Panel: What Do I Read Next?

Marines 0:22
Hello and welcome to BookNet Cast and BookNet Fest 2020. My name is Marines.

Samantha 0:27
And I’m Samantha Lane and we are the co-organizers of BookNet Fest, an event that invites readers who typically gather online to Orlando, Florida every year. Due to the global pandemic in 2020, we have canceled the in person event for the safety of everybody involved. And so now we are having a event completely online throughout the month of September and you are listening to our panels for this year. For 2021, we are hoping to be able to gather again in Orlando on September 3rd and 4th, so look forward to that if the pandemic allows. Thank you to our sponsor of this panel, Little Bee Books. Little Bee Books is a children’s book publisher dedicated to making high quality, creative, and fun books for busy little bees ages zero through 12, offering an inspired selection of early learning concept books, board games, novelty books, activity books, picture books, chapter books, nonfiction, gift sets and more. On August 25, 2020, little be released The Riverdale Diaries Volume One: Hello Betty. Kirkus Reviews said this graphic novel series breathes new life into old characters. Betty Cooper and her buddies from Archie’s Riverdale series are reimagined for middle grade readers in this full-length, full-color graphic novel written by rising star Sarah Kuhn and drawn by critically acclaimed artist J. Bone. You can check out the Riverdale Diaries at your local library or wherever books are sold.

Marines 1:38
We encourage everybody to check out BookNetFest.com. That’s where we are keeping everyone up to date on all of the events and activities that we have going on throughout the month. And to that end, this is our What Do I Read Next panel and we’ve got some amazing guests here with us today.

Rincey 1:53
Hi, my name is Rincey. I have a YouTube channel called Rincey Reads and that’s basically just your general booktube, but I also am a contributing editor over at Book Riot. So I help make videos over on their YouTube channel. And then I also co-host the podcast Read or Dead, which is a mystery/thriller/suspense, all things that sort of umbrella, related podcast that comes out every other week for Book Riot as well.

Kathy 2:23
Hi, I’m Kathy and I have a YouTube channel as well. It’s Kathy Trithardt, have fun spelling that. I am the co-host of the Queer Lit Readathon, which runs every June and every December and we also have a couple of weekend events. Our next one is coming up on the last weekend of September.

Jessica 2:38
And I’m Jessica Nicole Dickerson. I am also a booktuber and my channel name is Jessica Nicole Dickerson. I’m very creative with my naming obviously. I also run the Brown Girl Book Club. Every month we pick a woman of color author and book to just celebrate, you know, POC, especially women, and I try and keep it fair. We vote on the book every month, and it’s a good time to celebrate, you know, women.

Marines 3:05
Today we’re going to be talking about how we choose what we’re going to read next, or how we sort of make these decisions and curate. So, I want to start with this question. And probably because I’m really curious, because my answer is that it’s very difficult for me personally, but how easy or difficult is it for you to choose what you’re going to read next.

Rincey 3:27
I feel like for me, it’s not too difficult. And that’s partially just because like I– well, one is I check out a lot of books in the library. So I feel like a lot of my reading is just solely based on due dates. So once I know I can’t renew things anymore, once I know the due date is coming up, that means I need to be picking this book up soon. And so, I feel like lately that’s like dictated a significant amount of like what I’m reading next, but if I’m talking about like physical TBR, and things like that, I don’t make official like monthly TBRs or monthly sort of reading goals or any thing, but I do feel like I’m such a heavy mood reader that I know I want to be reading a certain type of book in the next couple of weeks. And so I’ll like maybe like pull out those books from my physical TBR stack. And then I know I’m gonna like pick one of those to read, but it’s completely mood based. And so I feel like it’s not hard necessarily because I know what I’m in the mood for. And so I will just pick one of the books that could potentially fulfill that mood.

Kathy 4:28
I feel like for me, it would be very easy for it to be overwhelming because I just want to read everything and obviously there’s not enough time in the world for that, even in these days where that’s basically all I have time for is just reading things. But what it comes down to for me is I just participate in a lot of readathons and that basically drives where my reading is going because you’ve got prompts. You want to fulfill them. I like to be a challenged beast, so I want to fulfill every single prompt if I can, that type of thing. And then it from there basically comes down to do I have access to it because I tend to use the library as much as humanly possible, even in these times where I don’t really want to go into the library and for a very long time, I couldn’t go into the library, I still use the online catalog so much and then have to be very strategic as to when I can get those items out because you can’t renew them. And it’s a whole process but I don’t feel like I have a hard time figuring out what to read next. I just go “oh, this thing that I’m super excited about!” And I jump on that.

Jessica 5:31
I say for me, I’m one of those crazy people that likes to set a really high TBR for myself, which is basically like all the books that are near me that I’m excited to read plus ARCs that I get from NetGalley and then it’s just a battle of what captures my attention. I like to mood read, especially through the books. So I’m like always in the middle of 10 books and kind of cycling through. So it’s whatever is like engaging me at the time because sometimes I’m really in mood for like contemporary and I just really respond to those or else I get into a reading slump. So if I’m reading science fiction, and I really want to read something light and fluffy, then I just switch immediately. I don’t even think about it. So my– I don’t know why I set a TBR, but I definitely, I definitely try to every month, finish the books I start.

Samantha 5:48
It’s funny to hear how everyone does things because I’m somebody that by the middle of the book I’m reading, I know the book I want to read next. But it’s only that, like, I don’t go ahead of that. I’m not somebody that can set a whole month TBR, but I know enough of my mood at that point that either I want to continue in the kind of genre I’m reading right now. Or typically speaking, I want something like the same genre but slightly different. Like I’m not going to read two, I don’t know, desert fantasies back to back because then I’ll be comparing them too much. So I kind of always know the next book, which is kind of bad for me because I’m sitting there reading my current book and enjoying it usually but I’m like, “but I want to get to the next one.” I’m like, just calm down and stay in the moment. Mindfulness. So yeah, that’s that sort of thing that I always do, though.

