I am now over 3 years post college. I looked back on my reading list this year, and realized that there has been a massive shift in my reading.

I could probably count on one hand the nonfiction books I read between high school and college graduation (excluding textbooks and reference materials for projects). And every single one of those books were required reading. Between graduation and the beginning of this year, I might have added another handful of nonfiction novels. During the school phase of my life almost all of my reading was fantasy and escapism. I distinctly remember telling a friend that I had quite enough of the real world in the real world and didn’t want to read about it too.

This year alone I read 36 nonfiction novels. This was on top of 26 fiction novels. The majority of the nonfiction was new, while all but 8 of the fiction books were rereads.

I realized that I’m finally far enough away from college to learn for fun. I’m actually seeking out books on topics that interest me, and real life interests have a stronger draw than fantasy. I still like fantasy, but there is room in my head for challenging and thought provoking material. It’s nice.

Anyone have similar experiences?

  • mashedbangers@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    No. I was stressed in college but I think being in that environment lead to me doing my own research on a lot of topics so I read a lot of non-fiction and peer reviewed papers.

    I graduated and was just totally burnt out and went back to the comfort of YA fantasy/adult romance… basically the same genres I had been reading since 12 lol. I read less papers and nonfic.

    • Avaunt@alien.topOPBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      I get it. I did a lot of reading for research topics in college, which probably increased my comprehension significantly, but it didn’t transfer over to my independent reading.

      I pretty much had Pratchett (and a few others) on repeat throughout graduate school on audiobook. I’m still cycling back to comfort reads, and most of my fiction reading has been rereads this year.