Your TBR List Is Sorted Thanks To This App

Choosing which book you’re going to read next is no easy task, but a Kickstarter project for a new app called ReadThisNext might just be a total game-changer. Reading is a joy, but time equals money — and I can't waste either on terrible books. Even when you’re super-sneaky about reading at work, or in the gym, a book is always an investment. I can spend hours looking at book recommendations online, or in a bookstore deciding what to read next, and I’ll spend even more hours persevering with a book I hate, because I just can’t give up on books. That would be like giving up on your children. But worse. Seriously, it’s a minefield out there, but this might be about to change in a big way: ReadThisNext promises to help you choose the perfect book every time.

The apps creators, Dani Fankhauser and Elisha Hartwig, asked themselves whose opinion they most trust when it comes to book recommendations, and realized it’s their favorite authors. If a front cover comes with a quote from J. K. Rowling saying “I wish I had written this,” you can pretty much guarantee you’re going to enjoy that book. ReadThisNext is the first-ever online database of those author recommendations: when you find a writer you love, you have instant access to their bookshelf. It’s kind of like being in a book club, but with all your favorite authors. Which rules.

And you don’t have to give up on your cutesy #bookstagram hashtags just yet, as the app includes a social media aspect as well. ReadThisNext encourages you to share pictures of what you’re reading, eating, and drinking, to recommend to your friends, or just to show off how sophisticated you are. I’m sold. I’ll be donating to the ReadThisNext project, and I’ll pretty ready to never read a bad book again.

Image: Inti St. Clair/Fotolia