I absolutely do. Sometimes I'll read a lot more than usual. I'll go through periods where I'm only in the mood for contemporaries or historicals - and when I'm in the mood for historicals, I'm usually in the mood for a specific time or setting (medieval, western, etc). Last week I was reading oldies (90's books). This week I've been going through a phase of reading mostly outside of romance (I'm reading a lot of historical fiction right now).
Does anyone else do this?

I do. I have also noticed I read less in the summer, the month of August specifically. No idea why. Since I am one of those strange people that logs, charts and trends things for fun ( I know, odd right? ) I am starting to see patterns in how many books I read before I change genres too.

Yes I do. It depends on my mood a lot. But it also depends on what I get from the library from my reserve list. A short while ago I was into creepy, suspense books, mostly of women in jeopardy from serial killers. Sometimes I just want my Harl.medical romances. Now I want to read popular, best-selling fiction.

I do go through phases. Right now I'm into the paranormal books, before that it was all black ops type books, and before that it was mystery. Who know what will pop up next for me.

I read RS, CR and (lately) Mystery. I like to mix them up and rarely read two books in a series or by the same author back-to-back, the exceptions being the 'In Death' series by J.D. Robb, Faye Kellerman's Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus novels and Julia Spencer-Fleming's Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne mysteries. I hardly, if ever, stray from these types of books and have yet to become bored. On occasion, I hit a bit of a reading slump and will not pick up a book for a few days. When I do, I choose a favorite from my keepers and that seems to spur my reading impulse again.

HR

Yes, yes, yes!

At one time I only read historicals....then a combination of historicals and contemporaries. Now I'll rather read romantic suspsene over historicals.

My reading has also slowed up...I don't know if it's because I think I've read every storyline a thousand times or if they just don't write them like they used to!

This something I have done for years. In fact last year I went through a paranormal phase that lasted so long I have not read them since. I have been reading mostly contemporaries for a while now. Lately it has been a lot of Harlequins and short stories, with some of my favorites big authors thrown in. But a lot of that is because life has been so crazy the last couple of months, so I like to read the "easy reads" at times like this. I call them easy reads because you just sit back and enjoy watching them fall in love. With other romance novels there is much more involved, that I save those for when I can devote the time to pay attention to them.

A couple of years ago I was in a historical reading phase for a couple of months, I had read all the way back to I think the 900's(it was Catherine Coulter's Viking Era series, really good too). When I was telling myself alright, I need running water, electricity, toilets, cars,...... But that was when I caught on to the fact that I tend to group my romance together. This is just one of the reasons I love having an ereader now. I can feed this need all I want. I buy the books and have them for when I am ready to read them.

The only down side to this is if I am not in the mood to read that genre, no matter how much I try I can not get into the book. However if I read the same book when I am in the mood for that genre, I can really enjoy it. So if I can not get into a story by say the second chapter, I put it down and read another story and go back to the first later.

I think I've always done this too. I will get on a big time kick of reading westerns,then need a break, so will change to contemporaries. Then on to regular fiction and/or mysteries/thrillers etc. Then I probably would move to true crime until I burned out of all the really bad stuff that is true and actually happened. I will usually need a real escape by then and will change to historical and historical romances.

Then all over again. But yes, I do read tons of one genre, then need a break from it and change to a completely different one.

But like many of you all, I seem to have been reading much less lately. Not sure why, though some reasons are that I am so engrossed in this political process this year that I am reading more twitter and news sites now. That has taken away somewhat from my regular book reading. Also, we are having a lot of serious family illnesses lately (my brother, my husband) and have had a lot going on. I also am taking care of my elderly mother, which is taking up a lot of my time lately.

Oh, I absolutely go through phases! I've gone from:

Historical to
Contemporary
RS
Paranormal
Back to contemporary
Now it's mystery/thriller

You are not alone!

I have a stack of all different kinds of books, and when I'd finish one, I'd look at the stack and think, "Now, what do I want to read next?" However, I find I can't switch from a futuristic to a historical to a contemporary like I used to.

Also, there are so many good books out each month that I don't have to wander too far away from a genre. So I have not read a historical in 6 months or so.

Oh yes, I go through phases! Way back when, I only read historicals. I think I burned out on them, because now I only read a very few. Also, this genre seems to have gone through the PC thing, and I don't care for PC books at all. I am down to only 2 authors that I read now in this genre.

I do like the heavy suspense books too. Karen Rose types, with suspense that is chilling and leaves you scared to turn off the lights! It seems like when life is bad, these books go to the back burner for me. So I am playing catch up now!

I do like to hang on to books from series of 3, and read them together. Although I hate it when books 1 and 2 come out back to back, then we wait another 6 months for book 3. I'm sure the publishers have a reason, but besides SpamFilter me off I'm not sure what it is!

I am not reading as much either. The other night I picked up 3 books, before settling on one to read. Part of the problem is I have too many books to read. The TBR pile is over 1000 again, and I try to keep it under that. I guess half the fun of being a book addict is making sure I have a great collection, that is well organized and I can always lay my hands on all the books. But the downside is determining what to read next. Too many choices!

I keep a reading journal for every year, and one thing that comes through loud and clear is that I like series books (it's hard to find books that stand alones these days), and are (1 )contemporary, or (2) romantic suspense. Another thing I see is RS authors who are going more towards suspense and away from romance have fallen off my radar. Gotta have my romance!

Since I left the workforce, I thought I would read more, and it's been the opposite. I like to do so many things, that my reading has fallen off. I did not watch TV for years, so evenings were set aside for reading. Now Monday - Thursday I watch my fave shows and cross stitch while I watch TV. I volunteer a lot at the hospice and with our dog rescue organization, and spend lots of time in the summers in the gardens. You never know what tomorrow will bring, so I try to do something every day that I enjoy and looked forward to doing when I was able to retire early. This is something I truly hope everyone of you can do some day! There should be some reward at the end of our working days.

I go through reading phases. Right now I'm only reading books in first person. I'm also reading a lot of non-fiction.

Great post!

~ Nancy

So there, man I do remember going through those periods where I just wanted to read certain genre's of books. I'm be into my romance novels then one minute I couldn't pick up a book and I would switch to another genre like science fiction or fantasy or a fiction book.