how I made A TBR Prompt Jar to pick my next book

I saw someone on YouTube make a TBR prompt jar and immediately knew I needed one. Because when you already own more unread books than any reasonable person could get through, the obvious solution is to create another elaborate system for choosing what to read.

I already have two TBR jars that pick specific books for me, one for romance and general fiction and another for thrillers and nonfiction. This new jar works a little differently, and I think I may like it even more.

The prompt comes first

Instead of pulling the title of a book, I pull a reading prompt and then hunt through my shelves for something that fits. It could send me searching for a book that feels like fall, something I’ve been avoiding forever, a book with a shocking twist, or one that looks like it contains some serious gossip.

And yes, there are prompts in there that could potentially lead me straight to A Little Life, which remains sitting on my shelf, terrifying me.

The whole idea is to make me dig into books I already own instead of automatically grabbing whatever new release everyone is talking about on BookTok. Considering the number of shelves, carts, ARCs, and Little Free Library books currently in my life, I have plenty to work with.

Did I make way too many prompts? Of course.

I spent an afternoon printing, cutting, folding, and trying to squeeze all of these prompts into one jar. I underestimated both how many ideas I came up with and how small my jar was, so things got a little chaotic toward the end.

I’m leaving the full list out of this post because reading through them is half the fun. Watch the video to see every prompt I added, along with the books I immediately thought of for some of them and the moment I realized I probably needed a bigger jar.

Now when I’m ready for my next read, I’m handing this thing to one of my kids and letting fate decide what happens next.