2025 Reading Challenge discussion

How do you decide what to read next? Book reviews or blogs? Recommendations from friends or others? Spontaneous picks at the library or book store?

It's a combination of everything for me, I think.

honestly im a sucker for a nice display and a clean book cover. i like to go to barnes and noble and other bookstores just to see all the books sitting out. then if one catches my eye i usually take a picture of it or jot it down and research it on goodreads or see if friends have read it. after that i watch for it at the library or the used book store. I rarely, rarely buy a book new. I usually read a book once then donate it or give it to a friend so it has to be something special to purchase new or go on my bookshelf of keepers

A lot depends on what needs to get read for my current challenge

I read the group read, whatever buddy reads I already have on my TBR, and two business books each month. If, after those, I have some open spots, I tend to read whatever's easiest to get my hands on--usually this means something I already own or something I can quickly get on my Nook.

I try to read books already on my TBR, and these I get mostly from seeing what Goodreads friends are reading. I've picked up so many books from people in this group (Karina, Kelsi, and SilverRaindrops in particular).

I try to read what the group is reading, but sometimes that doesn't happen. As of right now, I am just reading what books I have on my Nook that comes to my mind. I have a scheduled reading list each year, but most of the time I don't read everything off of it because I tend to have a tangent off of the list when I see someone's recommendation on Goodreads and just have to read it then!

Really it's never the same. Sometimes it's because I've seen a movie I liked based on a book. Sometimes it's because it keeps showing up on Goodread, especially English classic. I'm a French Canadian and I haven't done my schooling in English so there's many of them I don't know about as I had to read French classic in school.

But mostly it's spontaneous picks in the book store. I will walk around display tables and shelves and pick one randomly, sometimes because I liked the cover, sometimes because I like the title, or because its an "employee recommendation". I don't always read the book description. I'm fine with the surprise.

Finally there's always all the books the school makes us read and friends' suggestions.

It's mainly a combination of my available time, mood, and reading challenges. With the challenges, I try to find books that fit into more than one.

If I have more than one book in progress, I prefer a variety, with no two being fiction. For example, if I'm already reading a novel, I might add a book about health or history.

I also tend to go through phases. For example, I might focus on the classics for a while and then switch to historical or YA novels.

I will read just about anything. Most of what I am reading right now is based on my reading groups or challenges. Sometimes I have 2 or three books going at once, depending on what I am in the mood for.

I'm in a book club so that gets priority and then I'll pick something for the challenges that I am participating in.

At the moment I'm tackling my way through the books I have stored on my Kindle. Books I purchase for that are ones that are on my to be read list. The way I choose which book on my kindle/to be read list is whether it will satisfy one of the challenges, or it's been personally recommended to me, or if I want to get lots of books off my kindle/to be read list, I might choose the shortest books to clear them. Depends on what mood I'm in I suppose.

Sometimes its by random, sometimes its by a little jar I have to pull out a book and sometimes its based on what book speaks to me at the time. I never really know which way I'll go until I finish a book.

It depends on my health and how my life is going for what books I read but have made one change I have just signed up for a reading club in my library to try and help my attacks and fear of crowds and of course read books I would never think of borrowing.

I'm in a book club so one of the books I read a month is the club selection. Otherwise, it just depends on my mood. This month for example, I am in the mood to read fluffy, lighthearted Christmas chicklit/rom-com stuff.

I like a simple, clean cover. If I'm in a bookstore or the library or even Amazon, that's likely what will sway me. It might not be fair, but if a book has the same tired, recycled, awful cover art of dozens of books around it, I tend to assume that the book itself is the same way. There's something about the idea that someone, somewhere, decided that the book would succeed on its own merit and thus has a simple and clean cover, rather than a gaudy one, that draws me in. And, typically, this keeps me away from a fair amount of teen romance.

I'll also go with recommendations. Yes, even if the cover art is awful! People in my life so rarely recommend books to me that I tend to jump on them when they happen.

And then there's the "totally random" approach. Books on Amazon with a 99¢ special. In-store books on the Classics shelf, or recommendations shelves, or on clearance. Even then, though, the cover really does play a part. I just can't help it! Some versions of books (one cover vs another) just feel right in my hand. The awful ones don't. I know. It's ridiculous. But I can't help it.

It's honestly the last book I read, I feel , that puts me in a certain mood that promulgates the next read. Also, how long, depending on how my experience went with the prior.

I have a priority list that I'm currently going through. It's basically a smaller version of my TBR list with the books that sound the most interesting to me, or that I've been meaning to get to. I tried organizing that into a hierarchy and going through from 1 to the end, but my mood or library availability has made me shift that around a bit. Mostly I choose based on mood. It's been a pretty great system so far.