Marines 7:00
No, this is great because I’m the only one sitting here like it sometimes feels impossible for me to pick what I’m going to read next. And because I am both a mood reader, and somebody who is terrible at making choices, I feel like I’m gonna learn a lot from you guys on this episode just about like how you navigate these choices. But yeah, it’s definitely something that I struggle with. And I tend to get overwhelmed even though I do have books that are more immediately on my radar, or books that I have out from the library. I don’t care about like due dates or whatever. I return unread books to the library all the time. I’m just like “oh, didn’t get to that one.” So I feel like I’m generally surrounded by a pile of books that have the potential to be read next, but that is so fast and loose, and I’m just not good at sticking to reading plans or a TBR or even picking like the next immediate book I’m going to read.

Kathy 8:02
I think for me as well, because I do weekly wrap-ups, I always think to myself “have I finished a book this week already?” If not, then I definitely have to just jump on the next one. And that alleviates the whole like, “Oh, I could sit for a while and I could think about what I want to read.” I’m like, “No, I just need to read something. Otherwise, I’m gonna look like a jackass on my own wrap up like I have to read something now.”

Marines 8:23
Well, that’s a good point. So how much does creating content influence what you’re reading or how much you’re reading, if at all?

Rincey 8:32
Yeah, for me, it’s huge, partially because I have the podcasts that I do. And so that comes out every other week and so we always have a main topic, and each of us tries to read something related to that topic. So I’m usually reading at least that book like, I always know I have those books I need to pick up or something that fits those books. So that’s a huge part of it. I also started doing weekly wrap ups recently, but that was mostly just because, again, quarantine times. We all have so much more time to read, theoretically. I was reading a lot more books, so I wanted to, like get through that, but I feel like for my own personal channel, I try not to put too much pressure on myself to read a book just for the sake of making a video necessarily, just because I knew for my own mental health, like that could be really destructive. Because if I’m reading just for the sake of reading, just to say that I’ve read a book, then I feel like I’m not actually getting anything out of the book itself, or like the reading experience or anything like that. So in those situations, I would rather just take the week off and not read anything for a week and then come back to it when I’m in like a better mental state, or I’m actually enjoying something and things like that.

Kathy 9:39
Yeah, for me, my reading is definitely dependent on the fact that I make my weekly wrap ups. And then when I started doing monthly wrap ups, it got to be this weird contention because my weekly wrap ups I’d be like, “yeah, I read four or five books this week.” And then when I go to do my monthly wrap up, I’m like, “Who let me read 25 books this month? Like who let that be a thing? Why did I think this was a good idea?” So, yeah, it’s interesting because I initially set up the way I do my weekly wrap-ups because I was watching somebody else who would read like 10 books a week every week. And I was like, “that is not me. That’s not a thing that I can do. But what if I get to a week where I haven’t read a book, then I’m going to look like a jackass.” So I decided to wrap up everything I read, watch and listen to. So even if I don’t finish a book, at least I can talk about the TV shows I watched that week and not have this weird gap because I like putting out that content every weekend. It makes me very happy to do it, but it also definitely drives the fact that I’m reading way more than I used to before I was talking about books on the internet.

Jessica 10:39
Yeah, I feel like my content really is about– since it’s all about reading, it’s like my reading definitely influences it, especially in the beginning. I first started booktube because I wanted to become more of an avid reader in general. So I challenged myself, like my first year, I challenged myself to read 12 books and the next year I challenged myself to do 50 and now this year, I’m like trying to reach 100. So it’s definitely influenced my content and like, it’s also influenced my reading. The only reason I read so much is because I’m like, “Oh, I need to be held accountable, I have to do my monthly wrap ups and tell people that I’ve read,” but also trying to be nice to myself that when the months come and I only read four books in a month, I’m like, “yeah, that’s fine.” Hopefully one of the books was good, but most of the time, those books kind of put me to sleep and maybe that’s why I didn’t want to read and that’s okay. Like, I think picking a good book for yourself is always difficult to keep up, you know? Just knowing your own style and what you like to read really helps. And then I really like having in my content it reflecting that– the good times that I have with reading and why I enjoy it so much, if that makes sense.

Kathy 11:44
Oh, yeah, definitely. Like one of my goals for 2020 was actually to read less because I noticed this like uptick in my reading where like, one year I read 201 books and the next year was 237. I was like “this is going to get to a point where I’m going to burn out and hate books and I don’t want that to happen.” So like read less and then obviously COVID hits so like, there’s a chance I’m not going to read less this year but that’s a different circumstance.

Jessica 12:08
But that’s a really cool goal. I like that, to enjoy reading more and not pressure yourself to hit the numbers as much. That’s a really good goal.

Rincey 12:13
Yeah, I started doing a thing or like for the Goodreads reading goal, I basically– my number now is basically sort of like my benchmark of I feel like I’m reading enough but I almost always go over that number now, just because I have the time and whatever. But it’s basically like now I just use Goodreads as sort of like a pace-setter almost of being like, “am I just reading my one book a week, which is really like my bare minimum?” And if I surpass that, I’m happy and I feel like at this point, like, reading more than whatever number like for me personally, doesn’t really add much value necessarily to like what my reading life is. My goals now have changed to be like reading more diversely in all of those senses or trying to read more nonfiction or like anything along those lines. So I feel like sometimes when you pull out, pull away from those numbers, you can like find other areas to sort of challenge yourself.

