Tag: to be read list

BooksMisc

How Do I Choose What to Read Next?!

Posted on by J.W. Martin

How do I choose my next read? Please help, cause I really don’t know.

I’ve really only entered the Book Blogosphere a short while ago. I still don’t read nearly as many books as some of the bloggers I look up to (I still need to devote some time to writing) but my reading time has definitely increased.

Part of that is to have more interesting things to post about, but mostly it’s because of all this bookish exposure to new and exciting reads. That being said, my TBR (‘to be read list’ for those who aren’t obsessed) has grown out of control. It used to sit at around a dozen books at any given time. Now it’s just under a hundred!

A lot of you with TBRs much bigger than that are asking me, ‘What’s the problem?’ You want to know what the problem is? I’ll tell you! I HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO CHOOSE ONE BOOK FROM A LIST THAT BIG!

Is there some kind of dance I should be doing until a sign appears? Do I write the titles of all the books on

Do I write the titles of all the books on chi chi fortune sticks and shake them in a cup until 1 falls out?

Do I blindfold myself, spin around a room and read the first book I happen to put my hand on?

Should I line all my books up and call to them, waiting for the first one to come to me?

Ouiji board?

Magic 8-Ball?

All joking aside, how do you pick the next thing you’re going to read?

Books

To be read no more! #1

Posted on by J.W. Martin

I originally caught wind of this idea on the Too Much of a Book Nerd blog, though apparently it all started on the Lost in a Story blog. Wherever it came from, it seemed like a fun way to take on the daunting task of paring down the old ‘to be read’ list. Now if only someone could find me an enjoyable way to do laundry I’d be all set.

HOW IT WORKS

  • Go to your goodreads to-read shelf.
  • Order on ascending date added.
  • Take the first 5 (or 10 if you’re feeling adventurous) books
  • Read the synopses of the books
  • Decide: keep it or should it go?
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

I always kind of dug the movie. It was unique and that ending really messed with my mind. I was good to leave it at that. Maybe it would be better to not read the book and thus no end up comparing the two. Then a friend read the book (he had also watched the movie first) and told me I had to read it, because it was way better than the movie (well, duh!) However, that was a while ago and it still hasn’t ranked high enough in the TBR to get cracked open.

Stay or Go? It stays for now, but I have my eye on, Ellis!

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

Honestly, I feel bad saying it, but I can’t remember what made me want to read this in the first place. It certainly doesn’t sound like a bad book, but I can’t get all the way through the synopsis before I just want to be done with the whole thing. Maybe it was the claimed similarities to Orwell’s 1984, which I’m a fan of, but I just can’t get excited about reading this any longer.

Stay or Go? It’s gone!

The Sheep Look Up by John BrunnerThe Sheep Looks Up by John Brunner

This was another that I didn’t remember putting onto my TBR in the first place. Again, it doesn’t seem like a bad book, but I guess my tastes of changed. This one promises a ‘nightmare society’ where everyone is suffering from one thing or another and specifically mentions a high infant mortality rate. Not sure what place I was in when I added this book to my TBR, but that just sounds way too depressing now.

Stay or Go? Gone.

The Blade Itself by Joe AbercrombieThe Blade Itself (The First Law #1) by Joe Abercrombie

I’m starting to doubt this is actually my TBR list! Pirates fighting Vikings and a blade wizard who might be a fraud. I don’t know. Sounds like a Jean Claude Van Damme movie I saw once, and not one of the ‘good’ ones.

Stay of Go? Gone.

White Walls by H.M.C.White Walls by H.M.C.

A ha! I remember putting this one on the list! This one has an unfair advantage since H.M.C. is a friend from a mutual writing group. I’ve done some beta reading for her, and she’s a talented writer.

Stay or Go? This psychological thriller stays on the list!

How’s your TBR list? Cutting down, or beefing up? What methods do you use to pare down, and how do you select which book to read next when the time comes?