What Should I Read Next? Ep 515: I can't read all the books, and that's okay
A Rough Start With Multiple DNFs
- Holly experienced an early-year slump with many DNFs, rising from four to six by late January.
- One DNF occurred with about 30 pages left after reading roughly 300 pages and feeling unable to continue.
Bookish Decision Fatigue Harms Momentum
- Decision fatigue from too many book choices can sap reading momentum and enjoyment.
- Holly described being exhausted by constantly deciding what to read next and nervous after picking poorly several times.
More or Less Maddie Made Bipolar Feel Real
- Holly cites More or Less Maddie by Lisa Genova as a recent page-turner about a college student diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
- She praised Genova's neuroscientist background and how the novel convincingly renders the interior experience.
Bookshelf overwhelm is a common concern around here, so we know today's conversation will resonate with many readers.
Our guest today is Holly Dyer, whose name might be familiar if you're a member of our book club or Patreon communities, because Holly is an active member of both. Holly's a mom and classical musician from Massachusetts, and she's no stranger to a good book.
Lately, though, Holly has been feeling stressed out about all the books she could be reading. This year, she'd like to refocus her reading time in order to read fewer books, spend more time with those titles, and both explore longer books and devote time to rereading books she's loved before.
Holly is excited about her 2026 goals, and Anne is excited to hear more and help her in any way she can. They'll explore Holly's hope to better vet the titles she's interested in reading before actually deciding to read them. She'd also appreciate talking through how she might pare down all her ideas for her reading goals and projects. Anne has ideas, and we'd love to hear yours, too: please leave a comment by visiting our show notes page at whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com/515, where you'll also find the list of titles discussed today.
It's been a great season in the Modern Mrs Darcy Book Club: lately, we've been reading Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, a title that's shown up here on the podcast, both as a recommendation and a past guest favorite, because Jesse Q. Sutanto is joining us for our February author talk. In addition to monthly author chats like this one, we host a variety of events to deepen your reading life and connect with your fellow readers, like our Reader's Day which just took place on February 7th. Our members also lead the way in activities like our community picks, titles selected by our members for a smaller group to read together. We often describe book club as a buffet. There's so much to offer. Come on over and check it out at modernmrsdarcy.com/club.
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