Samantha 13:06
It’s interesting to listen to all of you talk about it because right when Mari asked the question, I was like, “Oh, no, I don’t really like let that motivate me,” but like I do, but it’s also a balance, right? Because someone who doesn’t make content could be listening to this and be like, “Wow, that sounds miserable.” And it’s like, well, no! We have fun doing this. Like, it’s really, it’s actually really fun for us to like, challenge ourselves and be a part of things. I was just thinking, as you guys were talking about how I’m a part of the House Salt Book Club with Mari and a bunch of our other friends and so we have to read those books every month. And that’s something that we choose and do together and it’s like a nice social thing. And then I have a challenge that I do with my friend Sarah Jane from The Book Life and we challenge each other to read certain books. It’s not every month, but it’s kind of back and forth. And if there’s a readathon, and there’s different themes around that readathon, then the readathon is influencing what I’m reading as well, but it’s a challenge that I chose to participate in.

Rincey 14:23
Right.

Samantha 13:53
All these things are things that I actively chose and are not being forced on me. And it is a fun way for me to hold myself accountable because if I didn’t have a channel, I would still be reading but I’d be reading way less and I like that I’m reading a lot more. It’s not– as much as we sometimes are like, “oh my god, we’re reading so much” or whatever, it’s still not something that’s detrimental to me. It’s not a toxic relationship with books, like I’m still having a good time. So like Kathy was saying, like having that balance, where it’s like, you know, I think we all are always kind of subconsciously thinking about that balance and making sure like, we’re doing this for fun, but we’re also pushing and motivating ourselves as well.

Marines 14:26
I think for me, too, because I enjoy creating things it’s also this relationship of like, when I’m not reading, it’s not necessarily that I feel bad that I’m not going to be able to wrap up X amount of books, but it’s that when I’m not reading, that creative well dries up. Like, if I’m not reading, I have less to talk about on my channel. And so I start missing it in that way versus just like a numbers thing. And more thinking about “well, if I were reading more, I would have more wrap ups and more discussions and more videos.” And that’s the kind of relationship that books have to my content that I’m creating. So I do feel that lack when I’m not reading as much, but it isn’t something that does feel toxic, like Sam said, it’s just that the more I read, the more that creative well is full. So I try to keep on top of that. You know, I know that in a reading slump, the first thing that falls off is obviously reading but then also making videos is next.

I’m curious now about how you guys find out about books. How do you hear about new releases? Or how do books find themselves on your TBR? I think about like how back in the day, I would just walk into a bookstore, and it was all whatever caught my eye or the back of the book blurb. How much of that is still true for you. And how much does the reading community influence how books find their way to you?

Rincey 15:51
I think now it’s a combination of a lot of things. It’s– a lot of it is Booktube. I feel like the majority of it is Booktube and I think I’ve got to a point now where I found a lot of Booktubers, who basically their tastes align with mine. That’s not exclusively what I watch, because I think it’s always interesting to watch people whose tastes don’t align with yours because their opinions are also like valid and it’s just interesting to hear different viewpoints, but I do know which Booktubers have tastes similar to mine. And so if they’re recommending a book, I’ll be like, “okay, that’s a book I want to hear about.” But obviously, it’s also other social media, Twitter, Instagram, things like that, Book Riot, podcasts, all of that stuff. I love going to the bookstore and the library, though still, and like finding a book and picking up a book that’s either like a staff recommendation that I’d never seen before or anything along those lines. I like very much believe in like sort of like the serendipitous nature of like walking into a bookstore or a library and just seeing something displayed, and it just sounding like the right thing for you at that moment, or being a book that you heard about, like three years ago and you never picked up and then you’re like, “Oh, hey, it’s sitting here right now. I might as well get to it.” So stuff like that. So I feel like all of my inputs are basically books now. Or like filled with books. So I feel like I’m just getting it from everyone. And even like, random people that know me in real life–or not random, but people who know me in real life– know that I talk about books on the internet. And so they’ll even come up to me and be like, “Hey, have you heard of this one before?” And people get book insights from everywhere, so a lot of times I’m like, “No, I actually haven’t heard of that one before.” And that’ll be like another source of inspiration. So I feel like books basically come at me from every direction.

Kathy 17:35
I love that. I’m also the person that everybody on my friends list on Facebook or whatever is like, “Hey, you like books? Have you read this one?” and like, I love being that person for them. It’s wonderful. I find that I’m definitely influenced by what I’m seeing on BookTube because I watch a lot of videos. I definitely am influenced by what I see when I’m scrolling my Instagram, Twitter to a certain extent, but also I used to until March worked at my local library, so I was in there all the time handling books and being like, “this looks interesting.” Or I would spend a lot of time on the library’s website because there was a section for like the items that they had recently purchased or had recently come in and I used to spend so much time just looking at those and being like, “That sounds good. I’m going to put a hold on it.” And then I’m going to suspend that hold, and then I’m going to suspend that hold when I really want it. And it’s kind of a little bit of a nightmare. That’s not how you’re supposed to use the website, but that’s what I do. And you can also like make lists and that type of thing, which is so much fun. And obviously these lists are longer than I will ever be able to actually read, but it is fun to know that like I can look through the list of things that I’ve been interested in it at the library and be like, “Oh yeah, I want that.” And obviously I’m at the top of the holds list because I suspended the hold for like two years or whatever it is. And I love being able to just have that instant access and that’s obviously been taken away a little bit to an extent when the library is closed. They’ve reopened, but like they’re not fully open at this point. But I also love just going through the different apps that I have access to from the library and being like, “Oh, I have heard about this.” I can put a hold on it for the audiobook or the the E book, or I can just pick it up right there and then. It’s just so much fun to be like, “I’ve never heard of this. What is this? Okay, I want it.” and it’s immediate, and it’s wonderful. I love the library so much.

