Outgrowing Your TBR!

Can you outgrow your book preferences the same way you might outgrow your favorite pair of shoes?  It certainly isn't the same connotation of "outgrow"--you're not physically growing out of anything.  But mentally, you are.

Not too long ago I was scrolling through my TBR (to-be-read) list of books on Goodreads, and I noticed that there was a handful of books I had misplaced my interest in ever reading.  At the time I added them, however long ago, I must have been eager to get around to devouring the stories and tales.  But as time passed and I neglected picking up the books, my enthusiasm waned.

As we get older, our tastes change and develop.  We are never the same person twice in our lives.  So it makes sense that a book I may have killed to read six months before would have faded into the background by now.  

Just a year ago I was reading almost exclusively young adult novels--Cassandra Clare, Marie Lu, John Green, everyone's favorites.  Now?  I prefer Neil Gaiman, Agatha Christie, V.E. Schwab.  I've branched out into the adult section more and more with each passing month.  Does this mean I don't enjoy YA any longer?  Of course not.  It just means that I wander over to the adult shelves at bookstores before I head back to the teens.  

This is a natural progression.  I don't recall the exact moment I stopped running straight to the children's area at Barnes & Noble, only that I found myself browsing books with titles like Divergent and The Raven Boys rather than Harry Potter and Matilda.  

There is nothing wrong with growing up, no matter what Peter Pan said.  We all have to leave our childhood behind at some point.  It's when you look back with nostalgia on moments and books you loved dearly that I think you've begun transforming into an adult.  It's okay to not want to read the newest, shiniest YA or children's book on the market.  Just because you loved something once doesn't mean you will love it forever. Sometimes you have to know when to leave those things behind, close the book and sit it on your shelf to collect dust.  

Our preferences change more quickly than the seasons, it seems like.  One day I refuse to read anything except for horse books, the next dystopians are all the rage.  We don't give time permission to pass and for our mindsets to shift, but they do, nevertheless.