Introduction of my TBR Piggy!

Ahahaha I seriously love the title of this post.

So recently I’ve started following some Booktubers on Twitter. I think that’s what you call those book vlogger people on YouTube? Anyway, and of course I read a ton of blogs on here. One of the things that I’ve seen a lot of is a TBR jar. Basically it’s your basic jar and you just write down all the names of the books in your TBR pile and whenever you want to add a little spice to your reading game you just pick out a title from the jar. I’ll still be following my own rules of how I pick my next book to read, but I’ve been wanting to make one of these for some time now. I’m just lazy.

My jar isn’t really a jar. It’s a piggy! Hahaha it actually has a lot of loose change in it right now, but I’m about to dump it all out and get my TBR book titles in there. I hope I have someplace for all that change. So that’s all I have for you today. Sorry for the short post, it was definitely rushed and I actually have to work tonight. Ugh to that.

The first book out of the TBR piggy is…Where Serpents Lie by T. Jefferson Parker. I started this awhile back but didn’t finish it. Guess I have to now.

Just look how cute he is.

Deciding What to Read Next

Photo Credit

If you’ve read my What I’m Reading page then you likely read a little about how I decide on what to read next. I have something of a process that I’ve followed now for at least the past two years. Here’s what I take into account before picking my next read:

• The last five authors I’ve read are off-limits. For example, I just read a James Patterson novel so I won’t be reading another one of his for a little while. I never read authors or series back-to-back. I think I might enjoy the books less if I did that.

• The last five series are off-limits. This is pretty obvious from the first point. But I do have one series that is written by several authors so this would apply to that particular series and no others because the author point would apply to series written by the same author.

• The time the book has spent on the to-be-read shelf. I have to admit that I have some books that have remained on the shelf for years. It’s not necessarily a knock on the author or the book, I just always make up an excuse to pass it over. For instance, I have a Tess Gerritsen novel that I purchased at the recommendation of a friend of mine all the way back in 2012. I think. I’ve had it on the shelf since then because I honestly don’t think I’ll like it. This is why you shouldn’t take recommendations from non-book people! But sometimes I’ll say to myself, “Hey. This book has been waiting to be read for a long time. Let me just read the thing and get it over with.”

• The length of the book. Yes, I take this into consideration, unfortunately. It’d be hard not to. I currently have three books on the to-be-read shelf over 500 pages. Um. No. One of which is part of a series I’ve read before. The other two are the first in their respective series, which is one more reason not to read them!

• The author/series. This is separate from the first two points because I’ll likely not put off a series or author who I know I enjoy reading. But authors I don’t know may get less preferential treatment. Just happens.

So, all in all the most important things I take into account as I’m deciding which book to read next are the first two points. As long as I haven’t read a specific author or series within my last five books then they’re fair game. If you’re wondering, I currently have 14 books that I’d be able to read that meet the first two requirements. But of course, I’m not actually considering that many.

Tell me how you decide on which book to read next. I’m quite certain you’ll have a different philosophy from me. Let’s hear it!