Jessica 19:29
I will also say that the library definitely because I use Libby all the time. I think Libby and Scribd dictate my whole reading experience with what books are available. And then it’s interesting because I also on Instagram and Twitter and BookTube they all influence the books that I like, hear about and constantly see. All my friends in those circles will kind of circulate the same books over and over again. So I always find myself like having opinions about books that I hadn’t even read yet. That’s how like ingrained I feel I am in the community where like everyone’s telling me about what they read, and I’m looking at it, I’m like, “okay, should I read that? Should I not? Based on their opinionm I think I’ll love it, I think I won’t.” So it’s it’s definitely taking in all that content and like deciphering which books I must try out and which ones I won’t, and then seeing what I can get my hands on, for as like a lowest price as possible.

Samantha 20:20
It’s interesting to hear you guys talk about like, the freedom of being able to, like, look at library list and be like, “Ooh, that sounds interesting,” because for some reason, my entire life–not when I was a little kid, like a little kid, I could go in and just pick things from the library, and it was fine. But ever since I, like became a full person where I had opinions of my own, I don’t trust books synopsises, I very rarely– I will read them, I’ll skim them, but then once I decide that I’m going to read something like I never really look at the synopsis again, which is the thing that I know not everyone does. But I’m very much like “you’re lying to me on the synopsis.” You know, like, I’m like, “No, I can’t trust you book.” So I kind of I feel like at this point, I go mostly to Twitter, especially for like upcoming releases, I feel like Twitter is where I find the upcoming releases the most because people are talking about them. It might even be those announcements that we get of like, in 2023, this books coming out and I’m like, “Oh, well add that to my Goodreads, you know, anticipated list or whatever.” And it’s funny because I’m sitting here staring at the books I just got for my birthday, because I got 25 books, and I’m just buried underneath them, but I’m like, “Oh, I have a lot of books on my TBR ow, for somebody who’s been really trying to pare it down, and I’m not gonna be watching a ton of booktube videos because y’all tempt me to get more things.” So then I purposely start avoiding BookTube content. I still have booked Twitter, because book Twitter, it’s like, okay, “I’ll see one tweet, and I’ll get one book recommendation,” but with BookTube it’s like, ooh, a whole video could give me 12 things I want to read. So I do find that I tend to avoid BookTube sometimes when I have other things that I already know I want to read, and then I’ll dive back in when you know I’m looking for stuff again.

Marines 21:54
I think I went through like a whole journey or cycle from when I first started BookTube like I was coming off of this experience that I was only picking up books because I came across them they looked good, or the back of the book blurb sounded good. And then after getting into the community, it kind of went entirely the other way, where it was, like only picking up things that I heard about from BookTube. Yeah, primarily because I wanted to be involved in the community, I wanted to talk to people about the books that were reading. So I was reading the books that they were reading. So it definitely went to this place of like being all BookTube related reading all of the time. But I feel like I’ve found a happier medium now. I found balance. And there are definitely books that I pick up or that I put on my TBR because whatever content I’m watching or because of Twitter or whatnot, like books that they make sound interesting, but also one of my favorite like wind down, soothing comfort activities, is going through my Library’s app and scrolling through and seeing what’s available now and just picking up something because it sounds interesting or it looks good and for no other reason and just sort of jumping into it that way. This makes me wonder for you guys how much reviews also influence this? So is it only that you know, you hear about something and you’re willing to put it on your TBR? Like just a synopsis that kind of introduces you to the book. But how much more are you informed by reviews? Like, are you willing to take things off of your TBR because of a review or something you may not have been interested in, will a review get you interested in it?

Rincey 23:33
I feel like for me, I only base my what I want to read next based on like reviews or wrap ups. Like if someone’s hauling a book. I don’t take that into consideration at all honestly. I just am like,” Oh, that sounds like relatively interesting.” I don’t really take it seriously until I hear the opinions of people who have actually read the book, because there have been lots of books that have sounded interesting and then turned out to be trash. So I feel like that’s for me like at this point where the majority of what I watch on BookTube is reviews and wrap ups because I want to know people’s opinions on it. But just because someone is giving a positive review of a book doesn’t mean I’ll necessarily also going to pick it up, because what someone likes is not necessarily going to be what I enjoy in books. My sort of like long standing joke is that if someone describes a fantasy book, specifically young adult fantasy, as being really slow and boring, that means I’m probably going to like it, because I like all of the slower boring young adult fantasy books. And so yeah, that’s like sort of my like gauge. And so I feel like again, like being a part of the community, kind of like what you were saying before, and once you get involved in it, you can again, learn people’s tastes and learn people’s styles. And again, I don’t just watch people that read exactly the same as I do, but you learn their taste and their preferences and so you can also learn like if their dislikes are actually your likes, and so I feel like that sort of has like a huge influence on it. I feel like for me, I don’t– like if I own the book already, I don’t take it off my physical TBR until I’ve like either realized I’ve just lost interested in it, like I’ve had it for like 10 years and I just don’t care anymore, or if I’ve heard enough negative reviews of it, in the sense of like, people are talking about things that I know I also won’t like, then I’ll just take it off my physical TBR. But I feel like for me, once I have like a physical copy of it, I’m willing to hang on to it as long as I feel like I could theoretically enjoy this sometime in the future.

