For longer than I can count, the first column of the year is a declaration of my reading resolutions.
These resolutions are a declaration of hope, an attempt at refreshing and refurbishing stale practices.
In the past, I’ve declared an intention to read more women authors, more works in translation, more small and independent press books, and to read at least an hour a day that was not in the period before bedtime.
For the most part, I’ve been successful in meeting my resolutions because I’ve adhered to the first recommendation for all successful resolutions: Focus on the positive thing you’re adding, rather than something you may be denying yourself.
I’ve always thought that some year, I might run out of resolutions as my reading habits grow more and more impeccable with practice — please note the sarcasm in that last bit — but that year is not this year. I have a clear resolution for 2026: Put more browsing back into my life.
One of my favorite things is to wander around a bookstore with no particular purchase in mind, seeing what might grab my attention, sampling the wares and then walking out with a stack of books that I may not have even heard of before I walked in. Browsing is particularly pleasurable in used bookstores, where you really never know what you’re going to find, and finding that special thing may take extra time to look through the chaff.
But for a number of different reasons, I didn’t do much browsing this year, perhaps not for the last several years, and I think my behaviors are rooted in larger cultural trends that extend beyond my book-buying habits.
Thinking about my diminished browsing, I’ve started to realize that I’ve become increasingly vulnerable to the siren song of “optimization.” Need a new carry-on suitcase? Someone else has figured that out. Want to know what new music is best suited to you? Let the algorithm tell you based on your listening habits. Want to know what book to read? Peruse any number of the lists of new releases, make a choice and execute the purchase. Many do this online, but I call it in to my preferred local bookseller. But either way, no browsing.
A culture of optimization promises two chief benefits: speed and increasing the likelihood of the “best” choice. But what are the virtues of these benefits in the context of a life well-lived? Taking the time to browse the shelves versus zeroing in on a specific book for purchase ahead of time are two fundamentally different experiences. How could I ever regret those 30 or 60 minutes of measured consideration as I browse? Isn’t this the stuff of life?
And how could we possibly measure the “best” choice in these cases? Unlike the “best” suitcase or television or immersion blender, the universe of books with which we can intersect is virtually boundless, and what is best may depend on time, place, context. Sure, I get as anxious as anyone about the ticking clock and the increasing likelihood that I will not get to all of the books I want to or should read, but maybe I should see this inevitability as permission to not optimize and instead to explore … to browse.
Maybe I should also consider extending my pro-browsing lifestyle to other aspects of my life, to stop scouting online ahead of time, or to insist on figuring out the specifics of what I want, rather than defaulting to the view of the masses?
Here’s to a non-optimized 2026 of thinking, feeling, living … and browsing.
John Warner is the author of books including “More Than Words: How to Think About Writing in the Age of AI.” You can find him at biblioracle.com.
Book recommendations from the Biblioracle
John Warner tells you what to read based on the last five books you’ve read.
1. “In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin” by Erik Larson
2. “Five Banners: Inside the Duke Basketball Dynasty” by John Feinstein
3. “The Exchange” by John Grisham
4. “Open” by Andre Agassi
5. “Paper Lion” by George Plimpton
— Dave R., Glenview
I’m going to lean into the sports thing and also recommend a book with a dash of history, a John McPhee classic about future senator Bill Bradley during his senior year as an All-American at Princeton University, “A Sense of Where You Are.”
1. “Culpability” by Bruce Holsinger
2. “James” by Percival Everett
3. “Flesh” by David Szalay
4. “The Secret of Secrets” by Dan Brown
5. “Buckeye” by Patrick Ryan
— David N., Wilmette
I’m going with a major book of a slightly earlier era that I think still holds up, “The Corrections” by Jonathan Franzen.
1. “Persuasion” by Jane Austen
2. “A Manual for Cleaning Women” Lucia Berlin
3. “Reading Like a Writer” by Francine Prose
4. “Tenth of December” by George Saunders
5. “Olive Kitteridge” by Elizabeth Strout
— Sofia M., Lincolnwood
Sofia’s clear comfort with short stories means I can (and shall!) go that direction. Here’s one that’s stuck with me for over 25 years, “The Girl in the Flammable Skirt,” by Aimee Bender.
Get a reading from the Biblioracle
Send a list of the last five books you’ve read and your hometown to biblioracle@gmail.com.
