Does anyone have a reading plan or just go wirh the flow?

[PineappleAndGrapefruitLilt]

For a few years now I've had a plan when it comes to my reading eg x amount of books on my TBR, x amount from my wider wishlist then say, reading the majority of the Booker or WP lists. I've already planned out some books I want to read this year but I just feel like going 'fuck it', and just picking up whatever books I fancy on a whim instead. What do other people tend to do?

I do have a vague plan, though it often gets derailed. Last year I had a set number of books I wanted to read. One of them was The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch. I'd never read Murdoch before, and just fell in love. I then spent four months doing nothing but read her novels.

I have a set number of books I want to read each year, but I'm always open to new stuff. This year:

P. G. Wodehouse: The Blandings books
Ford Madox Ford: Parade's End
Virginia Woolf: The Sea
Patrick Fermor: Mani
Tolstoy: War and Peace (no chance!!)
Hermann Hesse: The Glass Bead Game (also no chance)
Aldous Huxley: Island (this would be a re-read)

Very much on a whim. I've usually got several books on the go at once and I just pick one based on what I feel like in the moment. It's like choosing what to eat - some days I just want something light and sweet, other days I want to get my teeth into something I can really chew on.

Thanks for the replies. I'm thinking going on a whim might be for me at the moment - I'm going through a bit of a stressful time at work just now so I think that's partly why I want to bin off my reading plan. A bit less 'control' and expectation on myself to read set books might be what I need just now

I tend to pick a book, then if I enjoy it, I'll read all the other ones the author has written. I have Kindle Unlimited and I seem to be lucky that all the ones I read are on there!
I've never really been into fiction very much, but I'm finding Shalini Bolands books a good read at the moment!

Very much on a whim, and I tend to get 'stuck' on a particular genre/author. eg if I read a Georgette Heyer I'm likely to think, 'Oh these were really entertaining' and start working my way right through the back catalogue. At the end of the year I was reading a lot of Golden Age detective stories - John Dickson Carr, Margery Allingham, Ngaio Marsh, Anthony Berkeley.

This year I have decided I need a plan (goodness knows why) but I've cleared off the small bookcase in my bedroom, put all my 'unread' book pile on it and have vowed not to get distracted until I've read my way right through the utterly random load of books I've bought and not got round to reading. There are roughly 60 I think!

Oh! It never occurred to me to plan. This
is maybe why I’m shit. Going to try and plan my reads.

No, I don’t gave a plan, apart from start reading the bookclub choice about ten days before the next date. Apart from that, it’s whatever I’ve downloaded on my kindle. Sometimes fancy something heavier, other times a chick lit, escapism book.

I don't think I've ever had a reading plan. Like pp I'll read a genre/author and if I've enjoyed it I'll start reading their previous output. Having a plan would take the fun out of it I think

Ive only planned when I'm in a non reading rut. So and easy book to get me going. A target, like 12 books this year and usually a couple of classics or more difficult reads.

Nowadays I tend to scan the booker lists, the new releases for the year and also checkout my wishlists and devise a rough plan. I like knowing what my next read will be.

Sometimes I get stuck on a genre or author. Last year I read a lot of Irish fiction for example.

On a whim although I do love when I find an author I like and realise that they have already written more books or even better completed the series I started. I often read reviews in the Sydney Morning Herald then go straight onto Amazon to order the Kindle edition. Physical books are really expensive here outside the bestsellers stocked in KMart etc. I would love to support bookshops more but unfortunately it’s a real treat. I sometimes buy prize winners, Booker etc., but am often disappointed.

I only ever have a vague resolution each year so e.g. one year I decided I'd read one graphic novel a month, one year I deliberately read all women (trouble with that is when you go back to reading men you are really aware how shit most of them are at writing women), one year I read a lot of Irish fiction, and this year I'm going to read more non-fiction (mainly because I tend to ask for it then never get round to it because the latest novel is alway more enticing).

