Thursday, January 28, 2016

Do You Know What You Are Going to Read Next?

Every once in a while it becomes evident to me that some people are very methodical in what they read. They have it all mapped out. Unless it is a book group book, I never know. Well sometimes I have a library book with limited time so I know I will try that first. But often I wander around the house for an hour trying to decide.

How about you? How do you decide? What are you going to read next?If you know.

21 comments:

Charles Gramlich said...

When I finish a book, I go to my huge TBR pile and select several to look at. then I read opening sentences and stuff until I decide sort of on impulse to go with one particular book

Deb said...

It's usually pretty random, although I try to read library books in the order they're due back (especially the newer books that I can't renew because someone else has requested them). I can't read to a strict reading list because too many new things pop up. This is one of the many reasons I'm not in a book club.

mybillcrider said...

I never know what I'm going to read next. Sometimes it takes a lot of looking around to find the right book.

RTD said...

Connections from one author to another often send me off to another book. Consider the example and explanation I've offered at Beyond Eastrod:
http://beyondeastrodredux.blogspot.com/2016/01/robert-frost-and-flannery-oconnor.html
Yes, I now know what I will be reading next, and I thank Robert Frost for pointing me in the right direction.

pattinase (abbott) said...

I do a lot of picking up books and reading the first page. The voice has to speak to me. I am a very impatient reader. Whereas Phil will give a book 50 pages I need to be grabbed at once. And if I like the voice, I will stick with a book with almost no plot.

Rick Robinson said...

Usually, that's what the little To Be Read bookcase is for, it holds the "top candidates" for reading next. It's a matter of looking over the books there, usually about 20 or so, and then picking what I'm in the mood for. However if a library book has come, that come first. If nothing in the TBR sounds appealing, I think of a series I like and find the next unread book in it, hopefully something on the shelf. If I'm still not sure, I read short stories until something comes to mind.

pattinase (abbott) said...

This can be either a joyful task or a frustrating one. Because sometimes nothing feels right and other times, you find exactly what you were in the mood for.

TracyK said...

This year my goal is to plan my reading less. Right now I know there are two or three books I intend to read in the next month, but I did decide on the spur of the moment to read A Murder of Quality by Le Carre and am now following up with The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, and those were both perfect choices for now. So a little of both.

Jeff Meyerson said...

If I have library books, they generally get priority. Otherwise, it is more random. It's how I feel, what I have available - especially true of short story collections - or sometimes by recent review or recommendations.

Jeff Meyerson said...

If I have library books, they generally get priority. Otherwise, it is more random. It's how I feel, what I have available - especially true of short story collections - or sometimes by recent review or recommendations.

Jerry House said...

I usually hae a general idea of what I am going to read next but, more often than not, something bright and shiny shows up and my plans go up in smoke. Inconsistency is my goddess.

Mathew Paust said...

For entertainment I'll scan my Kindle library, which isn't as often as I'd like. Usually looking for something I need--research for something I'm writing or something referenced in something I'm already reading. Something. (I could use a thesaurus, couldn't I)

pattinase (abbott) said...

Nice review, Mathew.

Mathew Paust said...

Thanks, Patti. And thanks to ol' D.H. for such inspirational quotes...nick nick nick nick gggnick...In-dy-ans...ahhhh... https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2FySgOds3bzcc&h=bAQHPbliJ

Kent Morgan said...

Every once in awhile I look at the database of books I have bought and not read over the past few years and make a TBR list. I maybe look at that list once and then do my usual, i.e, wander around into different rooms and my basement until I find the next book I decide to read. These days I find myself with a fiction and non-fiction book on the go at the same time. As for library books, I do read them first when it's a book that I requested and that I know other readers are waiting for. These days I find myself going to journalism collections frequently as I don't seem to want to get into anything "big" such as a long novel. I can't tell you how many times I have picked up Don Winslow's The Power of the Dog and put it back on the shelf. And I must read it before I read his latest The Cartel.

pattinase (abbott) said...

Funny how similarly we all operate. I have several books I have almost read for many years. But never quite.

Cap'n Bob said...

I not only don't know what I'll read next, I don't know what I just finished.

Sergio (Tipping My Fedora) said...

Until I had a blog I was completely random, and now it's the opposite - I usually know everything at least a month in advance. Not sure that's a good thing ...

Todd Mason said...

I know which of several books I've started that I hope to finish at a given time, and the weekly exercise helps compel the finishing or at least some explication of why it's in progress and why it matters.

Today will be a busy day...I finally have the time and energy to catch up with two weeks worth of A/V and the monthly music (due yesterday). And signing up for RomneyCare.

George said...

Right now, I'm reading the book that's due at the Library next. My approach usually is random. Occasionally, I'll binge on one writer's books. But, no, I have no Grand Reading Plan.

Dana King said...

I generally have things pretty much mapped out, at least in groups. For instance, I saw my To Be Read shelf has gotten too full, so I'm going to read all of those "next," before I start any more major buying sprees. When deciding what to buy, though, I consult a lit of who my favorites are, and when they were most recently read so no one falls through the cracks.