Kathy 25:26
I’m definitely on Team o synopsis with Sam like, I don’t want to read synopsises of books like I don’t want to know too much going into a book. I want to know kind of just the basic buzzwords that would get me interested like it’s a murder mystery in a library. I’m going to read it, I don’t care it’s gonna happen because it’s got like a biblophilic setting and that’s going to be great. Or if people are like, “Oh, yeah, it has a bi protagonist.” I’m like I’m there. I don’t even care what genre it is. I’m gonna read it. And what I like about watching wrap ups and that type of thing is you get an idea of what the book is without having to know all of– all of everything that happens in it. And that’s probably why I watch wrap ups more than I watch reviews because reviews, you’ll get more into like plot points and devices that are used, whereas I just kind of want to know the elevator pitc and that’s enough for me to understand whether or not it’s going to be something that I’m willing to give a try. Am I going to read every single thing that sounds interesting? I do not have the time, but certain things are gonna put things further up my list, especially if I have access to them.

Jessica 26:27
And I definitely agree with the statement of not reading synopsises because I also am like that I definitely, especially when it comes to thrillers and things like that. I don’t want to hear anything besides the fact that it’s a thriller. When it comes to reviews, I really enjoy reading vlogs because I feel like reviews especially a lot of booktubers who like read a lot like I love watching them still and getting their opinions just see really quickly, ut I love watching reading vlogs to get that full experience of “this is how I felt on page 50 and this is how I felt on page 100” and I really think that’s a really good insight to enjoying the book, especially if it’s like spoiler free, and it just talking about people’s feelings. And it’s like BookTubers that I’ve watched for a really long time and enjoy. Like, I can tell, “oh, you know, I think I’ll enjoy that book because they said it has this and that.” And I just think it’s a very immersive way of seeing a review without telling you the nitty gritty of the story without spoiling things too much. So that’s why I really like reading vlogs all the way.

Samantha 27:24
I’m really happy to hear that I’m not the only one that ignores synopsises because I feel like people are always like, “how do you even know you’re gonna like that book?” And I’m like, “Listen, I have my own technique, where I figure it out. And you guys just don’t know okay?” But yeah, I really agree with what you guys were were saying about specifically like wrap ups. I find– and that’s why I sometimes avoid them now when I don’t want to add more books to my TBR– but I really find the like, multiple books being read by somebody that I you know, tend to trust we have similar reading views and things that we like similar tropes, having a bunch of those little like short things where they’re usually mentioning tropes and stuf that they like that I also like so then I’m able to be like, “Oh yes, I would like that.” And I tend to be somebody too that it kind of takes a few mentions before I add something. I will not be an instant, like, “Oh, I hear it once and I’m like, Oh, I’m definitely adding that,” unless it kind of ticks off all my boxes. Like if it’s like necromancy, magical woods, and kind of like hate to love, I’m like, “okay.” Yes, that that’s enough, and I will I will add that. But otherwise, I have to hear it multiple times. And then once it’s on my list, or I have bought it like you guys were saying, it’s like I will probably read that unless I really hear something completely awful. But Rincey and Kathy you guys can have both mentioned and I just mentioned to you that there’s some tropes that you guys do tend to go for, so is that a way that you guys pick books as well, because I find too that if I see a video on somebody where they mentioned, you know, “books with this particular trope,” I love watching those kinds of videos and I love making those kinds of videos because I find it so helpful if I just have a whole video of my favorite tropes in there that I know that like I’m probably going to want to read most of the books in that video. So are tropes a way that you pick things you read as well?

Rincey 29:00
I feel like for me, there are a couple of tropes that I really enjoy, but I think I base it more on genre– kind of like what people say the genres it would fall into. And then kind of like if it talks about like diverse cultures or it takes place like outside of the United States or something like that. Those are kind of like my key words of– but I do like things like what I said earlier, really slow, boring, young adult fantasy, or I mean, even sometimes, like adult fantasy, too. I like the slower boring stuff. And if people say that it takes place at like a boarding school or like that sort of like school, college, university setting, those are kind of my trigger words. But I don’t– maybe I just need more time to think about it, but I feel like for me, I just, I want to know, like the general vibe of a book because again, I feel like because I’m a mood reader, I want like certain vibes in my books. And so when I’m in the mood for something, I’ll be like, “Oh, I know this book has this specific sort of vibe to it. This is a gothic sort of feeling book” or “this is a really fast paced book” or something along those lines. And so that might be more along the lines of how it works for me.

Kathy 30:09
Yeah, I feel like vibe is a really good way to say that because it’s not necessarily like tropes, even though there are tropes that I’m finding that I like and that’s just like developing over time. I’ll realize “oh, yeah, I really do like when people have hate to love” or whatever, like that type of thing. But yeah, knowing the vibe of something is probably more important to me than caring about what genre it is because I’ll read pretty much every genre if it sounds like it’s going to be interesting.

Rincey 30:34
I did also just want to say that listening to everyone talk about this, I’ve also realized, though, that like Sam was saying before, there’s kind of like a tipping point of I have to hear about something a couple of times or in a couple of different ways or something like that before I’ll add something to my own TBR, but I also have a tipping point that goes the other way where if too many people are talking about it, something in my brain goes “I don’t want to read this anymore. I’m sick of hearing about it. I don’t want to read it.” Like, I don’t know where that tipping point is, I don’t know what it is, but it does happen all the time to me for books. When they reach a certain level of hype, I’m just like, “Oh, God. Now I can’t read this book.” I don’t know if I’m just an extreme hipster or like what?

Marines 31:15
The counterculturalist in you is like “hmm, no thank you.”

Rincey 31:17
Exactly!

Kathy 31:19
Yeah, there’s definitely that tipping point between like, FOMO because everybody’s reading it and being like, “oh, everybody’s read it and I don’t actually care that much about these certain aspects of it so I don’t need to read that. I’ve got other things that are more exciting to me right now.” I am definitely the same.

