As I got older (millennial), I realised I wasn't nearly as adventurous in trying out new books as I was when I was a teenager. I was sticking to authors I was familiar with (reading the entire Agatha Christie oeuvre), or rereading old familiars. Basically I was scared to spend money or time on a book I might not like. I really wanted to get out of my comfort zone, so I experimented and found a way that I wanted to share.
What I've been doing is when I see a book I like the look of, or see in a top 10 list, or get recommended, I go to the kindle app on my phone and download the sample. I have these all saved in a collection ("samples"). Each day I use a random number generator (say number 12 of 37 total samples), and try to finish that sample by the end of the day. The randomness is important – I don't get overwhelmed by choice, and I also can't make excuses for why I don't want to read that particular book (too hard looking, never read sci-fi, not in the mood, etc etc). I have to commit.
Once I've read it, I decide. If I really liked it, I move it over to a new collection ("seek"), or if I'm not interested, I delete. A lot of times I'll start unenthused, but by the time I get to the end I'm hooked. And it means that I can try hundreds of books. This past week I've downloaded samples including: Hyperion, Ghost Cities, a book about the history of Mauve, Lafcadio Hearn's short stories, Dr No by Percival Everett, and Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson. And each day I get the dopamine hit of anticipation for what random book I'll be reading.
Now when I go the library or a bookstore I have a ready list of books I've tried and I know I want to read in my "seek" folder. I have over 150 samples saved, and my favourite thing is to collect more. I love browsing all the different sections in the bookstore (it scratches the itch of buying without necessarily spending as much), and I love asking people for book recommendations to add to the collection.
Anyway, just wanted to share, would love to know if anyone else does something similar. 🙂
by AlbatrossDouble1409