I have been scrabbling with my book choices in recent years, at least when it comes to reading not undertaken for a podcast episode (that reading is prescribed and enforced, essentially by myself). I think, given I’m now emerging from a major blog hiatus, it was likely caused by the goings on of those recent years, and now I’m looking at my reader self and asking her if we might get some order in the ranks.

While I love the idea of reading by mood, I’m definitely someone who benefits from a bit of planning because those moments of wondering what to read create a paralysis of choice which is enough to make my excitement pack up and suggest that an entirely different activity is the thing to do right now.

(It was fascinating going back through old blog posts to see what I’d written about reading lists in the past – in 2012 I said they absolutely did not work for me, in 2015 I started seeing the benefits at least where being a book blogger was concerned, and at the start of 2020 I was loving them but saying that balancing it with mood reading was best.)

About a month ago I started mulling the idea of creating a reading list for non-podcast books. I realised I should choose books for it carefully with the idea that I’d spend time on the choice now, all at once, for an easier time of it later. I had books that came to mind immediately – books I wanted to read soon, regardless of any lists, and others I’d meant to read but not got to. I consider myself to have failed at my Classics Club list (paralysis of choice strikes again!) so I figured the whole idea did need some thought.

And some rules. Firstly, I’m not going to let the list get too long – I can have ideas for it, but they can’t just be added whenever. (First and a half – it should probably be something along the lines of one book finished, add another one or, better still, finish a few, add a few, all at once.) Secondly – I shouldn’t think I can’t blithely add books I’ve had for years and ride off into the sunset. Being honest with myself, I’m going to have to read a lot of newer books – or at least new-to-me books – to give myself a solid psychological backing for any of that ‘finally getting to it’ stuff. I am, after all, the person who’s been moving Vanity Fair to each year’s brand new list of books read every year now since 2012. Thirdly, and most importantly – I need to be careful of letting books languish on the list and not let them become books I’ve had for years. And it should go without saying that there needs to be plenty of books I’m excited about and a mixture of genres. I think after having read lots of books I’m excited about that excitement is likely to sustain itself for some ‘I was excited and then left it too long’ books.

After thinking up an actual list and mulling over putting it out there for the last week, I’m going to do so. I’m not going to come back and update this list, I think that would spell trouble; if they get read they’ll be in my round ups and quite possibly reviewed. (That’s another thing I’ve decided going forward – I miss reviewing and having my notes but I won’t return to my old ‘must review’ process. Books will get reviewed if I want to review them.) Part of me wants to discuss the following book choices but I think that’ll also create some pressure.

So, here we go. I plan to read, ordered by author’s first name:

Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow And Tomorrow And Tomorrow
Gill Paul’s Another Woman’s Husband
Jennifer Saint’s Ariadne
Kristy Woodson Harvey’s A Happier Life
Natalie Jenner’s The Jane Austen Society
Raven Leilani’s Luster
Rebecca Yarros’ Fourth Wing
Susan Stokes Chapman’s The Shadow Key
Zachary Levi’s Radical Love

And that is plenty to be getting on with.

I previously had three other books on the list – Tasneem Abdur-Rashid’s The Thirty Before Thirty List, Maggie Brookes’ The Prisoner’s Wife, and Gill Paul’s Scandalous Women. As you may have noted by those titles having been mentioned here recently and by reading my blog in general, I’ve already read them. That was another thing I thought was important – waiting a few weeks to see if it would stick.

Do you make/use reading lists? And what is your history with using/not using them?

Episode 106: Nikki Marmery (Lilith)

Charlie and Nikki Marmery (Lilith) discuss her epic story that looks from the start of the Genesis story all the way to our present day, showing how the biblical stories did away with an all-important goddess for women – Yahweh’s wife – and the consequences that has had. There is discussion, too, on the Gnostic gospels, various mythologies, and environmentalism.

If you’re unable to use the media player above, this page has various other options for listening as well as the transcript.