Marines 31:32
Yeah, I totally agree and I think that, you know, I go through stages with hyped books, maybe like, first, a few people are talking about it. I’m like, “that sounds interesting.” I put it on my TBR. But then if more people start talking about it, that’s when I get to be like, all right, like, I don’t want to participate in this anymore. But then if even more people start talking about it, then I feel like that’s when I hit like either the FOMO Stage, or if not like I feel challenged at that point, if nobody will shut up about it, where I want to be like, “Alright, I’m gonna read this and I’ll let you guys know if it’s good or not.” So, yeah, I guess I go through stages with hyped books.

Jessica 32:15
When it comes to popular books, I feel like I’m that type of person who also doesn’t want to read it until the hype has died down like, like years have passed and like, no one’s talking about it and like, “Okay, now let’s see. Now it’s time to test if it’s actually good or not.” When no one else is talking about and influencing me. That’s how I feel about it, but I totally agree with you when things are too popular, it’s like I can’t approach the book at all.

Samantha 32:35
I find too that when everyone’s reading something, that’s when you start to get like very polarized opinions about it. Like when a book starts to get too polarized, and there’s people that like, hate it and people that love it, I am somebody that I’m like, “Oh, that’s too much pressure.” Like I don’t want to fight with anybody about that. It’s like, I don’t want to fight with people that love it. I don’t find people to hate it. Because typically speaking when books get that polarizing, I tend to be in the middle, and then everyone’s mad at me. So I’m like, I’d rather just avoid it at this oint like, if it’s being read too much, I don’t even want to be involved at that point.

Marines 33:04
That’s that’s what I feel challenged! You know, it’s like, “Oh, we got polarizing opinions here, do we?”

Samantha 33:11
I will tell you the truth!

Marines 33:12
Yeah. I feel like this panel is like you guys agreeing or being more similar and me being like, “huh, that is kind of the opposite of me.” Even going back to what you guys were saying about, like not needing a synopsis, or not believing it or whatnot, or reading it. I– you know, for the most part, I need a little something more than just like a vibe or a few words– for the most part. And I think it’s because I am such a mood reader and I’m juggling multiple books at a time that I pretty much want to know everything that’s in that book. Like I’m the type of person that looks for spoilers in certain situations, because I need them to decide if this is really a book that I want to stick with. And like I said, there are times that I’m just like scrolling through the library app and picking something up kind of, you know, sight unseen, and just going that way but even with those books like I’m okay giving them 50 pages and if it’s not something I’m interested in just like walking away,

Jessica 34:13
Agreed. I’m like that too.

Samantha 34:14
And now we’re gonna take a quick break to thank one of our sponsors, Owlcrate. Owlcrate is a monthly subscription box service for bookworms. Every month they send out a newly released young adult novel as well as a whole bunch of fun bookish goodies to go along with the book. There are different unique themes each month. Lots of the items they include are from small businesses and artists and most if not all of them are exclusive to the box meaning you can’t find these fun goodies anywhere else. Owlcrate sends out signed books with exclusive cover designs and other elements making them even more special. They also have another book box for kids called Owlcrate Jr. Very similar concept, but the books and goodies are tailored to children ages eight through 12. If you’re interested in Owlcrate, check out their link in the show notes.

Marines 34:50
So we talked a little bit about tropes and vibes that were more of a sure thing for you guys, but do you have any auto-buy authors, so authors that no matter what they come up with, they are going directly on your TBR.

Rincey 35:05
I have a couple, but I think for the most part, I don’t– I don’t do a lot of auto-buys. A lot of the ones that I currently do auto-buys for I feel like are also like mystery series. So it’s like then when the next book in the series is coming out, I want to read the next one. So Tana French is one. Attica Locke is one, but there have been like a couple of auto buy authors for me that I’ve like, basically, they had like an amazing debut and now they’re finally coming out with their next book and so– because I read a lot of like literary fiction– so sometimes like those books, the authors take like years and years before they release the next one. So Britt Bennett’s new book, I auto bought that one, like I pre ordered it. I’ve pre ordered, Yaa, Gyasi’s new book. She wrote Homegoing and I’m like, so excited for her next one, but I feel like I’m, again, really getting used to using my library. And so I am doing the thing now where I’m just putting books on hold for authors that I’ve enjoyed in the past, and so then whenever it comes out, I’ll just be at the top of the whole list.

Kathy 36:05
Yeah, I feel like I have authors that I’m automatically interested in whatever they’re going to be releasing next like I will always want to read whatever Casey McQuinston is going to put out because I freaking loved Red, White and Royal Blue. So like, it’s just an automatic want to read but not necessarily automatic buy just because I don’t buy a lot of the books because if I bought all the books that I read in a year, I would have zero money. And as it stands, like I have less money than I probably should. So like, I try to be really careful about making sure that I’m going to get things through my library, but I have tons of authors that I’m automatically interested in whatever they’re going to have next based on how much I loved the first book I read by them.

Jessica 36:46
I also like the “auto buy” phrase I and I don’t always buy them, but I try to preorder them if I can, if not, I’ll try and get it through my library as well. But I definitely have auto buy authors in the sense of I will try and get my hands on that book as soon as humanly possible. Like Elizabeth Acevedo, Jacqueline Woodson, Nick Stone, Angie Thomas. These are like all like, auto buy authors, in my opinion, where I will ask other people, “Hey, can you get this book from me? I can’t get it for a few months.” Like that’s the need that I like me to read their book before anyone else tries to spoil me for them or anything.

