With the approach of summer and the end of the semester, many of us, such as myself, are looking forward to days on the beach and long road trips with our friends. That is the fun of summer! It is also one of my favorite times of year because I get to read at my leisure.
However, as I am sure many bookworms do, I have bookshelves on bookshelves of books (unread, partially read, or already read). How can one decide what to read next? Here are some helpful tips:
The first tip I was given was from a professor at my college. She said that she alphabetizes her books. Not to the “T” where “Al” comes before “Am” authors, but books that start with “A” go in the first shelf, “B” on the second and so on and so forth. Then she starts either at the beginning of the alphabet and works her way to “Z” or starts with “Z” and works her way to “A”. While that may sound tedious if you have lots of books, it is actually quite calming on a cool spring day. It can also start one on a cleaning frenzy and before you know it you have cleaned your entire room or dorm.
Another fun and more creative idea is one that I found off of Pinterest. What you do is you write down the titles of all your unread books on colorful little pieces of paper. You find a mason jar, as demonstrated on this webpage, or any type of container that you want. Decorate it a little, personalizing it to make it more unique and adapted to you. Now, take all those colorful pieces of paper with the book titles on them and put them in your container. Every time you want to start a book, you pull one of those papers out and read the book on the paper. Fun and easy.
There is also this cool new website/app that one can log onto and it helps them decide what kind of book they want to read. It’s called “Whichbook” found on Opening the Book’s webpage. This feature of the webpage allows you to adjust meters on the left side of the screen based on what you are in the mood for. If you want a happier story, slide the cursor closer to the happy side and the website will adjust what is showed to you based on your specifications. You can also intermingle features. If one wants a happy story but with a bit of fear and suspense, there is a cursor for that too.
The other method one can try is a bit of research. If nothing on your bookshelf appeals to you, go onto Barnes and Noble or Amazon and see what books are trending. The best seller lists are often very insightful into what people your age are reading. This is also helpful because it means that there are large numbers of people reading the same book. You will have someone to talk to about what you have read! That always makes reading a lot more fun. You can also look at the “Recommended for You” suggestions that crop up on the bottom of most book and shopping based webpages. Even though it’s a computer generating the suggestions, it can be very accurate.
As the semester comes to a close, it is time for students (and professors) to kick back and relax. Whether that means vacation out of state or just fun days out with friends, picking up a good book and curling up on the beach can’t be beat. Hopefully these suggestions help those indecisive book worms. I know I am going to go make one of those “TBR jars” to keep me on track with my books.
Photo credit: Pexels / Hoang Bin