E.S. Raye

When I was a little kid, I was a massively avid reader. I would often read three books at a time: whatever I had been assigned for English, and two more for my own pleasure. I consumed books at an incredible rate, and was thus a frequent visitor of my local and school libraries. I even worked in my middle school library as the one and only library assistant for one class period everyday. I think it counted as an English class.

But as I got older, that ravenous need to read dropped off. A lot. Between new hobbies like video games, ice hockey (which took a lot of my time in high school), and TV and movies, as well as growing academic responsibilities throughout high school and university–not to mention relationships–I just found I wasn’t reading much at all.

Recently, I’ve been working hard to turn that around. It’s been difficult for me because I’m often plagued by thoughts of what else I could be doing while I read. But those thoughts are diminishing, not least of all due to the fact that I have convinced myself that to be a good writer, I must read more.

And it’s working. Over the last few years I’ve managed to create a routine that works for me, and I am reading more than I have in a decade.

But I also now have an absolutely massive “to be read” pile. And what’s more, I’m currently reading a very long series and am considering a palate cleanser after I finish the one I’m on before continuing.

So, how to choose what to read next?

Here’s what I tend to do.

Another From the Same Author

I tend to do this a lot. Perhaps even too often–I’ll sometimes get stuck reading the same author to the exclusion of other things I want to read. I’m especially bad for this with Steven King.

But, that doesn’t make it bad advice, and it does often help me get out of my reading slumps.

A few years ago, while experiencing said slump, I decided to re-read an old favorite to jumpstart my reading habit: Jurassic Park.

It worked. I read it in a week. I then decided to keep the momentum moving with anther Crichton book, The Lost World: Jurassic Park. The flow continued, and I read that one in another week. I kept my inertia going, and read one more Crichton book, Sphere.

Read Something From the Same Genre

Another of my go-to methods for choosing my next read is to stay in genre. The truth is, I don’t stray from my chosen genres very often. I tend to gravitate more towards horror, cosmic horror, sci-fi, and the occasional low fantasy.

I like the speculative natures of these genres, and when I read an example of them that strikes a chord with me, I need more.

Read Something From a Different Genre

Like I said, I tend to stick pretty close to my favorite genres, but it can be fun to branch out from time to time. On the occasion I do this, I might tip-toe out of my comfort zone and into some high fantasy, a memoir, or a historical non-fiction.

Short Story Collections Offer Short Commitments

While I generally like to read a book from cover to cover before beginning another, one exception to this are short story collections. Short stories, especially those that are from different authors or do not have anything connecting them in a narrative sense, give an opportunity for bite-sized stories that can be picked up and put back down with ease.

I’ve been experiencing something of a reading slump this year, and took my own advice to read some short stories (see my last post for more of that advice). I cracked open From a Certain Point of View: Return of the Jedi and it has busted through my slump immediately–in fact, I have read every night before bead since starting it in the middle of last week.

While I would usually read the whole book, I plan on building up some more reading momentum, then switching to a novel I’ve had waiting for me. I want to savour these short stories, so I may spread them out between the next few novels on my list

Read Whatever the Hell You Want

Some people create a literal “to-read” list, adding new discoveries to it, often at the end. If that’s what you do, and it works for you, more power to you! But it definitely doesn’t work for me. I haven’t yet regained the speed with which I once inhaled books, and I rather doubt I ever will. So, if I tried to keep a list of things I wanted to read like that, I’d simply never get to some of the things I was really excited about.

So, with that in mind, I’ll often simply read my latest discovery next, to hell with any list I had previously created.

Choosing what to read next can be hard with so many incredible options to choose from, especially if you want to support indie and self-published authors–something I am striving to do more of as well.

Right now, I’m focused on getting back into the habit of reading, and these three tactics seem to work for me. What works for you? How do you choose your next read?