Samantha 37:22
Yeah, it’s interesting, like you guys were saying, as far as auto buy authors, there’s a lot of authors since I read mostly fantasy that like, I almost consider them auto-buy because it’s like, “well, yeah, I’m gonna buy the next book in that series. I love that series.” But as an author, is it really an auto buy? Like, typically speaking, no because it’s like, well, if they came out the series that I’m not interested in, that I’m not gonna, I’m not gonna read it. So it doesn’t really matter. I think the only exceptions are Erin Morgenstern who only has two books, but if I’m pretty sure like, you know, every 10 years when she comes out with the book, like I’ll buy her book, and then I do tend to buy Leigh Bardugo books, but again, it’s like it’s the same world. So if she was completely doing something different, because I Ninth House and I haven’t read it yet. So would I necessarily buy it? I don’t know. So I think, Erin Morgenstern and I’d say N.K jemisin are the two that they’ve they’ve proved themselves to me and I love them, and I want to support them. But otherwise it very much is dependent less on the author for me. And more on just “is this a book, a series that is interesting to me and not so much about the author.” Oh, Naomi Novik a little bit too. But yeah, there are very, very few exceptions to that kind of story based rule.

Marines 38:33
I have answers in theory of like, authors that I’m like, “Yeah, I want to get to their books immediately and I’m interested in everything they put out,” but then I started thinking about it. And I’m like, you have books– unread books from these authors are waiting for you right now. But yes, like in theory, Elizabeth Acevedo is one for me. I have actually read all of the books that she’s put out. Sylvia Moreno-Garcia, like it doesn’t matter what genre she’s really writing in, I’m interested in what she’s writing. I do have unread books of hers still waiting to be read, but I will get to them. Patrick Ness is one where I am interested in everything that he writes, but I’m not always sure that I’m going to love it. And so now it’s become a thing where I try it because I’m like, always curious if it’s going to be a work of his that I love, or one of like the three star ones. And Laini Taylor is another one that I am always going to read.

Rincey 39:27
I feel like for me, too, I also have not auto buy authors, but auto-used-buy authors if that’s a phrase. So like, I love going to use bookstores and things like that and so if I see certain authors at used bookstores, I will be like, “Oh, yes, I’ll pick this up because it’s only like $4 or $5. And I there’s like a, you know, 70-30 chance that I will like this book.” So I feel like they also have like a second to your list of like authors where if I see their book at a used bookstore, and I haven’t read it yet, I’ll pick it up at a used bookstore.

Marines 40:00
Building off of that, and outside of sort of what we’ve been talking about in terms of authors and tropes that are more sure bets for you., how much do you guys wander away from that or like wander outside of your comfort zone, or take risk on things that you’re not entirely sure that you will like.

Rincey 40:19
I think I do that sometimes, but it’s really hard for me to like, think of an example right now. I think, partially, again, using the library is really great for this because I’m more willing to take a chance on something if I’m getting it from the library because I feel like there’s no harm done. I can just return it if I don’t enjoy it, and things like that. And so I feel like for me sort of going outside of my comfort zone, if I can’t get it from the library. I don’t know if it’s very likely that I would give it a try because I don’t know if I would want to invest money into it unless I’m using– like I also use Scribd, so like maybe if it’s available on something like that, where it’s like a subscription so I’ve already like, paid the cost for it. I’m willing to give those things a chance. But if it’s like asking me to to buy a book that I don’t know how I’m gonna feel about it necessarily, I don’t think I would take that chance.

Kathy 41:05
Yeah, I think for me, I read really widely so I will read pretty much any genre, but it all comes down to like there has to be at least something in it that sparks my interest. So like it could just be like one small aspect of it that is interesting to me but I don’t know really where the end of my comfort zone is for reading. I have no idea exactly where that is. So it’s interesting to like think about genres that I don’t read very often and then try to make sure that I’m reading at least something from them.

Jessica 41:36
I am definitely not a risk taker when it comes to expanding my interest in reads. It takes me a really long time to dip out of my comfort zone– again like making sure I’ve like really researched and seeing the reviews and seeing how that book makes people feel. But I definitely stay to my like YA contemporary, fantasy and adult fantasy period like I’m very bad at expanding especially because I have so many unread books that I like every time I consider like, “oh, maybe I should try a new book.” I’m like, “No, I’m ignoring all my babies. I need to go back.” So that’s definitely my mind frame. It’s a slow process to become more risky. Eventually I’m hoping to as soon as my actual physical TBR gets down.

Samantha 42:20
I’m with Jessica actually, like, I don’t step out of my comfort zone too much, although, like I agree with everyone else saying that, like, I will read mostly anything besides horror, because I’m a big baby. But otherwise, like, I will generally be like, “Okay, if that sounds interesting, like I would read it.” However, I just, I deeply want to be happy and I know what I like. So I tend to stick to that, generally speaking, even though there’s plenty of things I read within the genres I read that I don’t end up liking. I don’t love taking risks, because I mean, right now is the exception, we have way more time to read. But generally speaking, I don’t have a ton of time to read and enough brainpower in my days after work and stuff to read. So I don’t want to be spending my time on something that’s a risk, because it’s like, well, this is my free time. This is my happy time. This is my chill time. And I don’t want to necessarily be like– it’s not wasting time because I don’t think any book is a waste of time necessarily. But I don’t want to be taking that risk of not enjoying myself during my hobby time, essentially.