Whim. Because I never know what I'll fancy next. I have a pile of tbr and I pick whatever I fancy from that. I generally want to read something quite different to the last book, so I'll read a long historical fiction, then a cosy murder, then something worthy, then something light etc

I don’t really have a plan as such, other than to participate in a few challenges and book club stuff so I make sure I have that ready to go at the right time.
Otherwise I just pick from my tbr. I have to be in the right mood for a book. I don’t tend to read a lot from the same author in one go, I find it gets too samey. Sometimes I want a short read, other times I’m in a good headspace for something more meaty. It depends what else is going on in my life!
I always have a book on the go, and decide on the next one as soon as I finish one, even if I won’t be starting it then and there.
I’m trying to stop buying books and just read what I have, but kindle deals are too tempting and I added another 10 since new year already.

It’s fascinating how different people approach this! Thanks op!

I tend to focus on female authors. If I find an author I like, I read everything I can find by them. That's it. Plus not plodding through a book if I'm not enjoying it.

I agree, Kindle deals are tempting, and through sites such as Bookbub, you can get recommendations for 99p, including well respected authors. Also downloaded some books, just because, for example they have a hunky cowboy on the cover… (only realised recently that cowboy-lit was a thing!).

Thanks all, this has been insightful. I've made a plan of around 40 books to read this year (tend to average about 75 a year) but other than a select few I think I'll just bin off the plan and go with what I fancy at the time. I have about 90 books on my TBR so should really focus on that more 🙈

It might be worth thinking about why you think you ought to be reading particular books rather than the books you really want to read. Is it FOMO? Is it because you suspect that if it's on the Booker list then they somehow deserve to be read? Is it because you want to be able to portray yourself as someone who's read, say, Dostoevsky? (something I was guilty of when I was in my 20s).

Now I'm in my 50s I've accepted that I read for pleasure. Reading something because I think I ought to be reading it rather than reading something because I want to read it now seems nonsensical to me. I get precious little enough time to read as it is. Why waste that time on books I'm not enjoying but I'm reading because I think someone else thinks I should? Sod that. There are millions of books out there. You're never going to read them all. Read what you want to read.

@GasperyJacquesRoberts I absolutely agree with this! I have been just as guilty when younger of trying to read 'the right thing' or feeling that as an educated, intelligent woman - which I am - I should have read x/y/z or should have enjoyed it.

I decided long ago to never read anything my DM recommended as being 'so well written' or anything that had 'won the Booker prize' because I hated every one I read. I really like a cracking good detective story, or something similar. I want plot - not descriptive prose - and as long as I'm entertained by it I don't desperately need it to be 'broadening'. Having said this, I've read a huge number of classic novels of the traditional cannon and enjoyed them.

It took me til post menopause to actually abandon a book mid way through. For some reason I grimly ploughed on with things I wasn't enjoying out of some sense of having to finish them before reading anything else. Now, if I'm a quarter of the way into it, say, and not liking it I put it down and don't stress about having to continue with it. I've accepted that some things just aren't for me and life is too short.

It might be worth thinking about why you think you ought to be reading particular books rather than the books you really want to read

I think if you already read a lot (as @PineappleAndGrapefruitLilt clearly does) then setting yourself mini challenges to push yourself out of your comfort zone is part of the fun of reading, the joy of finding something new you wouldn't have considered before is worth the odd book you might hate. That's one of the reasons why people join book groups. It's different for a new or irregular reader, for someone in that situation it makes more sense to build up reading stamina with books you enjoy before you think about pushing yourself.

But as @PineappleAndGrapefruitLilt says she's having a stressful time at the moment then now is not the time to push herself, so reading on a whim for a bit makes sense.

I've started adding books I've read reviews of, or seen in passing, or just fancy onto an amazon wish list and then working my way through from the bottom up. I was originally picking at random from it but then the bottom ones would get neglected. If I'm reading with the kindle (which I usually am as my eyes are rubbish) I get the free sample then decide if I want to carry on.
I've also got a few emergency comfort reads, for when life is hard!