How do you decide what to read next?

[kev67]

When you have a massive TBR list that backs up to 2018, how do you decide which book to read next?

[Eiseabhal]

I choose at random or by mood or by circumstance. I suppose some people might have a plan. My "plan" is that when I retire I shall read and re-read all my Conrad, Dickens, Hardy. And I shall read all the Gaelic bardachd that I have not yet read. And I will read a multitude of non-fiction. And I will test my Druidism by reading the Bible. My plan this is - as Yoda might say.

[bounty]

i have all my books on shelves in the garage---and to me it's akin to a food pantry. I know I am hungry, but I don't know for what, so I walk into the pantry and walk out with something to eat that strikes my fancy. same with the books. I walk out to the garage, stand in front of all the books until one in particular says "read me."

sometimes the "read me" is related to duty, and other times its related to a simpler sense of enjoyment.

[spikepipsqueak]

I have A TBR list, too.

It contains the recommendations of friends, many of them friends on the web who I will never meet but whose taste I trust and usually share.

I also walk into the library and pick a book at random off the shelf and keep doing so until I run across one that clicks. I found Mary Doria Russell that way.

Or I walk into my own study and take an old friend off the shelf to reread, or find one that I bought for "ron" and never got around to.

All according to mood.

[bounty]

When you have a massive TBR list that backs up to 2018, how do you decide which book to read next?

can I ask you kev---do you have any sense of "duty" to read?

[kev67]

can I ask you kev---do you have any sense of "duty" to read?

I suppose I have some sense of duty, but not as much as some people appear to do. I listen to some of the "Booktubers" on YouTube and I honestly wonder how they find the time to read as much as they do and the money to buy the books.

I wanted to read some of the iconic books which were I heard referred to on television and radio throughout my life. This included books like On The Road, which I am reading now, because it was famous when I was young, but not Absalom Absalom because I did not hear of that. There are some other iconic books like that, such as Things Fall Apart and The Outsider I still want to read, but they are getting fewer. When I read Great Expectations and found it greatly moving, and not at all stodgy and turgid like I remembered at school, I wanted to read the other iconic books of that period, in particular the British ones, such as Wuthering Heights and Tess of the d'Urbervilles. That led onto other C19th British writers: I would like to read at least one of all the major British writers of that time. Then there are Americans, the Russians and the French. Then there are the C18th writers and earlier. It is an impossible task. I wanted to read one of these novels a month, but Victorian books tend to be so long, that it is not easy to do. I tend to read one of those old novels concurrently with a more modern book, which may be a modern classic or just modern literary fiction, or maybe science fiction. I am usually also reading some non-fiction book, which may be more or less literary. At present I am alternating between one book on veganism and another on solar assisted heat pumps, but one is quite boring and the other is very long.

[stlukesguild]

I made some effort when I was first devouring literature to read in a somewhat structured... even chronological manner. I read all the Greeks consecutively. The same for the Romans, Romantic novels, the Russians, Modernism, etc... Now there is no real method to my approach. Sometimes I am led by one book to the next. Sometimes this takes the form of intentionally seeking out something quite different... perhaps poetry or non-fiction or a collection of short stories after a long novel. Often, I suspect, I simply pick up a book that happens to have piqued my attention at the moment.

[Poetaster]

I made some effort when I was first devouring literature to read in a somewhat structured... even chronological manner. I read all the Greeks consecutively. The same for the Romans, Romantic novels, the Russians, Modernism, etc...

I did this when I started seriously reading too. Now I have a literal pile of books, and just read them in the order of placement - unless I happen to see and get something I am really interested in.

[bounty]

I suppose I have some sense of duty...and the money to buy the books....

I wanted to read some of the iconic books which were I heard referred to on television and radio throughout my life....I wanted to read the other iconic books of that period...I would like to read at least one of all the major British writers of that time. Then there are Americans, the Russians and the French. Then there are the C18th writers and earlier...

I think I share some of your disposition which is why I asked. some years ago I decided I wanted to be "well-read" and then I asked myself what does that mean? I understood that to mean, read the classics, read across many genres, time periods and countries.

so mixed in there with the "pleasure" and "mood" positions is an act of volition. "I am going to read this because I am 'supposed' to, or it's good for me, or its a part of my goals."

as far as the expense of books---ive got about 4500, the overwhelming majority of which have been bought at library and used book sales, and as often as possible, as a part of "bag sales." I used to go to one library regularly that would sell two bags for five dollars. last summer I went to one that was fill up your trunk for five dollars. on average, I'm probably getting books for between 10 and 20 cents. if I can encourage you in that direction...

[prendrelemick]

This has become a very big question for me. I dont want to waste time on the wrong choice. There was a time when I could read for hours at a time , three, four books a week, all nighters, no problem. I would read more or less anything I came across. Later I began to seek out better quality books on the premis that if a book is a Classic and has been read by millions of people over many decades it must be ok. I found one Classic book leads to another, eg - Iliad-Odyssey-Aeneid-Sophocles. When I joined this Forum I could become even more selective using the info I found on here.

Now my eyes are becoming weaker by the year and I'm down to reading for an hour or so at night before I have to give up. That's about a book a fortnight, and slowing! So I reckon I will be lucky if I get to read another 400 books. That means I need to be very selective, and I have started to abandon books I don't like after 50 or so pages.

So the answer is, I research the author and the book. I seek the opinion of others (on this site and others). I've joined a book club (that's my monthly random read). I re-read old favourites. And sometimes I'm swayed by the cover.:out:

[ennison]

As I get older my concentration is more promiscuous. I ditch poor books with little guilt. My property is too full of books. Not yet at the Umbert Eco stage of virtually living in a library but certainly getting too like that. I have no plan to which I am faithful. I read what my hand or eye descends on. I am drawn to pastel covers. I am drawn to the fragrance of a new Folio Book Club hardback. I am drawn to old favorites, new discoveries, recommendations and, by trying anything, I experience serendipitous rendezvous with odd and uplifting texts. I buy five books and read two. The other three go in the TBR pile. This is Western, materialistic, decadent and immoral . But ...