Most of us readers have a TBR (to be read) pile – either physical or digital – several dozen books long. I have a casual 400 unread books on my Kindle and another ten or twelve physical books lurking around my home.

So how do you choose what to read next?

Go With Your Instinct

There’s no right or wrong book to read next. Read non-fiction in the middle of a fantasy series. Read three books at once. Binge a romance series. If you’ve felt sad, pick up something happy. The important thing is to enjoy the book you’re reading.

Leave it to Fate

I recently saw someone writes all her book titles on small strips of paper and places them in a bowl. Each time she buys a book, she adds it to the bowl. When she can’t decide what to read, she’ll draw a title from the bowl and read that book.

I think this is a whimsical way of choosing your next book. It allows for a bit of crafting and creativity in getting things set up and leaves your book up to fate! You have so much flexibility with this idea as well. Flip a coin with a book on each side. Ask a friend to choose a title at random. See what happens!

Schedule It

When I first set out to read 100 books in one year, I created events in my Google Calendar just for books. I gave myself longer to read a history book, but I’d schedule three short novels in five days. If you’re motivated by calendars and checking things off a list, try planning your books for a month or two and see if you like the process. All the thinking of what comes next happens upfront, and then you follow your set schedule.

Last but not least, take a moment to acknowledge Oliver Burkeman and his book Four Thousand Weeks: We’re unlikely to read all of our books. Sure, if you stopped buying books right now, maybe you could finish everything you own, but that’s not the point. Enjoy both the book-buying and book-reading hobbies individually. You’ll always have books to look forward to reading.