It's not just for nerds! (Or maybe I am one?)

Hi friend,

As you know, in 2026, I’m doing an experiment I’m calling: The Taste Test. It’s a reading challenge where I’m choosing one genre per month and reading a few recent/popular books from it, in an attempt to figure out what my reading taste is as an adult… and maybe (hopefully!) even find a new author/genre to obsess over!

At the end of each month, I write a recap of my thoughts, including the list of books I read and how I experienced each one. In January, I read 4 memoirs and remembered why I enjoy them. In February, I read 6 mystery/thrillers and LOVED that genre! And in March, I accepted that I don’t really like historical fiction.…

For April, I decided to read some science fiction and came up with a list of 5 books I’d try! Did I get through them all? And what did I think of this genre? Let’s see…

I start each of these recaps by sharing what my initial thoughts were on the genre. Any assumptions I had, judgments I made, and any resistance or intrigue I noticed in myself before reading the books. Because this is all an experiment, you could say this is the “hypothesis” of the month! And I found this one interesting…

When I decided to include science fiction in this challenge, I noticed I felt almost… icky about it. “Science fiction” conjured images of aliens and space, of complicated worlds that make no sense, and of the nerds who love them. (If this sounds judgmental, I know! Stay with me!) I’ve been into more bookshops than usual this year, and one of the other things I noticed is that sci-fi is a section I skip entirely! So I guess the story I’ve been telling myself is that science fiction was “not for me.”

Then, I started researching which books I might read…

I’m going to tell you about the reading experience below. But truthfully, almost everything I learned about myself happened during the research process! The experience I had with science fiction is so different from the first three genres, and reminded me of what you learn how to do in cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT): question your assumptions. To ask yourself questions like: What evidence do I have to support this belief? It turns out, that’s not only a great question to ask yourself when you’re going down an anxious spiral. It can also help you figure out you might be WRONG in assuming something isn’t for you! And the evidence does NOT back up my belief, friend! It tells me I have enjoyed a lot of sci-fi over the years…

When I was a kid, one of my all-time favourite books was THE GIVER by Lois Lowry. (I re-read this during the pandemic and loved it just as much as an adult.) I also loved movies like BACK TO THE FUTURE and ET. And one of my favourites was THE ABYSS. (I’ve been wanting to re-watch it for years, but can’t seem to find anywhere to stream or rent it in the UK!)

I don’t remember much about the content I consumed in my teens/20s (other than a few TV shows), which feels strange to say but is true. I do remember gobbling up THE HUNGER GAMES books once I finished university, though. And I enjoyed movies like APOLLO 13, ARMAGEDDON, AVATAR, INDEPENDENCE DAY, THE MATRIX…

It was helpful to be reminded of this. I may not have gotten into some of the big franchises, like STAR WARS or STAR TREK or DOCTOR WHO or BATTLESTAR GALACTICA. But I liked space enough! I could get into a dystopian world! And when I reflected on content I consumed in my 30s, I found even more proof of this…

When I started reading middle grade books during the pandemic, I found that I LOVED sci-fi stuff. THE WILD ROBOT series was a particular favourite, but there have been many others. I also loved (and gave away a copy of) ALONE by Megan E. Freeman, which was a dystopian/survival thriller. I included TILT by my friend Emma Pattee in that giveaway, which is more of a realistic dystopian thriller, and SO freaking good! And one of my favourite books from the last 5 years is one I probably haven’t mentioned: KLARA AND THE SUN by Kazuo Ishiguro. A lot of this is probably considered fairly “light” sci-fi, but it’s still sci-fi nonetheless!

Compared to my overall choices, it’s still a genre I don’t read a lot of. But I have WATCHED and loved plenty of sci-fi in the last decade… Shows like: BLACK MIRROR, THE HANDMAID’S TABLE (I couldn’t read the book but watched the show), LOST, RUSSIAN DOLL and SEVERANCE. (And I haven’t finished STRANGER THINGS, but that’s on the list too.) So many good movies: ARRIVAL, CHILDREN OF MEN, INCEPTION, INTERSTELLAR, and the DUNE trilogy which wraps up this year. And if you remember how this whole challenge started: I finally watched all 9 of the STAR WARS films with Tall Man, and found I actually really loved some of them!

