Hello friends!

Today I’m bringing you a bit of a different post! I was thinking about how I kind of created a few “rules” (if you can call it that) when I think about the books I want to read each month. While I’m going through my TBR on Goodreads every month, I try to pick books according to these rules to create a balanced monthly list. It’s a formula I’ve been using that I feel like it works very well for me!

I was also thinking about a few things that I want to implement every month, so I thought I would write down everything – and why not share it with you?

So today that’s exactly what I’m bringing you! I’m sharing with you my formula to create a balanced monthly TBR list that works for me – and who knows, maybe you’ll be inspired to create a formula that works for you too! So here are my “rules” for creating my monthly TBR lists:

1. Read 2 paperbacks

I’ve had this “rule” for a while now and let me tell you why it is important for me to follow it. I own so many physical copies of books that it’s getting ridiculous. I have so many books on my shelf just waiting for me to finally decide to pick them up! I think it’s important for me to keep reading them in this format so I can finally reduce my book collection – maybe I’m delusional, is that ever going to happen?

2. Listen to 2 audiobooks

This “rule” is also important but for a different (similar) reason. Yes, my physical TBR is long, but my overall TBR is way longer. By listening to audiobooks I’m able to finally get to books I really wanted to read that I don’t necessarily have in the physical format. This is a huge advantage also because I can listen to them while running errands, doing what I call “no-brain” tasks, and even monotonous work. All benefits!

3. Read 1 ebook

My e-reader is a very special tool to me! I love it so much that I always take it with me everywhere I go – grocery shopping, the gym, on walks… you never know when you’re going to need entertainment! My goal is to read one book per month in it because, not only do I take it with me everywhere, but it’s also good to read books that I don’t have physical copies for and for books I don’t feel like listening on audio. That way I can cover a lot of books!

4. Pick at least 3 different genres every month

This is another important “rule” for two reasons. The first one is how I always try to read different genres. I always wanted to be a diverse reader, so if I try and read at least 3 different genres every month, I’ll be more than happy! The second reason is that when I first started reading multiple books at the same time, I started to mix stories if they were similar. This was something that I noticed and quickly fixed: I no longer read similar stories (similar characters, atmosphere, environment) at the same time. That is also easier to fix if I read different genres.

These 4 rules have been the foundation of the way I pick books for my TBR lately, and they work wonderfully. But recently I came up with a few more rules that I want to implement, so here they are:

5. Read manga every month

I have so many manga series that I want to read, that I decided I should always be reading at least one. A quick note: this doesn’t mean that I’ll be finishing an entire series every month. The goal here is for me to just pick a series and read it throughout the month. If I don’t finish the series that month, I’ll continue the next month until it’s finished. I guess my only requirement will be to finish at least one volume per month. I love manga and I believe it’s a great palate cleanser to read between books!

6. Read a book from my “30 Oldest Book on my TBR” list

I’m keeping a list of the 30 books that have been on my TBR for the longest time, and I want to start to tackle them – I’m actually about to post about this list soon, so stay tuned! They deserve to be read, and I’m determined to read at least 10 of these before I get an updated version of the list again! For reference, here is the list of the oldest books on my TBR:

I have the tendency to pick more recent books, so the goal here is to make sure I’m reading some of the oldest books on my TBR, and give them the love they deserve! As a side note: it’s okay if I’m reading a book that is part of a series in this list. So for example, if I already read “You” by Caroline Kepnes (that is on this list) and I’m now reading the second book (that is not on the list), that will be okay because it means I’m making progress on the entire series.

7. Try to always read a book from a series

As I told you multiple times, I have a hard time reading the series – I have bookish commitment issues. So if I try to read at least one book from a series per month I’ll be making progress with a series! It doesn’t matter the format, as long as I read a series!

I think it’s important to remind (mostly myself) that life happens and sometimes things don’t work out the way we want. With that said, I’m going to try and follow this format whenever possible!

I’m excited to read all the amazing books on my radar, and hopefully this strategy will help 🙂 Again, I know this post is a little different from what I usually post, but I hope you liked it nonetheless.

Thank you for reading friends! See you in the next one.