What Determines Your Next Read?
To be honest, I had NO idea people had lists and schedules of books they want/have to read and when they are going to read them. Do these work? For people that do this, do you find it easier to stick to and manage your TBR list? What determines your schedule?
For me, because I am obviously not a list/schedule maker which is actually pretty shocking to me because I make lists for EVERYTHING and I love being organized, but in regards to what I read next this also is not a shocker...it's all about the feels.
What Do I Mean By This?
When I finish a book, I look at my TBR list, what books I already have in my possession, what review books I have, I look at them all and one of them usually sticks out to me. A lot of depends on my most recent read. If it was a heavy book, I usually go for a fun, lighter read. Usually it's a sexy book. If I got a really awesome review book while in the middle of a current book, I read that next. There is a little method to my madness but overall there isn't really a rhyme or reason to it. It just FEELS right.
I'm not sure I could be convinced to go by a schedule or make a strong list of what to read when. However, with that said, review books will usually always be towards the top of my lists. I have yet to post a review of a review book after the publication date. I am a psycho about this and my stance is, if you're giving me this book for free to read because I asked to, the least I can do is read it and give my feedback prior to publication. Which is another reason I'm pretty stingy on my requests but that's a whole other topic.
So what about YOU guys.
Do you use a schedule?
Does it work for you?
Does it depend on your mood?
Your last read?
The book you're most excited for?
How do you determine your next read?
I use a schedule although I do build in "free" books where I can choose anything from my TBR list. I do this mostly to organize my ARCs because like you, I try my very best to read them pre-publication or at least less than a week after publication. That works for me because I'm not a mood reader. I do try to strategically plan it out though where I'm not reading 5 contemporaries in a row. I like to have a good mix of genres so I don't get bored.
ReplyDeleteI had this huge post written and it was super confusing so here is to attempt #2.
ReplyDeleteI don't request many review copies either - so I only have maybe a handful to read/review at any one time. I will generally read these in order of pub date and about a month in advance of their pub date (I wait to read them until I can review them). If I have conference ARCs (ALA/BEA), I pick and choose the ones I am most excited for and sort of treat them like review copies (read in order of pub date, approx a month in advance). But with these I have more flexibility, so it's not uncommon that I will get the urge to read some other new/old release instead of an ARC, or in between ARCs. Which new/old release I choose is generally completely random.
So basically, I have some structure to choosing my next read, but leave plenty of room for feels/spontaneity. So far, this works for me. :)
(attempt #2 made much more sense than attempt #1)
I keep a reading schedule, but I never feel bad at "cheating" on it. As long as I read the book before the date I have scheduled for review I call it a win. Using the reading schedule is hard sometimes since you can't know ahead of time how fast paced a book will be or if I don't realize a books is like 600+ pages and only gave myself two days to read it.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I just can't stick to it. Either I'm not longer excited for the book, or I just got a book that I HAVE to read right away. I try to leave some room in my schedule for things like this or library books. I do a LOT of re-scheduling. Like, almost every day I have to move something around.
I used to be so good about having a schedule and getting review books read before publication time. Then I requested too many not accepting to get most of them and got in way over my head! It became not physically possible for me to fit them all in before publication dates, so I gave myself some slack and prioritized based on what format they are and who they are published by and how much I want to read them and when I got them. I am kind of in between mood reading and scheduling right now, since I have a list of overdue review books and upcoming review books, and so I just pick from those two piles with weights being added and subtracted by those previous factors, but still influenced by mood, haha.
ReplyDeleteI'm the same way as you. I don't have a schedule and I think following a schedule can put a damper on a book. I do put my arc's and books on my TBR on shelves separated by release month. When I finish a book, I'll usually go through the current month to see if their is anything I want to read next. Unless the publisher asks for a review on a specific date, or if I have a blog tour, then I just kind of read whatever I want. So much better for me!
ReplyDeleteI don't have an organized list. Sometimes I clean up my bookcase and pick out some books I haven't noticed in awhile so they are on my radar but mostly it depends on where I am. Am I going to the gym? Something on my eReader. Am I at home... let's pick from my bookcase or something someone lent me? Things like that. I have ZERO system which is probably why I have books I bought 3 years ago left unread and books I borrowed from 2 years ago left unread too. :( I think I'm really okay with it though. I want it to seem fly by night because if it isn't... it's just not as fun for me.
ReplyDeleteI bow down to your organizational skills when it comes to review books! I've been better about them lately, but for a while, I was kind of floating around and disorganized about them. What really helped me was making a list of the review books I had with their pub dates, and then trying to read them before then.
ReplyDeleteBut honestly, I read what I feel like reading. I like making lists and plans and having everything laid out neatly. But I usually just go for whatever strikes my fancy and almost always disrupt my own reading schedule by wanting to read things OTHER than what I have on list. So I do make a list to keep myself a little big organized, BUT in the end, I just read what I want to read.
I am so bad at reading review books before their release date. In my defense though, a lot of mine come unsolicited, so like I didn't ask for them, they just showed up like magic and lol given my recent haul, there's no way on god's green earth that I can read all of those in one month before release.
ReplyDeleteANYWAYS, besides all that, I am all over the place in how I choose. Sometimes I make little lists and goals for myself. Like, right now I randomly picked 40 books that I was super pumped about or had a tour for or had on my shelves for an obscene amount of time to read before BEA, so the books I am currently reading are from that stack - I am down to single digits and it's awesome. Aside from that, I make piles for things like readathons. Otherwise, I read books based on if I have a tour or like an interview scheduled. Then, I read books based on how excited I am and how much buzz they have. And I basically always prioritize review copies, like they get read, just not always on time, ya know?
Great food for thought! I love reading about people's book picking process.