What the title says. I've always seen people online refer to themselves as "mood readers" but for some reason never looked it up until now. The definitions I'm seeing online seem to describe it as pretty much "reading whatever you feel like," but how is that different than regular reading? Does everyone not do that? What is the alternative? If you call yourself a mood readers (or if you purposefully don't), how do you define what that is? Does it have to do with caring more about vibes and atmosphere than tropes and plot? Thought I'd ask since I've seen some people put it in their bios here!

Edit to add: Okay, you've all convinced me I'm a mood reader! The general consensus I'm seeing in the comments is that a mood reader is someone who doesn't follow a strict TBR list and just reads whatever sounds good at the time rather than making a plan and sticking to it. I always have at least 10-15 books going at once MINIMUM because my TBR is literally where books go to die—if a book sounds good, I start it immediately no matter what I'm already reading. I don't know the last time outside of a series I planned out what books I was going to read next and stuck to it in any meaningful way 🫣

So I just finished an intense book (Kingdom of Copper) and it was great, and I want to jump right into the third one but I have to order it and also… I kind of need a break because I’m a bit mentally and emotionally exhausted from it. I am historically bad at picking out chill books. I was considering Piranesi next because it’s on my tbr list and I have it, but I get the feeling it is not very chill. I recently was reading nonfiction and was getting really worked up about it, and so I started reading a scifi book “so that I could read something more fun” and lo and behold it did nothing to bring me out of my doomy “the world is horrible” mindset lol. So, I want to know. What are some good palate cleanser types of books?

What is your preferred reading format and why? Do you combine them? List any specific products you like to use in your reading routine. 📚

• Paper
• Digital
• Audio