The Millions blog posted about "the way we read," meaning, how readers choose their next books. One person described in the post read alternating male and female authors for an entire year. Another person (it may be the same reader actually) used a spreadsheet with a "short list" of books and then a random number generator selected the next book for him off the short list.
Reading challenges appear to be popular among bookish blog writers. Someone will suggest a challenge, for example, in the next 6 months read 6 books with an Arthurian theme. Or, read 3 books that have been recommended to you by other people.
Reading challenges appeal to me because I like the idea of making a list and crossing books off it once I've finished them. Who doesn't love a sense of accomplishment? But I've yet to join one. If I turn reading into a compulsive list-making exercise, it will be like everything else in my life! I just want to keep it special.
How do you pick the next book you're going to read? Do you have a system? Is it completely spur-of-the-moment, based on your mood? Do you set goals for yourself? Do you accomplish them?
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3 comments:
I generally don't like to set goals for myself for reading because usually I fail and I don't want to attach stress to reading. I try to read two books a month - our book club pick and one of my own choosing - but I don't beat myself up if I don't accomplish that.
I usually have a list of book that I want to read swimming around in my head, and now on goodreads too, that I pull from to pick what I read next. This list is mostly composed of books I've read reviews about and also friend recommendations. I have a nasty book-buying habit so I have a stockpile of books to always choose from.
The main book selection approach that I've followed for years is alternating light reads with dense reads. I find that if I read too many dense books I quit reading altogether because they take to long and I lose my sense of accomplishment as well as my excitement in the story.
Currently I'm trying to read all the previous book club books that I missed, in between the current book club picks. Not sure what I'll do when I get caught up :)
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