As we head into the season of "best of" lists, one thing that occurs to me is that I get a lot of my ideas on what to read from these lists. Which means that I read a lot of the previous year's books. So for example I'll read a Best Books of 2025 list, find 3 books on it that I want to read, and end up reading those in 2026.
I obviously don't *exclusively* read the prior year's books, but it's an interesting pattern that I've noticed. I also read plenty of books that are "evergreen" and not really in the news or being talked about at all, from recent years and also deep into the past.
Do you feel the same way? Or do you find yourself either reading up-to-the-minute titles, or not taking recency into account at all?
by bmadisonthrowaway
17 Comments
Mainly previous years- but only because there is so many books in my backlog to read, most of which are classics
I have never once considered the publishing year of a book before reading it.
If it’s a new release from an author I really like I’ll likely read it soon after publishing, other than that I probably wouldn’t even know When it was released
I check the new ones, try the ones I might like, but seems the older ones are reliably better 🙂
I’ve been reading more new fiction because of these lists, definitely. I may not get to it the same calendar year, but it definitely a boost that older fiction isn’t getting.
Almost exclusively previous years. I just reignited my love of reading after bowing out over a decade ago when I was still a teenager. I’m not averse to reading new books by any means, but I’m currently still in that stage where I feel like I have SO MANY books on the TBR that are already well-established, so I find it hard to prioritize new material.
Edit: Actually, looking back on my logs for the year, there’s more from semi-recent years (self-defined by being published 2010 or later) than I realized. 22 of the 63 books I’ve finished this year were published within the last 15 years.
2024: *Absolution* by Jeff VanderMeer
2023: *Immortal Longings* by Chloe Gong
2022: *How High We Go in the Dark* by Sequoia Nagamatsu
2020-2022: Scholomance trilogy by Naomi Novik
2012-2018: *Throne of Glass* series by Sarah J. Maas
2015: *Slade House* by David Mitchell, *A Little Life* by Hanya Yanagihara
2014: *The Bone Clocks* by David Mitchell, The Southern Reach trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer
2012: *Jam* by Yahtzee Croshaw
2011: *The Postmortal* by Drew Magary
I have no idea what year books were published unless they are classics
Since most of the books I read, I check out through Libby, I rarely get my hands on a book the same year it comes out. I did get ahold of ‘James’ by Percival Everett earlier this year as a one-week “skip the line” loan and absolutely loved it! But usually when a book comes out that looks interesting, I add to my ever-lengthening TBR list and wait until the hype dies down and the wait’s a little shorter than “several months.”
I’m a library reader so I always have a backlog of books that I’m waiting in line to read. My system only allows 10 holds at a time.
I’m mostly likely to read books the same year they’re released if:
– They’re the latest by an author (or sometimes publisher) I follow.
– I’m regularly visiting my local library and browsing the “just-in” shelves there.
– They’re recommended by the Kobo Plus algorithm.
– They’re an ARC (a new category for me this year).
– A strong recommendation or a book that’s especially up my alley.
Looking at my books on Storygraph I do seem to read at least a handful of books published in the year I’m reading, but it varies. Previous years are more common, with another handful of “evergreens” (which are sometimes rereads).
I like to read series and authors at a time, so most are definitely not current releases.
I do have a couple authors and series I’ll preorder physical books and listen to the audiobook the day they release though.
Most of my reading comes from Amazon First Reads, so books that supposedly aren’t yet on the market when I get them.
I mostly read what some have called “old books” so at least 10 years old. I get books that were movies I liked, a few classics, or recs from random places. Probably the youngest books I have are my horror books
I get my books from the library and it normally takes 6+ months to get new books, so I’d guess I never read anything brand new… although I’ve also never checked the dates.
Pretty much the only time I read new books are when they’re by my favorite authors and I’ve already read all of their other books. Otherwise, I typically buy books used, so they’re not new releases by any means.
I tend to read a fair amount of arcs so I do typically end up reading a lot of books from the current year. I also try to read some of the hyped books especially because I have quite a few friends with less time than me that ask for my opinions on books before they read them.
I try to keep up with new releases, but I read a lot of older books this year. I like to read new things so I can discuss them with people and be excited when awards come out, but it just depends on what I’m in the mood for.
I also look at the “best books” lists for ideas for my TBR. Generally, I don’t really pay attention to specific release dates, but I do think I tend to avoid picking up new releases right away – I’d rather tackle something that’s been on my TBR for a while and let others put some reviews on new books first. I think the only new releases I read this year were additions to existing series (Onyx Storm and Sunrise On The Reaping).