Top Ten Tuesday: Now & Then

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's topic is...

Now & Then!

This week I was tasked with reflecting on my reading life and how it has changed. I am comparing how I read now to how I read when I first started pleasure reading again back in 2013. I really have adopted quite a few changes, and it was interesting an interesting topic to ponder.

1. Contemporary Reader - Once upon a time I was more of a mixer. I think I attribute this to the fact that I was mostly reading my daughter's books. I kept reading a mix for a while, but I found the most success with contemporaries, and now the majority of the books I read are contemporary fiction. 
2. Fiction Only - Before I started pleasure reading again, I read almost no fiction. That's right. I had jobs, that required me to keep up with changes. I was reading a ton of programming language and architecture books, and later, many, many science and teaching theory books. I am really happy to be reading fiction again, because it allows me to escape from my own life for short periods of time, and it's something that keeps me sane. 
3. More Pages, No Better - When I was reading less, I used to feel shortchanged if a book came in under 400 pages, but these days, because I read so many books, I am ok with a shorter books, and most of my books are between 300 and 400 pages now. 
4. Speed Reader - I think I read faster, but I believe it's because I am reading more contemporary fiction. I find these books slightly easier to read. I mean, I spend a lot of time just trying to figure out how to pronounce the names in most fantasy books, and I slow my reading every time the name pops up on the page. Not sure if I am reading any faster, but it seems that way. 
5. Roll the Dice - I think I take more chances with my reading too. When I read less, I needed every book to be a hit, and I would stick with authors I knew or really hyped books. Now, I am reading 5 - 6 books a week. I can afford to take a few chances, and they have really paid off for me. 
6. More Middle Grades - I was ok being an adult YA reader, but when my daughter tried to push middle grades books on me, I scoffed at her. It took very few middle grades books to change my mind about them. I thought they would be way too young for me, but these middle grades authors do a wonderful job covering some deep and tough topics, and they do so in a way that is accessible to even someone was old as me. 
7. I Stand Alone - Because I used to read more SFF books, I was always reading a series. By moving to contemporaries, I now read mostly standalones, and I am good with that. There are many that are companions, but I no longer have to wait a year to find out what comes next, and that is a plus in my book. 
8. Write the Review - I now write a review for every book I read. They are not always super long, but I capture some thoughts with each book. Once upon a time, I used to just leave a rating, but now I realize how stars alone do not tell the full story of how much I did or did not enjoy a book. 
9. Tell Me a Story - I once said, that I couldn't understand why one would listen to audiobooks, if they were able to read a story. Ha! Now I listen to audiobooks almost every day, and being able to "read" this way has really helped me make a dent in my backlist. 
10. E-reading - As I get older, my eyes get worse. Therefore, I read mostly ebooks now, where I can control the font, whereas, I read way more physical books before, you know, because there were no ebooks when I was younger. 🤣

How has your reading life changed?
Let us know in the comments!