I find myself falling out of love with books more and more. I agree with Tere that, for me, it's mostly a style thing. I used to gobble up descriptive and dense fantasy and YA fantasy novels by the dozens. However, my taste has drifted toward sparser writing styles -- and can no longer easily enjoy books I used to love.
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Erin · 762 weeks ago

Oh, this happens to me sometimes and I feel like it's like a piece of my childhood has died when I realize a book isn't as fabulous as I remember. I used to LOVE all of LJ Smith's books (well, except for Vampire Diaries. Surprisingly that was one of her series I couldn't get into) and I re-read some of them recently and couldn't believe how much I used to adore them.

I think you mature as a reader. Not only your tastes, but the way you read and how you think about what you read. Also, I think some aspects of publishing has changed, particular with popular YA books. I think the standards have really risen.

I sometimes try not to re-read books I loved when I was younger because I'm scared it will destroy my memory of them.
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celi.a · 762 weeks ago

I think this is a realization you come to as you mature - that some things from the past will hold their value, and others won't. It's part of the process of growing older, wiser, and becoming more aware of the nuances of the world, life, and everything in it. I think it's natural. But it does make me glad that you've realized it. People who don't realize it or don't think about it are the ones who worry me. Truly. Great post!

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heatherensley 2p · 762 weeks ago

As someone who doesn't review books, I'd take comfort in the fact that you can now identify why you do or don't like a book. Oftentimes I'm just left feeling like I wasted my time. I agree with the others that sometimes you love a book not just for its content, but because of the context in which you read it. Falling out of love with books might just mean that you're becoming more yourself (in a strange way). OK. Those are my deep thoughts for the day : )

Great post! Thanks!
H www.heatherensley.blogspot.com

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Becky (Page Turners) · 762 weeks ago

I have had exactly the same problem recently and I wrote a post about it recently - I loved Tomorrow When the War Began by John Marsden when I was young, but when I re-read it I was a bit disappointed. I think that it was just age that changed the book for me, but I will always have fond memories. Here is my post about it http://www.pageturnersbooks.org/2010/08/has-book-...

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christinefonseca 18p · 762 weeks ago

I hink it has to do with changing perspective and the fact tht you review books now...your esthetic has changed.

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Simcha · 762 weeks ago

I have found that some of the books that I loved when I was younger don't hold the same magic for me, as an adult. Which makes sense, if you think about it because I'm more judgmental as an adults and require more explanations and character building than I used to. I wouldn't try to reread Sweet Valley Twins now because I'm pretty sure they were probably awful, despite how much I loved them. On the other hand, Gordan Korman's books are just as good as I remembered them.
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Andrea · 762 weeks ago

Interesting post! I think part of it is that you read a book in a certain context of your life --that time and that place--and sometimes it strikes a chord with you. The context is different when you read it again later, and your perspective is different. As a reviewer, there might be things that you appreciate now about books that you didn't when you were younger.
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Kah Woei · 761 weeks ago

Well, one of the reasons I've noticed is some books just don't do as well without the suspense i.e. once I already know the story, the pacing and the characters just aren't good enough to keep me interested anymore. The other is sometimes if it's part of a series, you might start to notice inconsistencies when re-reading the entire series together. But more often than not, there doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason to it. I'm simply no longer interested and I just can't figure out why. :-)
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Mel · 761 weeks ago

I have had the same thing happen. I think as you get older your taste changes, so sometimes you don't like a book as much as you once did, or sometimes you will love a book you previously hated. I'm studying Professional Writing and Editing, and now that I've learnt a lot more about grammar, punctuation, voice etc, I find that I am reading books a lot more critically. This is both good and bad. Though I do worry that I will find mistakes in my favourite authors' works and thus find their work not as good.

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tessaquin 6p · 761 weeks ago

When I read books today, after having learned all that I've learned in the past year, I can't stop myself from mind-editing the novels I read. I think this is probably something most of us writers do, and I think it's a good thing. We learn to compare our work AND our writing. All of a sudden, I notice all the adverbs and consider if they were really necessary (they usually weren't, are my usual conclusions), and I cringe when I see a passive voice. This is something I never would have noticed a year ago!

I've never read Little Women before (hey, I live in Iceland!), but I picked it up for my Kindle a week back and the first thing I notice are all those pesky adverbs! There's hardly a sentence that doesn't have one. I'm still going to read it, though.

Stephen King advices people to read badly written books, because we learn most from them.

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in which a girl reads

9.12.2010

falling out of love with books

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