How to Choose Your Next Read When You Don't Know What You Want

It is one of life's more peculiar little problems.

You have books.

Quite possibly a lot of books.

There are unread books on the shelf, books beside the bed and perhaps a slightly optimistic pile somewhere that you've been meaning to get to for months.

And yet you look at all of them and think:

I don't know what I want to read.

Nothing seems quite right.

The thriller feels too intense.

The enormous historical novel suddenly looks like homework.

The cheerful romance isn't appealing.

Even the book you were desperate to buy three weeks ago is somehow failing to tempt you.

We've all been there.

Perhaps the problem isn't that we don't have anything to read.

Maybe we're simply asking ourselves the wrong question.

Forget genre for a moment

Usually when we're choosing a book, we start with genre.

Do I fancy a thriller?

A romance?

Some history?

A biography?

Crime?

Fantasy?

But sometimes that's not particularly helpful.

Instead, try asking:

How do I want to feel while I'm reading?

That question can lead somewhere completely different.

Perhaps you want something comforting.

Something funny.

Something that will make the outside world disappear for a few hours.

Maybe you want to be fascinated.

Surprised.

A little frightened.

Completely absorbed.

Or perhaps life has already supplied quite enough drama this week and what you really need is something gentle.

Once you know the feeling you're looking for, choosing the book often becomes much easier.

How much reading energy do you actually have?

This one matters more than we sometimes admit.

There are times when a huge, complicated novel with dozens of characters and three family trees sounds wonderful.

And there are other evenings when remembering the name of the main character feels ambitious.

Neither is a reflection of how much you love reading.

Sometimes our brains are simply tired.

If you've had a busy week, try something easy to slip into.

Short chapters.

A familiar writing style.

A page-turner.

Something you can pick up for fifteen minutes without having to remember an entire fictional dynasty.

Save the enormous epic for the moment when you're excited about getting lost in it.

Reading shouldn't feel like another task on the list.

Ask yourself where you'd like to go

We talked recently in the Journal about books that feel like a holiday.

And setting can be a brilliant way to choose your next read.

Forget what the story is about for a moment.

Where do you fancy spending the next few evenings?

A windswept coastline?

Victorian London?

A sleepy village?

New York?

A remote island?

A sprawling country house?

Somewhere warm and tropical?

Or perhaps somewhere that doesn't exist anywhere outside an author's imagination.

Sometimes a place is enough to pull us into a book.

Choose something completely different

Reading habits can become surprisingly predictable.

We find an author we enjoy, then another who writes something similar, and before long we're reading variations of the same kind of book again and again.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

But occasionally it's fun to wander into unfamiliar territory.

If you normally read fiction, try a memoir.

If thrillers dominate your shelves, pick up some travel writing.

Try history, nature, humour, essays, science, biography or a novel from a country whose literature you've never explored.

The wonderful thing about a second-hand book is that experimenting doesn't need to feel like a major commitment.

Sometimes a £3 book you picked up on a whim introduces you to an entire subject you never knew interested you.

Let the first page decide

This may be the simplest method of all.

Pick up the book.

Open it.

Read the first page.

Did something happen?

Not necessarily in the story.

Did something happen to you?

Did you become curious?

Did you like the voice?

Did one sentence make you want to read another?

Did you find yourself turning the page without really deciding to?

That's usually a rather good sign.

And if nothing happens?

Put it back.

Perhaps it's simply not today's book.

Give yourself permission to stop

Somewhere along the way, many readers picked up the idea that once we start a book, we're supposed to finish it.

Even if we're bored.

Even if we're avoiding picking it up.

Even if we've spent six evenings reading the same three pages because our attention keeps wandering elsewhere.

Life is too short.

And there are far too many books.

Sometimes a perfectly good book reaches us at completely the wrong moment.

Put it down.

You can always come back.

Choosing another book isn't failure.

It's reading.

Go back to an old friend

Your next read doesn't actually have to be new to you.

Sometimes the right book is one you've already read.

There is something deeply comforting about returning to a familiar story.

You know the characters.

You know the world.

You might even know exactly what's going to happen.

But you're not quite the same person you were when you read it before.

And that can make the story feel different too.

Rereading isn't running out of things to read.

Sometimes it's simply visiting somewhere you know you'll be welcome.

Or ignore all of this and browse

There is, of course, another method.

Possibly our favourite.

Don't decide at all.

Wander around.

Look at covers.

Read the backs.

Pick up something because the title makes you laugh.

Investigate a book because you've never heard of the author.

Choose one because it's about something you've never considered reading about before.

Second-hand bookshops are particularly good for this because the shelves aren't always predictable.

You don't necessarily know what will be there.

And that creates room for something increasingly rare:

serendipity.

The unexpected discovery.

The book you weren't searching for.

The author you've never encountered.

The slightly battered paperback that somehow keeps pulling your attention back towards it.

Sometimes the best way to choose your next book is simply to give a book the chance to choose you.

There is no perfect next book

Reading isn't a curriculum.

There isn't a correct order.

You don't have to read the books everybody else is talking about.

You don't need to tackle the classics because you think you should.

And you certainly don't need to feel guilty about choosing something purely because it looks fun.

Your next book only has one job.

To make you want to turn the page.

So next time you're standing in front of a shelf thinking you have absolutely nothing to read, forget about finding the best book.

Think about what you need from a story today.

Pick something up.

Read a page.

Follow your curiosity.

And if all else fails?

Choose the slightly strange-looking second-hand book you've never heard of.

Those can turn out to be the best discoveries of all.

Wherever today finds you, I hope you find a story worth getting lost in.

The BookBuddies Team