How to Decide Which Book to Read Next
Hello.
If you’ve read my ‘How to Get Out of a Reading Slump’ post, you will know that I am EXTREMELY knowledgeable about all things concerning reading and provide nothing but informative content to greatly improve your reading experience.
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Now I’m going to provide even more useful tips, this time helping you to deal with the ever-difficult task of choosing which book to read next! Because we all know that the struggle is real.
Step 1
Stare at your bookshelves.
This task may seem daunting if, like me, you own numerous unread books. But go on. Give them a good stare. Look over their pretty spines and let yourself be distracted when you spot one with shiny foil. So pretty! Chances are there a books on there that at some point you were so excited to read it that you ‘just had to have it right there and then because of course you’re going to read it immediately what else would you do with it’. Stare extra hard at those. They deserve the attention of your eyeballs.
Step 2
Become overwhelmed with the sheer number of books you own that you have yet to read.
It doesn’t matter if there are 5 or 500. Those books will take time to read. And that time could often be spent doing other things. Also what if you want to re-read other books? That takes away from that time as well. Just sit there and be overwhelmed. I do not recommend doing this step while standing. Sitting down (lying on the floor is also acceptable) in front of your shelves provides for optimal levels of overwhelm.
Step 3
Consult the internet.
Booktube, book blogs and Goodreads etc are great places to get information about books. What are other people reading and loving? Should you also read and love those same books? Make a list of books you find out about that you too would like to read. Add them to your TBR shelf on Goodreads. Save them to your wishlist on your favourite book buying site. Look how many more books you could one day own and love and (maybe eventually) read!
Step 4
Become overwhelmed with the sheer number of books that exist in the world outside your bookshelves that you are remotely interested in.
Wow. Just… wow.
Step 5
Realise you’ve just spent hours of your life on the Internet.
Totally fine. It’s part of a PROCESS. You can’t rush the process. This is fine.
Step 6
Consult your bookshelf. Again.
Realise that you already own books. You should read those books. It makes SENSE to read those books. And you are a sensible person. Look at you, being all sensible. There is nothing wrong with these books. Remember the excitement when you acquired them. Get excited again! Not overwhelmed, EXCITED.
Step 7
Force yourself to pick something.
Just pick one. Any one! Any of them could be great! Just pick one up at random and start reading it. If you don’t like it, you’ll just read another one. It’s not the end of the world. It’s totally fine! You could totally discover your next favourite book if you could just PICK. UP. A. DAMN. BOOK. It’s not that hard. Seriously. Pick up a book. Read the book. You could already be halfway through by this stage if you’d already picked something up. Just pick something. Don't let your dreams be dreams.
Step 8
Re-visit those feelings over being overwhelmed.
It’s should be almost comforting by this point.
Step 9
Ignore all unread books on your shelf and re-read Harry Potter. *
Look if it ain’t broke…
*This step could also be substituted with:
- watch hours of Netflix
- watch hours of Youtube
- spend hours trying to teach your dog/other pet to read to you so you don’t have to read yourself
Does anyone else finish a book and then just not know what to read next? If I don’t immediately just start reading something as soon as I finish a book, I sometimes waste days trying to decide what to read next. And then I regret that I didn’t just start something and it’s a whole cycle of either reading excessively, or not at all. Basically I don’t have balance. Both when it comes to reading and also just physically as a human. Seriously. I fall over all the time.
