There's an endless sea of books to read, and with how much time that goes into reading a single one it's easy to feel lost on where to start. or Maybe you haven't been much of a reader lately or much of one, ever (like me). So to help myself hone in my archive for this website and maybe to help you, dear reader, I've put together a few guiding principles I use in my curation process. And even if you decide to read a book and it ends up sucking, you would hopefully still find joy somewhere in the act of reading it.
P.S. there's a whole section on the act of reading and how to actually read what you've curated!
creating categories
A major part of curating is organizing and dissecting, with categories I am able to filter what types of books I want. Here are some categories I use and how I use them.
-----
readability
- How easily can I read this book? Does it have language, formating, and or topics that are difficult for me to read? Older books and non-fiction are generally hard for me to get through. While books with my favorite tropes, written by authors I enjoy, or short stories are generally easier for me to read.
- Factors of readability can include writing style, length (i.e. short stories or chronicles), familiarity with concepts and or authors, time period, target audience, how much you want to engage with the book, format (i.e. physical or digital) etc.
genres, topics, and tropes
- What do you enjoy reading? Books about space? Thrillers? Romance? Redemption arcs with one character who has suffered horribly but has known no other life so they continue with it despite their pain? Be super broad with topics you enjoy or super specific with tropes you find fascinating?
- What does (insert descriptive word/genre here) even mean? These words can be a great place to start if you're not really sure what you're interested in reading or if you're not sure how to define your own categories
- Look up the definition of these words or a list of book genres. Find out how are they used in literary spaces or how are they used in the algorithm that you are exposed to.
To provide an example, the King in Yellow, it's a classic in "cosmic horror" fiction and also is a collection of short stories which are typically easier for me to read. However it's also an old ass book with old ass language that is hard for me to understand. With this I can categorize it into horror, short stories, and difficult to read.
compiling books
Curation implies a collection, but how and where does one find which books to pick? For me, a variable but limited source of book suggestions provides me with a consistent stream of new books to read.
-----
spread your wings
- Don't be afraid to explore! You can pull inspiration for reading from anywhere. Ask your kin what their favorite books are, browse the internet for folks talking about books you like, search up recommendations based on your categories.
- What buzzwords or descriptors or genres frequent your recommendations? How do these coincide or contradict categories you've created?
trusted voices
- Who are the authors you've read before? What did or didn't you like about their writing style, their views on the world, or the format they chose? Would you want to read something else by them?
- What are the literary critics, youtubers, blog posters, your friends, redditors reading; or what are they recommending for you to read? This is where a lot of the book suggestions I consider come from, I use the categories I've determined earlier to go through these recommendations to find what books I would actually want to read.
- What do you like or dislike about these creators? What areas of literature do they cover? Where can you explore where they don't?
Place I get recommendations from include...
These youtube channels Davis Morgan, Mina Le, and J&V: SCP Archives. I also get recommendations from a book channel in the discord of youtuber Jeffiot. From the substack Read Your Color that I look through in my email, who actually inspired this post! or from Instagram user thehauntedabbey. I read all the books in my first chronicle ever simply because my friend's old high school teacher wrote it and we had physical copies of it. It wasn't the best book ever written, but I still found it a valuable read because I cared about who wrote it.
sitting down to read
Yes, it's important to be attentive to what you are reading. But, so is how you are reading.
-----
determining the desire
- What on the list sounds the most pleasurable? What's the best way for you to read right now? Sometimes I can't actually stand sitting and reading, but I'll have a few books that I do really want to read
meeting the need
- Create a picture of what "sitting down to read" looks like for you? Can you read anywhere? Do you read digitally or physical media, or both? Does the room need to be quiet, comfortable? What materials do you need? Oftentimes meeting this need will change a little or a lot each time you actually begin the activity of reading. Adapt your process to what your desires are and how you can best fulfill it.
- How much can you read in one sitting? Do you need breaks? I often need breaks while I'm reading as my brain is slightly moldy. I used to look at my phone in between each chapter to keep my interest in the book. Now I can just pause between chapters, think, get up for water, and then come back to the book.