Kathy 43:17
it takes a lot for me to want to devote time to a hate read. I want to enjoy my reading time otherwise, like, I’m not going to want to read anymore. And that would be terrible because this is like, my biggest hobby. What would I do with my day? So like, it takes a lot for me to want to pick up something that I know I’m not going to enjoy just to like, talk about why it’s trash, like I want to enjoy my time. Like and that’s not to say that I haven’t picked up something because I’m like, “Oh, I’m gonna hate this” or “I disliked the previous book and I just want to see how things roll out and see if you know the character got there comeupance” or that type of thing. So yeah, I want to enjoy myself and it’s hard to do that when you know you’re not gonna like something.

Marines 43:59
Yeah, I’m a little more risky. And, you know, there are very, very few books that I enter in knowing or thinking like, oh, man, I’m gonna hate this. I more approach it from the point of view that I don’t know. I never know what a book is exactly going to bring to me. And I know what I like, I know what I like very well, but I just never know what the book is going to deliver. So I have read books that I thought I wasn’t going to like and they surprised me and they became favorites. And the opposite has happened– books that I thought were exactly for me, and they ended up failing me on every level. So I like being surprised by books. I like having those experiences with books. And so in order to have them, I need to be a little bit riskier with how I approach books or the books that I kind of invest time in and I will say that I am able to do that because I do have access to a library and I do read a lot. I do borrow a lot of books. And so it’s like no harm, no foul to borrow a book, try it out, and if it isn’t for me, if the risk didn’t pay off, just send it on back along on its way or whatnot. So this became the library appreciation panel, inadvertently but yeah, that’s that’s kind of how I approach it. There are also things like I, I like hate to love relationships, but only in very specific instances, or, like, I love vampires, but only in very specific instances or done in very specific ways. So I will cycle through a bunch of these kinds of stories, finding– trying to find the ones that I like, even if more often than not, they’re going to be the sorts that I don’t enjoy. But again, it’s like worth it to me to kind of dig through to find the the cases and the instances that I, I do end up enjoying.

Rincey 46:04
Yeah. And I feel like too, it also comes down to the fact that like I personally, again, watch a lot of different booktubers who like, taste don’t necessarily align with mine. So like, while everyone’s talking, I was thinking about the fact that like, I don’t read, like any science fiction or like barely any science fiction. But there are like, booktubers that I watched that are almost exclusively science fiction readers. And there’s something about like, when someone else gets just so excited about a book, you’re like, “maybe I actually will like this book.” And so again, I’m very much dependent on my library for those types of situations, because I also, again, don’t read any science fiction and I know like, certain things like really hard science fiction will just go straight over my head. But I know that there are, there have been situations where I’ve read like a sci fi based book, and I’m like, “Oh, I actually like that.” And it’s not necessarily going to become my favorite genre, but that means that there’s probably other stuff in here that I like and you know, every genre is probably like that. There’s probably something in like the broadest sense of the genres that you’ll potentially like because every book is so different from each other and every writer so different they don’t all just follow the same patterns. And so sometimes if you’re following people who read like exclusively in certain genres, you can kind of find those like deeper dives that you don’t get outside of like the really popular books.

Marines 47:24
To wrap this up, I’m going to ask you guys what you are actually going to read next. So what’s the next book that’s on your radar or on your TBR?

Rincey 47:34
So I will tell you right now, the next book that I have to read because it’s due back at the library, is Here For It, which is a new essay collection that just came out from our Eric Thomas. So I plan on reading that one probably next, I think or I’m going to pick up The Revisioners I think, because I have the e-book out from the library and that book, so those are kind of like the two that are probably going to be next on my reading list.

Kathy 48:00
My next audio book, at least according to my app on my phone that I have to get to, before it returns to the library is White Fragility. I finally got my hold for that one. And then in terms of physical books or books that I’m reading with my eyeballs, I think the next one that I’m really excited for, but I don’t know if I’m going to get to read it until like, probably a couple of weeks from now is Loveless by Alice Osman. I’m probably going to buddy read it with a friend of mine, but we just have to work out when we can actually do that. So I will probably read a couple of books between now and then. But that’s one of the ones that I have. It finally showed up. It took forever to get here from the UK and I’m just very excited about it.

Jessica 48:37
My next book is definitely going to be The Misadventures of an Awkward Black Girl by Issa Rae. I don’t know if you guys know Issa Rae, but like, I’ve been waiting for this loan from Libby for like 10 months to get to read this book. She’s like, definitely a, how do you say, icon for me. So I definitely am looking forward to that and I know it’s gonna be a really fun audiobook. So I’m definitely gonna binge that in like a matter of ours.

Samantha 49:01
It’ so funny because the tie in for me is to our earlier conversation about content because the book I need to read next is Set Fire to the Gods by Sara Raasch and Kristen Simmons, because that’s our House Salt Book Club pick, and we’re recording the live stream next week. I think all of us are reading the book this week. And that’s the next thing I have to get to when I finish my current read so.

Marines 49:19
I mean, that’s what I should probably say do but, um, you know, I read all of these books the day before, so that’s not what I’m gonna say. I think I’m gonna get to The year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson, at least that’s what’s next audio book wise. I’ll probably listen back to this episode when it goes up and think, “mmm, no, that’s not what you did.”

Samantha 49:44
Well, thank you for joining us for The What Do I Read Next panel and thanks to our guests for being here. We’d also would like to thank our sponsors Little Bee and Owlcrate for this panel. Join us on September 17, which is a Thursday, on Twitter to continue this conversation. We’ll be asking you all to chime in with your thoughts on these questions and also you can send panelist questions if you have them. Also if you’re enjoying our online content and these panels we do have a GoFundMe which is listed in the show notes. BookNet Fest is a 501(C)3 nonprofit event so any contributions will go to future years of the event.

Marines 50:14
This has been a BookNet Fest production. It is edited and transcribed by me and the music is by Stephen Chin.