katiesreadingexperiment

[katiesreadingexperiment]

Update #1: Punk 57

Hi Lovely,

so, it only took me 4 months to write this update. I’m not even going to try and find excuses why, so I will just get into it. I still haven’t finished this book - in 4 months (still have around 50 pages on my e-reader to go). This is quite telling, this experiment currently not going as I imagined it to go. Perhaps, I can try again in 2023 - new year, new me - or some bulls**t like that, they say. 

Anyways, let’s move on to review. When I started this experiment, I was on my holiday leave, relaxed, having all the time I wanted to - and then again, real life happened and I just can not find the energy to read. I started Punk 27 then and at first, it went ok - I was interested in the book, it was one of my favorites when I first read it. Now, this is an interesting part. One of the things, I was really curious about was, whether I would still like this book as much as I did a few years back. I read this book for the first time when I was, around 24, 25 years old and now, I’m 31. As you can imagine, a lot can change in this period of time - this are the years we change and grow the most. I have to say - no, I did not like this book as much as I did back then, at all. This is not a bad thing though, it just shows how much I’ve changed and grown and how my interest changed. 

Obviously, I am aware this is a new adult (I think...?) romance and given that it’s fiction, it doesn’t have to be realistic. Here is, when I noticed how much my outlook at life changed - when I was reading this, it just felt so immature, so unrealistic and the characters, both of them, were very unlikable to me. I was just getting annoyed with both of them, with this book, with how bad they were in communication. I honestly don’t even remember all the little things that bothered me, I do remember one of the things being, how phisically attractive and perfect they were described to be - funny, this never bothered me before, when I was younger, but now, I just see how damaging this could be to readers, especially the ones struglling with self confidence and self image. It just seems shallow. The whole book seems shalow. Another thing, I used to love in books, but now it just seems unnecessary, was all the smut. A bit of it, it’s fine, I do not need the details, if so, I would read erotica. Honestly, I learned quite a bit about myself, reading the book I used to love, when I was younger. The smut never bothered me before, I used to search for it. Not now though, I feel like I just need a good story, great character development and don’t need this teenager drama anymore. 

Not to be too harsh on the book - I might be a bit cynical lately, overall. I think that, if this book is really taken as a light romance smutty read and this is all you’re looking for, it’s good. Also it might be more interesting to 17 - 25 years old, being in a different stage of life, dealing with different experiences then 30+ something people (or older). I appreciate this book for what it was for me - at one stage of life, I loved it, I enjoyed it deeply and it brought me a good time back then - and I respect this. I have grown up now and I’m obviously searching for different experiences and this book, just doesn’t cut it for me anymore. I think that I’ve outgrown NA probably.

Lately, I’ve been following booktok a bit more, so perhaps I’ll try some of the recs from there. Maybe a thriller this time?:)

[katiesreadingexperiment]

Challenge #1: Get me out of my reading slump, by re-reading some of my favorites

Hi lovely.

Why wait, right? Let’s do the first challange. So, going through my (5 years or so not updated) Goodreads list, I read some of the feedbacks I wrote for my, then favorite, books. I used to really love this books back then, so I decided why not and try to get me out of my reading slump by re-reading some of these books. I’m also super curious, if I’ll still like them as much as I did back then, 5 years ago.

The first book to re-read is Punk 57, by Penelope Douglas. Let’s do this! :)

[katiesreadingexperiment]

A quick introduction to Katie’s reading experiment

Hi, lovely.

Thank you for being here, on my little blog, hopefully you’ll enjoy it. 

The idea of Katie’s reading experiment was born on a rainy, cosy September day, after months of going back and forward, wanting to start reading again, not having the time or the energy, watching so many booktube videos but at the end of the day, being in a huge reading slump and not reading at all.

Let’s start at the beggining though. Hi, I’m Katie. Currently still 30 years old. I’m from Europe, however English is not my native language, so please excuse any potential grammar mistakes. Huge coffee lover (I also don’t mind wine). I have the loveliest, cutest little dog, which I absolutely adore. In a real world, I have a demanding job - and I need a sweet escape sometimes. I used to love reading, so much! For the past few years though, the real life got in the way - and I stopped reading, completely. I could blame the lack of time, but mostly lack of energy and Netflix. :)

I do miss the magical and wonderful world of books, therefore I decided to create Katie’s reading experiment.

The idea behind it is, to challenge myself with a range of book challenges, trying to not only find my love for books again, but to push myself out of my confort zone when it comes to reading. I was mostly a romance reader before, may that be dark romance, taboo, contemporary, sports romance etc. I want to change that. I want to read the genres I would never think of before. I want to finally read some of the books my favorite booktubers recommend. I want to find great new books and I want to find out which books are not for me. Most of all, I want to share this journey with all of you.

If you’re in the similar reading slump situation or if you’d just like to see, how this will go, if you like to read about books and are always on a search for that new great book discovery -  welcome to follow me on this journey. :)