If you love to read — and I suspect you do — do you struggle with the paradox of choice around what to read next?

And how well do you think you really know your reading tastes — what you like and dislike? Could you describe them?

What if you could consult with your reading history to understand your habits, to branch out in new directions, or even to get to know yourself better?

Since 2008, I’ve been capturing my reading history at LibraryThing (LT) to the tune of 600+ books, most with my ratings and many with my own brief reviews. Maybe you use GoodReads, or a spreadsheet, or a simple list. The “how” doesn’t matter. The “what” does. What you have is something like a mirror, one that reflects you, your interests, your aspirations, and your psyche. Funny thing is, if you’re anything like me, you rarely look in this mirror.

But suppose you could, and your mirror could talk back to you. That’s the idea behind Marian1, my personal librarian, a custom GPT I built around my preferences and my reading history.

I didn’t want a “recommendation engine” blasting out an endless stream of possible next reads. You know the kind. Instead, I wanted to have a conversation — a back-and-forth — like you might have with a knowledgeable friend at a bookstore or library. Someone who knows what you like, but who can also respond to your mood or current interests, which don’t always revolve around the last book you read. Unfortunately, that’s usually the starting point for recommendation engines to start spewing.

Before I built Marian, though, I wrote down as many questions as I could think of to ask her. Here’s the list (it’s been lightly edited for readability):

About Me

  • What can you tell me about my reading habits? How would you describe them?
  • What are the primary genres or categories of the books I like to read? What other specific genres — not in my history — do you think would appeal to me? Why?
  • What do you think I don’t like? Why?
  • (Supply several samples of my writing) Who does my writing remind you of? Why? What skills do I need to develop to be more like those authors?

About Authors, Titles, and Series

  • How would you cluster the authors I’ve read?
  • If I give you an author and a title or series, can you suggest:
    • another similar book or series by the same author
    • another similar book or series by another author(s)
  • For example: Donald Westlake (Dortmunder novels), Thoreau (Walden), Hilton (Lost Horizon), P.G. Wodehouse (Jeeves, Blandings), Garrison Keillor (Lake Wobegon Days), Austin Kleon (Show Your Work)

Something Like …

  • I’m in the mood for … , something like … , what would you recommend?
  • For example: I’m looking for light summer reading — something like a modern Jeeves and Wooster. What would you recommend?
    • … light mystery … a modern cross between Nero Wolfe and Sherlock Holmes…
    • … biography… , … self-improvement… , … classics…

Setting a course

  • I’ve read … If I want a DIY course of study on … , what sequence of texts would you recommend?
  • For example: I’ve read some Stoicism, Buddhism, Taoism. If I want a serious course of study on, say, Buddhism, which sequence of texts would you recommend?

This list convinced me. I needed a Marian—and I needed her now.

Do you need a Marian, too? In the next installment, I’ll take you through the steps to build your own Marian: starting from your reading history, to instructions and preferences, to your custom GPT. After that, I’ll share what I learned from asking Marian my questions above.

In the meantime, create your own “Marian questions”. Or if books aren’t your thing, make a similar list on a different topic: hiking, recipes, travel, or the like. What would you ask if you could consult with your own, in-house, reading, hiking, cooking or travel expert who knows your preferences?

If you feel like sharing, send one of your lists to me. I’d love to read what you’re thinking about.

You might find that the contents of the list aren’t the most important part. For me, it’s the activity of writing them down—using your brain and your creativity. And through that activity, you learn a lot about yourself: what drives you, what interests you, and so on.

I don’t think I do that often enough. Maybe you don’t either. But it’s actually easy—and it doesn’t take long at all. Try it. You can thank me later.

  1. The name, Marian, is a nod to the character of the same name in The Music Man. ↩︎