How do you choose what to read next?

[KristenR]

I have a bookcase full of books, a Kindle full of books, and a "want-to-get" list a mile long. That doesn't seem to make it any easier for me to decide what to read next.

At the beginning of the year I think about what challenges I want to do and go through my to-read list and see what fits. I find it gives me that incentive to go to books that have been sitting a while. I really love it through the year when book club reads fit in with the challenges :)

Do you actively use challenges to decide what to read? What's your strategy?

[Becky]

First and foremost, I try to read what I already own... of course since I keep buying new books, that's not saying a whole lot. :P

But then I try to read books that I can fit into challenges, and books that I can read and discuss with friends. If I have any books that I received for review, I try to read those first, although that doesn't always happen...

But mostly, I decide what to read by what I'm in the mood for. Reading is my enjoyment... not my job!

[KristenR]

hehe...no, not a job - but so many books, so little time :)

[Becky]

Yes... there is that!

[Kathy]

I always try to plan ahead with my reading, but then I always seem to be get sidetracked and in the mood for something else when the time comes!

[KristenR]

I get sidetracked too, but I tend to flounder if I don't have a plan (I do the same thing with my knitting.) I'm flexible enough that I can read book club reads and random stuff that crosses my path, but having that plan helps me avoid that overwhelmed feeling I get when I can't decide what to read next. Because I really feel lost when I'm not in the middle of a book :)

[Yossarian]

Well I have tons of books on my shelves. For one, I try to vary it up a little. If I just read a couple modern crime fiction type things, then maybe next I go for a bio/memoir, and then a classic, etc. Also depending on my mood and such. And then there's the library, where I go every 2-3weeks, and get random stuff from there that happens to catch my eye while browsing around (graphic novels/comics, classics [including plays], contemp. lit, thriller suspense etc fic, and so forth), which is interspersed with my owned book reading. :)

[Inga]

I always get sidetracked. Right now I'm doing an A-Z title challenge and I'm trying to pick titles based on that. Then when I do that it feels like a chore and I become ridiculously childish and pick something else. I try hard to just read what I already own, but I love bookstores so much it's hard. Basically I just read what I'm in the mood for. Luckily my weird brain makes it possible for me to read a lot of books at the same time and follow the stories, but I do feel sidetracked a lot of the time. I think it's good for me to try to stick to a plan.