Books: The Next Plan
Evolving my TBR reading list to include even more advance planning. Here's to laying out the track for a successful 2026 reading year!
Last year I was wildly self-satisfied with my new “Big Five” reading plan. Basically I chose a set of five books and then had to read (or quit) those before moving onto the next five. That was it. No deviation, no decision making, no moods, just go right down the list. Sure, I could adjust those five a tiny bit but overall it was “Big Five” or nothing.
After studying a number of TBR methods, this was the one I chose. As it turned out, someone else had created such a system too, but his was named “Next Five,” which is clearly the superior name. So, in a hat tip to his invention, I’ll be changing the name of my list from “Big Five” to “Next Five.” Actually, I ended up adopting this “Next Five” system for everything I consumed: movies, TV shows, saved articles, etc. It was brilliant!
- Fiction Matters: Four adjustments I'm making to my reading life in 2026
I’m also adopting the Next Five system for non-fiction books, because my prior rule had been to just dip in and out of non-fiction stuff as the mood fit. However, at the end of the year I was left with a dozen non-fiction books unfinished, and that was untenable. Basically, I’m going “Next Five” for every phase of my life! What else can I apply it to?
So what other changes am I implementing for 2026? Let’s see…
While planning five books ahead was great, I decided for 2026 that I’d go even further and pre-select the next few months of books as well. With that in mind, I made a list of about twenty upcoming TBR books, prioritizing stuff that I’ve had my eye on, and then from that pool I’d select Next Five as I felt fit. A long list and a short list, if you will. Here’s that 2026 list, if you want to take a look:
I had Chat GPT give me all that info, including the one liner summary which was very helpful--for the next set I’ll add page count, since that is proving to be rather important for planning ahead. I had to wrap up my end of 2025 book list, but I’ve already got a start on 2026, with all the red ones being read or quits already. I figure this pool of twenty will take me through June at least.
Along with that long list, I realized I had jumped too far into the world of book recommendations. I was inundated with book recs from sites, newsletters, magazines, BookTok, Instagram, book clubs, friends, etc etc. and I was spending more time organizing upcoming TBR selections than actually reading. So since I already have my next set of books picked out—and frankly, scores of books already flagged for the future—I was going to dial back on looking for book recs. There are too many books in the world and I must close my eyes to some of them and just focus.
Instead of jotting down every interesting book I’d have a note for but never revisit, I needed to be more judicious about what I was recording. Thus, instead of collecting book recs from every source—a Sisyphean task—I intend instead to just quickly slot all incoming book recs into two groups: A or B. “A” is for books I really wanna read soon, and “B” is for well, the next tier. Everything not in A or B can just be thrown into a huge list haphazardly. Less collection, more processing and selecting.
Last thing: regarding book tracking. I asked my friends if they had to choose one, Goodreads or Storygraph, which I should go with, and the resounding answer was StoryGraph. So here is my new StoryGraph profile: @anyangorg. I'm still on GoodReads but not bothering to update it any more.
Hats off to another year of reading, yay!
