Happy last Friday of January! This week it’s freebie week, so I went back to August 2024 to pick my topic for this week
Do you consider yourself a mood reader?

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly bookish discussion meme created by Rukky @Eternity Books and co-hosted by Aria @Book Nook Bits and Dini @DiniPandaReads. Each Friday, bloggers will write posts about a particular topic and share on their blog.

Do you consider yourself a mood reader?

Up until the middle of last year, I would have answered this with “no, absolutely not”!
However I have recently admitted that yes, I am in actual fact, something of a mood reader. Not 100%, but I have been less and less likely to stick to a tbr in the last 6 months or so. I’m not sure I’m a mood reader in the sense that I match my reads to my feelings – I’ve said many times here that I mostly run on logic rather than emotions – but I do pick up books on a whim fairly often now.

I don’t really have a rhyme or reason for choosing what I do, as I said, my emotions don’t have much to do with it. Sometimes I just get the urge to read something translated, or a mystery or just a lot of non-fiction all at once!

Are you constantly switching books and genres depending on your mood? Or do you always stick to a very specific TBR?

I always used to have a tbr and I very rarely strayed from it. That’s not really the case anymore, although I do still make rough outlines for the month. I am really lucky to receive a fair amount of ARCs (advanced reader copies) of books and I like to get them read and reviewed before release date wherever possible, so I slot them into tbr’s for the month before their release date.

Aside from ARCs, I don’t generally have a fixed tbr anymore. What I tend to do, is use the Pagebound plan feature as a sort of… book buffet. I add any books that have caught my eye or that I know I want to read soon into my 2026 plan. When the time comes to pick a new read and I don’t immediately know what that will be I have a browse of my plan and generally find something on there that sounds good.

Generally, once I have chosen my read, I will stick with it. I don’t tend to flit between loads of books, aside from having a fiction and a non-fiction on the go at the same time. Even then I don’t really switch, I tend to read one per day, or per situation (eg if on is on a Kindle and I’m heading out I’ll take that one with me). As for genres, I have definitely been flicking between those a lot more often. I am feeling the need to switch up genre a lot more recently, rather than sticking with fantasy like I used to.

If you’re a mood reader, do you ever wish you could better stick to TBRs?

Being a former tbr-er, I have experienced both sides of this coin. Today, my answer to this question is no.
Don’t get me wrong, making and sticking to a tbr is really great for efficiency, and it made sure I got through my series and new releases somewhat on time. At some point early last year though, it really started to feel like a chore to make and abide by a tbr, so now embracing the mood reading feels really freeing and I don’t think I want to go back to tbrs, at least for the time being.

At the end of the day, reading is meant to be enjoyable, and if the tbr system doesn’t work for you, why force it?

You Tell Me: Do you enjoy making tbr’s or are you a mood reader?