Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: How I Decide What to Read Next

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A black and white sketch of an owl wearing glasses and reading a novel by candlelight Figuring out what to read next is pretty simple for me.

The Toronto Public Library allows patrons to place holds on up to 30 ebooks at a time.

Their hold limit used to be capped at 20, but I wrote them a friendly email and they soon changed that policy. This might be a story future generations tell about me to explain what Aunt Lydia was like. Ha!

I don’t always digitally queue up for that many books, but I almost always have holds placed on at least a dozen or two of them.

Some books are more popular than others, especially if they’re new releases, and therefore have much longer waitlists. I might wait a few days for one title but a few months or longer for something highly anticipated that just came out.

I keep track of roughly when books should arrive and request new ones to fill the holes when I notice that a future month looks like it won’t have a lot of arriving ebooks for me. Let’s just say that my to-read list is a long one.

This system has been especially helpful this year when socializing in person and going to my favourite places hasn’t always been advisable or even possible.

What I read depends on which books have arrived lately. Everything I request is something I’m looking forward to reading, so their order of arrival doesn’t matter too much in most cases.

Occasionally, I buy ebooks as well. There are some authors and stories that I’m too excited to possibly wait months for!

28 Comments

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28 Responses to Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: How I Decide What to Read Next

  1. Tammy Wyse Schoch

    What reader do you use? I borrowed a few library ebooks several years ago but it didn’t sync with kindle. So I used a different reader and it was difficult to use. This was at least 5-6 years ago so I’m wondering if there is better software available now and it would be a better experience …

    • Usually, I read library books on a browser on my laptop.

      Rarely, I’ll download copies of books before vacations so I have something to read on flights when Internet is either non-existent or really expensive.

      There is also an app called Libby that you can borrow books from in our library system. That’s what I used when I was out and about in the pre-Covid days and wanted to read while, say, standing in line somewhere. I wonder if that’s the app you had trouble with?

  2. That seems like a great method for keeping that TBR list under control. 🙂 I like it.

  3. You’ve got a great system without breaking the bank. https://pmprescott.blogspot.com/

  4. Sydney Winward

    The library e-book system is a great way to read books!

    • James Schoch

      This is my favorite part of today’s post “ The Toronto Public Library allows patrons to place holds on up to 30 ebooks at a time.

      Their hold limit used to be capped at 20, but I wrote them a friendly email and they soon changed that policy. This might be a story future generations tell about me to explain what Aunt Lydia was like. Ha!”

      Bravo Lydia!!

    • Yes, it sure is, Sydney.

  5. Thanks for stopping by earlier! I do a lot of requesting print books from the library – ebooks, not so much. I have so little time to read and when I check out an ebook, if I’m not quite finished…they take it away!!! With a print book, I can hold on to it a few more days and pay the fine…lol.

  6. Mary Morgan

    Fascinating, Lydia. You’re more organized than I am. I have a friend who keeps her reading list in a binder. The libraries are the best, too!

  7. That is way more organized than my system! (My system is basically: “Hmm… what am I in the mood for?” but the detailed answer is here.)

  8. Sounds like a great arrangement. I need to use our library more. Thanks for sharing. Here’s mine. https://www.tenastetler.com/how-i-decide-what-to-read-next-lsrs-wednesday-blogging-challenge/

  9. Lucky you…my library’s consortium limits us to 10 holds. I make use of that, but last year I also had my Classics Club schedule to keep in mind, and this year I’ve had scheduled TBR books for most of the year. I sometimes plan sets of books to read because of linked subjects, but it’s also subject to..whims. I might read one NF book from my TBR pile, but it draws on another book I want to read, and it’s maybe a book that’s been on the radar before so I buy it and read it. Or sometimes I think “I need to read something on THIS, right now”, and I’m able to find a source. Orrr someone will post in a blog about a book that sounds compelling, or remind me of one that was on my radar……

    TLDR, it’s mostly random with some planning!

  10. I do something similar! My library isn’t great, so there’s massive waitlist for pretty much every new release. I constantly check my holds and plan my reading around when they’re expected to come in.

  11. I admit I’m not a library user, though I should be given how much I read.

  12. My gosh, 30 books on hold at once? You must be such a fast reader. Needing to “choose” what to read next almost seems irrelevant when you can get through them so quickly. Thank you for sharing this post. You’ve inspired me to get off my arse and read a bit more today!

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