What I've Learned from Organizing my Review Library

REVIEW LIBRARY UPDATE!

Yes, it's true, I've updated my Review Library! Not necessarily groundbreaking news, but for someone who, until recently, was without one, it certainly is important to me. Simply a list of the reviews I've written, conveniently divided along genre lines and alphabetically arranged to better benefit anyone who wants to check out an old review on a book I may have covered not-so-recently, the Review Library is now up and running under the tag just below the heading. 

Because I spent so much time organizing this thing, it gave me ample opportunity to study my own personal genre preferences... and I must say, I figured out some things that I expected, as well as some that really shocked me. Take a look, for starters, at the four genres that were most popular for me: 

Okay, let's be real: Young Adult, Fantasy and Paranormal, I could see coming from far down the line. I mean, those are just two popular trends within the type of novel itself that I most frequently read, so it made sense that I'd have read a lot of them, as well. But seriously, my most popular genre was Adult Contemporary Fiction... um what? I mean, you can't dispute the titles: I read a lot of this type of novel this past year. But why is that? For now, I've got to chalk it up to an unfamiliarity with the novel type itself, because I only really started reading outside of my "YA and Literature" comfort bubble within the past year. Maybe once I broaden my take of Adult Contemporary Fiction, I'll figure out all the subtler tastes that will define it further. (And I've already just talked enough about how much I love comedy memoirs, so we can really just thank Chelsea Handler, Kelly Oxford, and Tina Fey for filling up that second-most-popular category.)

Other trends I noticed? I most often review young adult novels and adult fiction novels, with nonfiction coming in third and classic literature coming in last. Also, going over a couple of those again, I'm realizing it's difficult to draw genre lines, because I saw multiple categories where books could have fit in either slot. But this is made harder by the fact that I read a lot more differentiated genres than I originally thought I did! I feel like I'm constantly reading things from the same genres, when in actuality, they're divided far more equally across many different genres than I suspected!

However, I thought there were a couple of under-represented genres in my review list as well... Like, where are all my mystery novels? I read plenty of those! And what about some of my other favorite genres in young adult fiction, like historical fiction? Where are all my works of classic literature? And my nonfiction science books?

Honestly, this Review Library has really opened up an analysis of my reading - and reviewing - habits. I learned, for instance, that alphabetizing is definitely not one of my strengths (ironic, when you think about all of the time I've spent in libraries). I learned exactly how much of a cover snob I am, being that I was originally going to post the cover by each title, but decided against it when I thought that some of them weren't that great. And I learned that no matter how much I loved the book, there's still an incredibly significant chance that I will never remember who authored it.

Now, I've got even more things to think about, as I'm determined not to let this introspection just go to waste. There are definitely things I'm going to try and do differently, like pair up my College Fashion Link Ups more consistently with substantial reviews on the novels they depict themselves, and definitely read more from genres I've enjoyed that don't display many titles. And, for starters, I have to actually remember to add reviews to the review library itself (a more difficult task than I bargained for, due to the fact that I've already forgotten twice).

So, go check out my new and beautiful Review Library! And let me know if you have any organization/ genre comments, okay?