To try and find the best books for my reading taste, I want to see if reading books based on my zodiac will be the best TBR hack. I also want to see if my star sign has anything to do with my reading taste. To make this experiment even more impactful, I decided to pick recommendations based on my "Big 3", aka my sun, moon, and rising sign. These three placements are considered the most important in an astrological chart. I will also be adding on some bonus books to really test this experiment. One book will be from my Chinese zodiac (I am year of the Snake) and a Libra recommendation. I want to see if the Chinese zodiac recommendation fits anywhere to me, and if it's more accurate than the Western zodiacs. Since my best friend is a Libra, I want to read one of the recommendations to see if this were a book I would recommend to her.

Before we get into the books, I want to share my “Big 3” and what these signs are all about.

Now, I just want to say, I am very neutral towards zodiacs. However, I do find the idea really interesting, and it is fun to play around every once in a while. The “Big 3” (sun, moon, and rising) are considered to be the three most influential placements in a birth chart. The sun sign is the one sign people most readily know. It’s the sign someone is referring to when they say, “omg, that’s such Gemini move”. But your moon and rising play a big role in defining your characteristics. Your sun sign is who you are at your core; it most closely relates to how you see yourself. Your rising sign correlates toward how others perceive you. And your moon sign relates to your emotions- how you feel, how you react to your feelings, and how you react to other’s feelings.

My sun is in Aquarius. Aquarius is an air sign, represented by the water bearer. An Aquarius’s most notable trait is their individuality- we tend to beat to our own drum. We don’t just think outside the box, we are outside the box making new shapes. Aquarians are known to be humanitarian; they are called to serve others and fight for what they believe in. We are original and eccentric. Because Aquarians are intelligent and visionaries, they tend to be great problem solvers because they are always thinking of unique ways to approach situations. But for every positive, there are negatives. Sometimes aquarians can be cold because we are often detached from the world around us. Living in reality and being connected in one’s body is incredibly difficult most of the time, so often this detachment comes off as callous and uncaring in others. It also makes us hard to be emotionally available because we don’t normally take stock in our feelings. We are considered the aliens of the zodiac and I love it. My rising is in Aries. Aries is a fire sign and represented by a ram. Those with Aries as their rising are often independent, brave, and opinionated. These strong opinions can sometimes get us in trouble because we are too stubborn. Very little can sway our opinions, even if we know we are wrong. But, in conjunction with our fierceness, being so opinionated gives us something to fight for. My moon is in Taurus. This is an earth sign represented by a bull. The number one defining trait of a Taurus is stubbornness. We are unmoving in our resolve; once we have our eyes set on something, our minds cannot be changed. Since this placement revolves all around feelings, we are very sure of our feelings and stay loyal to ourselves, our instincts, and those we trust deeply.

Now that you have a ton of information on my signs and way too much insight into my character, let’s get into the recommendations.

Aquarius Recommendations

I am excited about these picks. I know almost nothing about any of them, but I think that could be winners. I even own House of Leaves, which is incredibly promising. I have had my eye on Sex Cult Nun for a long time now, so I am incredibly excited to get to read this. I have never heard of the other two. To Write As If Already Dead is about a writer struggling to get through a piece about the philosopher (I think). I know nothing about this book other than it includes writers, pretentious language, and Foucalt, so I need to know nothing else to be intrigued. I Might Regret This is a collection of essays written by one of the creators of the TV show “Borad City.” Abbi Jacobson is also a voice actor who did work on Bojack Horseman (one of my favorite shows), and I love a memoir, so I am hyped. It makes sense these are recommended to me: a self-help cult nonfiction, a pretentious fiction, a puzzle mystery, and a comedy memoir are all perfect (hopefully) books for me and other Aquarians alike. Our originality makes interesting and unique books intriguing.

Aries Recommendations

Finding a book from all of the Aries lists was a challenge. This makes total sense because most of the books recommended are dystopian novels or at least have some kind of survival plot. I just personally don’t like dystopian plots all that much. But, the other most recommended books were thrillers. This I could work with. I haven’t heard anything about The Verifiers, but it’s pitched as a detective, crime mystery, and this seems right up my alley. And with Gone Girl I cannot remember if I have seen the movie and I really don’t remember reading the book so let’s hope I don’t already know how this story unfolds. But I am excited to listen to the audiobook. I found it very interesting that almost every book recommended featured a strong female main character, which bodes well for me. But I did struggle with this because I just don’t do well with dystopians.

Taurus Recommendations

Nonfiction and classics is perfect to recommend for Taurus’. For the logical, grounded Taurus, these genres are probably pretty safe. The Picture of Dorian Gray is one of my favorite Wilde novels, so I am excited to get to reread this. And I love nonfiction books surrounding the decades, so I feel like The Nineties will be a slam dunk. These seem like the safest options.

Bonus Recommendations

I am obsessed with novels with East Asian settings, so a literary fiction taking place in Bangkok makes me very excited. I am near certain this will be a four or five-star read. And It Ends With Us is my most uncertain recommendation. I guess it makes sense since it is not recommended for me and is recommended for Libras. But this book fills my TikTok, so I am curious to see if I will like this book. If I am being honest, I don’t think that I will love this book, but my curiosity for this novel outweighs my dislike for romance novels.

BOOKS READ

Let’s examine my thoughts on the books, if I liked them, and if I think they are accurate recommendations.

Please note, I do not rate memoirs and nonfiction. I will let you know whether or not I enjoyed the book, but it will not get a rating. I do rate fiction, and I will write out my ratings if applicable.

Stats:

Books Read: 10

Pages Read: 3,738

Average Star Rating: 3.57 stars

The Books that Fit the Recommendation

The Books that Fit the Recommendation but I Didn’t Love

FINAL THOUGHTS

I loved doing this experiment. I read books on my TBR, books I’ve never heard of, and books that I have been too scared to read. While I don’t think this is the end all, be all of TBR hacks, I do think that looking up books recommended for your Zodiac is helpful if you are in a reading slump or you can’t figure out your TBR. The recommendations were all really good, even if I personally didn’t love each book. And I think a lot of the reason some of the books didn’t work for me is more personal taste than the books themselves. Overall, I would say this experiment was a success and I recommend it for people who need a little help picking up what to read next.

If you want to see pictures and videos from this experiment, please check out my Instagram and my TikTok. Be sure to follow along here and on my socials for more reads and more reading experiment journeys!