My weird book discovery method that’s actually working

I'm going to sound like I'm promoting something, but I promise this is genuine—I just think it's cool and wanted to share. For context, I've never been a huge reader. I always wanted to be, but I could never figure out what to read, and I'd get overwhelmed by all the options and end up reading nothing.

A few months ago I downloaded NextPurpose (it's an app for motivation and affirmations) because I was trying to work on my mental health and thought daily positive reminders might help. It does that job well, but I recently discovered it also has quotes from a ton of different sources—books, movies, songs, anime, all mixed together. You can filter by source if you want.

I started browsing through just the book quotes when I was bored, and something clicked. Seeing a standalone quote without knowing anything about the plot or the characters makes me curious in a way that reading a synopsis never did. A good quote makes me want to understand the context, the world it came from. I've bought more books in the last two months than I have in the past two years, and I'm actually reading them.

It's probably not the intended use case for a motivation app, but it's become my favorite way to build a reading list. The quotes are usually inspiring or thought-provoking anyway, which fits the app's vibe, but they also serve as these little windows into stories I wouldn't have found otherwise.

Just thought I'd share in case anyone else struggles with the "what do I read next" problem. This method has been weirdly effective for me.