The Bookish Bucket List: 10 Things Every Reader Should Do Once
There's no shortage of reading lists: Books to read before you die, books to read this summer, books you really should have read by now (it's fine, I haven’t read them all either). But what about the experiences? The things that make reading something you live, not just something you do?
Here are 10 things I think every reader should do at least once.
1. Re-read a book you loved as a child or teenager
The words are the same, but you are not - that's the whole experiment. Sometimes the book holds up completely, sometimes it falls apart in ways that are genuinely illuminating, and occasionally you realise you've been misremembering the ending for twenty years. I just re-read 1984 by George Orwell and will soon dive into The Book Thief by Markus Zusak - both amazing books I read as a teenager.
2. Do a book swap with friends
I don’t mean going to a book swap event with friends (even though that’s really cool too!) - go to a bookstore and choose something for the other person. The pressure of picking a book that says I know you is half the fun. The other half is the debrief conversation afterwards.
3. Go to the library and ask the librarian for a recommendation
Walk in with nothing but a vibe: Something unsettling but not horror. Something that'll make me cry but in a good way. I want to feel like I'm somewhere cold and grey and European…Librarians are wildly underused recommendation engines and, crucially, they love this.
4. Read a book set somewhere you've been (or want to go)
It reframes a place in the best way: suddenly that street, that coastline, that city you walked through years ago has a whole other layer sitting on top of it. Or read the book first and let it pull you somewhere new. Either way, you'll never look at a map quite the same.
5. Do a proper readathon
One whole day, no obligations. A stack of books and nowhere to be. The trick is to schedule it like an actual appointment, because if it's not in the calendar, it will not happen.
6. Read something wildly outside your comfort zone
You don't have to love it. The goal is just to notice what surprises you - about the book and about yourself as a reader.
Thriller readers: try literary fiction.
Literary fiction people: try fantasy.
Romance readers: you're probably already more genre-fluid than anyone else on this list, carry on.
7. Attend a literary dinner or book event
There's a specific kind of joy that comes from being in a room full of people who also got emotional over a fictional character. It turns out readers are great company (who knew!). If you're Melbourne-based, Books & Bites is our monthly literary dinner worth knowing about.
8. Read the same book as someone you love and talk about it
Like your own little book club: Talk about the parts that made you uncomfortable. The character you couldn't stand. The ending that didn't land or landed too hard. Books have a way of opening conversations that nothing else quite does, and it's worth experiencing that at least once with someone whose opinion you care about.
9. Join a book club that goes deeper than star ratings
Talking about discussing books: The right book club shouldn’t just recap what happened but also why it matters, who it matters to, and what you're bringing to the reading that someone else isn't. If you haven't found one that does that yet, the Busy with Books community might be what you've been looking for.
10. Take a proper reading retreat
A whole weekend away, where there is nothing to do except read, eat well, and talk about books with people who genuinely get it. If that sounds like exactly what you need, you can find upcoming reading retreats here.
Busy with Books runs reading retreats & events across Australia and New Zealand, as well as an online book community.