Or, in other words, how do you pick what to read next?
There are millions of books in existence and only twenty-four hours in the day. I’m curious how everyone here picks what books go on (and, depending on your proclivity for dropping books mid-read, stay on) your reading list?
Librarian recommendations? “Best of” lists? Your favorite authors’ latest? Social media recommendations? Whatever seems “hot” at the moment? Serial publications/anthologies? High school/college reading lists*? Covers/titles that entice you? Whatever your approach, I wanna hear it!
*This is a fantastic way of creating non-fiction reading lists, but I can’t imagine doing this with fiction–I’m just not that much of a literary masochist.
I know a lot of people don’t like AI and I also feel some kinda way about it, but I found it pretty helpful here. There aren’t many people who read as much or are into the kind of books that I am in my circle, so I can’t really cover this via social connections outside the internet.
How it works: write a list with all the books you read in the past, plus how you rate them. Put that into whatever AI and tell it to suggest some books with a short spoiler free paragraph on why it would be a good suggestion.
Sometimes I ask for stuff that fits with what I already read, sometimes I ask it to suggest stuff that might cover blind spots or perspectives that I haven’t covered yet. So far I’ve enjoyed most suggestions and found some books I wouldn’t have found otherwise.
I read mostly classics, so if you’re into newer stuff it might not be as up to date.