Do you see what I mean about the research experience providing more answers than I could’ve imagined!? The final stage of that was researching which books I might read this month, and I discovered so many of them sounded intriguing! All I had to do was challenge the story I was telling myself, and I was able to quickly prove that I was wrong. Maybe I wasn’t a HUGE fan of sci-fi, but some of it was definitely for me…

I was really excited about the books on this month’s reading list, friend! And, April had some other plans for us. The kids were off school for two weeks, we were down to one car for that time, and then I was trying to get a ton of work done before packing up/leaving the country for a month. There was just generally more to juggle, and I didn’t have as much time to read! But that’s ok! I still finished two books (and started and DNF’d a couple others) and learned a few things about my reading taste…

1. THE MINISTRY OF TIME by Kaliane Bradley - I found this to be a really fun read. It was set in a not-too-distant London, and I’m learning I do seem to prefer books that feel a bit modern/contemporary (compared to historical). And even though it’s about time travel, it didn’t go too deep into the science/technicalities of that, but rather focused on what the characters were doing now and why. In fact, I would say that this book was probably 75% character development, with most of the action at the end. And that worked for me! The final paragraph was also so meaningful (compared to how the rest of the book was written), it actually caught me off guard. I’d love to leave my own readers with a statement like that, one day.

2. Middle Grade Option: THE FIRST STATE OF BEING by Erin Entrada Kelly - This was also fun to read! It was set in the 90s, which gave it a certain nostalgic feel for this millennial reader. Another book about time travel, this one did go into the science/technicalities more… and I would say, that’s where it almost lost me a couple times? Not because science is boring (it’s obviously not!), but because it felt too… explanatory. I don’t want to read technical writing. I want STORIES! Thankfully, I didn’t lose myself in those pages, and instead kept reading and found the stories I was looking for. The characters also felt very human, which I love. But personally, I liked WE DREAM OF SPACE by the same author more! (And now I strongly believe that one should’ve won a Newbery!)

Now, here’s the part of this recap I haven’t been looking forward to writing… because I know so many people LOVE this book! But I DNF’d PROJECT HAIL MARY. 😬

I got through a third of the audiobook, and agree with everyone’s reviews: the narrator is great! He’s so animated, I found myself smiling or laughing in parts. Sometimes, I even thought I was listening to Tom Hanks, who I love! But I got lost in all the technical explanations of how things were working… I found those parts SO boring that I guess I would tune it out, then realize I had no idea what the author had just said or where we were in the story, and I’d have to rewind the book again (and again and again). I could only do this so many times before I decided to just give up…

I was still curious about the story though, and wanted to see the movie! So TM and I went last weekend! And sadly,… I didn’t love that either. It was ok! (SPOILER ALERT) I obviously got emotionally attached to his little alien friend! You know I love an animal/inanimate object story, haha. But my (very personal) review of the story/movie is: it’s basically just INTERSTELLAR but not as good!? (If you haven’t watched that movie, I would highly reco it!) And it is WAY too long…

The second book I DNF’d was THE OTHER VALLEY by Scott Alexander Howard. The writing was good and I do actually think I could like this book… but I found it reminded me of THE GIVER and imagined where it would probably go? (And, as I’ve learned, my brain gets bored when a story feels obvious!) I wasn’t intrigued enough to keep going with it this month, anyway. But maybe one day!

The main reason I’m doing this challenge is to figure out what my reading taste is as an adult. The story I told myself is that science fiction wasn’t for me, and that’s definitely not true. Even though I didn’t end up finishing many books this month, I still feel confident saying: I like science fiction! And I want to read/watch a lot more of it! In fact, I finished the month with at least 10 books on my sci-fi TBR list, including: AUTOMATIC NOODLE by Annalee Newitz, AWAKE IN THE FLOATING CITY by Susanna Kwan, NEVER LET ME GO by Kazuo Ishiguro, and SEA OF TRANQUILITY Emily St. John Mandel. And I still want to explore Becky Chambers’s work, too.

When I look at this list, I can see that I seem to be most drawn to dystopian worlds (as long as it’s not TOO dark, like no more HANDMAID’S TALE stuff for me thanks). I don’t enjoy reading some of the more hardcore stuff, which uses more technical language. Instead, it might be true that I prefer “softer” or “lighter” sci-fi. Literary sci-fi, as one author friend said to me. And that’s ok!

One thing I’m learning through this challenge is that every genre has a ton of sub-genres, and there’s probably something for everyone… 🤓

I’m flying home to Canada next week and spending most of the month there, so I’m going to “skip” a month of this challenge and not force myself to read/think about books too much. But I’m going to take this as an opportunity to read some contemporary stuff, which I already know I like/haven’t included as part of this challenge! I just started YESTERYEAR by Caro Claire Burke, and wow, I can see why it’s getting so much early attention!

When I come back in June, I’ll be diving into a summer of romance, fantasy, and the genre I have the most feels about… romantasy!

See you soon, friend! ☺️

xx Cait

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