One of my goals of my book content is to get more people into reading. And while the online world of books can be a wonderful place, for someone who is looking to get into reading or just getting involved in consuming bookish content, it can be overwhelming, especially when it comes to how we read.

We often see a lot of posts and videos about how to read. Annotating, having a huge TBR, immersion reading, whether or not audiobooks count - it's a lot, and from personal experience I know that it sometimes feels like you need to read a certain way. One of those "rules" is the TBR.

While I am sure anyone on Bindery is familiar with the terms, if you are not, a TBR is your "To Be Read" list, or a list of books that you intend to read. What can make this confusing is that people use this term to mean a number of different things, including (but not limited to):

• Any list of books you want to read (think your want to read shelf on your favorite book tracking app).

• The Physical TBR, or books you own that you have not read yet (which can also include e books and audio books)

• A list that you make where you commit to reading certain books over a certain time period.

For me, when I think of a TBR, I most think of option three above. And when I started making book content, I felt like I needed to do what most content creators were doing - everyone did a monthly wrap up, and a monthly TBR. But for me, this quickly became restrictive and made reading feel more like a chore. So I switched to a monthly hopeful list (or what some have called a MayBR). And while this was a bit better, it still made me feel pressure to read certain things. Ultimately, I am a mood reader, and I like to read what I want when I want to read it. So I decided to abandon a TBR all together. Since I have stopped planning my reads, I have really found it so much more fun. I'm DNFing less, I'm reading more, and enjoying my reading time more.

I do have two exceptions to this. obviously, I am reading our book club picks each month. This does not feel like a forced read though, because I have found I really enjoy reading these books and chatting about them with others. Additionally, Dark Travelers here on Bindery (my paid tier) get to collectively pic out a book for me to read each month. I think this is fun because, while it is planned in a sense, it is also spontaneous and whatever they want. I think it will be cool to read with others, and I think it will also let me read some stuff I. may not have otherwise picked for myself!

Now, everyone is different, and for some people, mood reading would cause the opposite experience to mine. This is why it's so important to remember that no matter what you hear from anyone, myself included, reading is an individual thing. I always like to say read what you want, when you want, in the way you want to read it. So you want to make a strict TBR - excellent. you want to be a full feral mood reader - yes, do that. If it takes the fun out of reading for you, no matter what anyone in the online book space tells you, don't do it.

If you're looking to be part of a supportive book community, then Id love to have you as a free or paid member here, or follow me on any of the social platforms linked above. And if you want to hear me talk about TBRs, then make sure to check out my YouTube video above, and consider subscribing to the channel!