Ok, writing this most makes me laugh.
Who am I that I am writing a blog post about my strange reading strategy?
Well, I am me, I guess. With endless amounts of things to write about and no shortage of words to do it.
My last blog post talked about where I get all my book recommendations from, and in that post I explained that I compile all the books together into a word document that is in alphabetical order. This way I can see if I’ve added a duplicate book.
As my TBR started to grow, I started to become overwhelmed with how many books were on it and never knew what book I should read next. I am not much of a mood reader and I always get 90% of my books from the library, so I do need some element of planning ahead. I also tend to reach for the light and fluffy rom-com type books, but I know that there are SO many good books that I’m not reaching for that I kind of need to set myself up to pick.
So enter the most brilliant idea: read through books alphabetically.
I start with Letter A and read a book beginning with that letter. Then onto Letter B. Letter C. Etc. (Surely I don’t have to spell it all out- hahaha #punny).
I have used this method for years and I have loved it! It means that I get to mix up the genres and authors that I am reading. It takes out the decision making fatigue on what book I should read next and just gives me an easy way to pick what book is coming up next.
Sometimes I go out of my alphabetical order and mood read a book, and I like that I also have the freedom to do this! I will often put the SUPER popular books on hold at the library and when they come available I will skip the line and read those immediately, no matter their order in the alphabet.
I know it is silly, but this is what I do, and it works for me!
Just for fun, here are the books that are coming up on my TBR list:
Call Us What we Carry
Donut Fall in Love
Everything is Fine in the End
Five Total Strangers
Gospel Comes with a House Key, The
House in the Cerulean Sea, The
I Hope This Finds You Well
Jane Steele
Kill Reply All
Labors of Hercules
Made in China
Nantucket Inn, The
Oh, William
Prayers for the People
Quit Like a Woman
Road Back to You, The
Share Your Stuff
Tale of Desperaux, The
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Vanessa Yu’s Magical Paris Tea Shop
Wintering
Poet X, The
The Year of Magical Thinking
Zoe’s Ghana Kitchen
100 Days of Cake
About the Author: A Novel
Beautiful World, Where Are You?
So there you have it! Do you have any reading strategies? I would love to hear what they are!
This is pretty great and I like it, never heard of a reading strategy like it! I have heard of people going out to eat that way…making their way to different restaurants by alphabetical order.
My strategy is that there is no strategy. Ha! I have a long tbr list but whatever falls into my lap gets priority. If a sister or friend hands me the book, I read it. Usually I’ll put 5 books on hold and it’s first come, first read!
I do think I will alphabetize my TBR list, just to feel like i have order in my life š
I also read in alphabetical order (I haven’t always done this, because I didn’t used to have a tbr list….but now that I have one). The difference between you and me is that I read all the way through my list, so I might have three books starting with B going on at once. When I get to the bottom, I go back to the top to read the ones I couldn’t get or that I added in. Will I ever get to Y? That is yet to be seen! š