How do you pick the books you're going to read?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I tend to read prize finalists -- Pulitzer, National Book Award, Orange, Booker, etc.

Ditto, I look there too. But no guarantee it’s good. Some are awful, how did they get on these lists?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I tend to read prize finalists -- Pulitzer, National Book Award, Orange, Booker, etc.

Hopefully you read beyond those prize winners, as well!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tend to read prize finalists -- Pulitzer, National Book Award, Orange, Booker, etc.

Ditto, I look there too. But no guarantee it’s good. Some are awful, how did they get on these lists?

Those lists are like college rankings. Some unreadable books win because they do something different - challenge convention, push readers to difficult places.

But if you want a good STORY, it’s better to look other places.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tend to read prize finalists -- Pulitzer, National Book Award, Orange, Booker, etc.

Ditto, I look there too. But no guarantee it’s good. Some are awful, how did they get on these lists?

I also through the list but then I cross reference against the score on goodreads and then NYT/Wash Post book review.

[Anonymous]

I'm in 2 book groups so that dictates a bunch of my reading list.

During book group, we almost always veer into the topic of "what else we're reading". If someone says that they really loved a book, then I'll make a note to get it from the library.

[Anonymous]

Many times the books I pick are referenced in other books I’m reading and find interesting, or they’re recommended in podcasts. Love going to thriftbooks and finding some obscure book that was used for a piece of research in a really good book and then taking myself further down the rabbit hole.

[Anonymous]

The only time I purchase a book is if I happen to be at my local thrift shop while they are having a four books for a dollar sale.
I haven't been in a book store or bought a book online in over a decade.

I get almost all my reading material from the library website. I haven't been to the library in person in years either. Libby / overdrive is just awesome. I log on to my library website, then see what is available under the "most popular" category. I look at the online summary of what the book is about and then check it out if it appeals to me, or keep scrolling if not. Sometimes It takes an hour or more before I find something to check out. It kind of reminds of the days when we would go to the video store on Friday night and spend more time deciding on a movie to watch than it took to actually watch it.

I am kind of picky about what I like to read. Not interested in zombies or vampires or dragons or ghosts. No Scifi. Prefer books set in the U.S. in modern times. No murders or kidnappings. Would prefer that nobody dies as well, but that seems to eliminate almost all books.

[Anonymous]

I don’t read as much as I used to do, unless I hear about something that really interests me, I generally only read books that two or more people have recommended to me or that are classics I’ve wanted to read and hadn’t previously. (I was an English major, but even so there are a lot of classics I missed.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:By how attractive the cover is, really.

I was always told as a kid to never judge a book by its cover.

Yet I always did + still do! 🌷

[Anonymous]

I've been listening to the podcast "Backlisted", where they discuss older books and make compelling reasons to add books to my list.

[Anonymous]

I pass a lot of Little Free Libraries and find lots of books I would not otherwise run across. High success rate. My latest favorite is the hilariously droll “Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About” by Mil Millington

[Anonymous]

I tend to do one fiction, one non-fiction, and then with the fiction shake up genres. I try to read what's already on the shelf, but if I am just not feeling those books, then I'll likely pick up something that calls to me at airport bookstore or at a local independent. I keep a list of books that sound interesting from various NYT and WaPo book reviews and sometimes here. I do pay attention to book award finalists in Fantasy/Sci Fi as well as National Book Award etc. but don't always read because they just don't tickle my fancy.

[Anonymous]

1.) I'm in a book club, so I always have one book per month that's based on our picks. (We all nominate books for the year.)

2.) I read reviews, social media posts, etc., and always have another couple of ideas of what else I want to read.

3.) I try to vary things. Right now, I've been on a roll of heavy books, so I'll probably close out the year with some fluffier stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm trying to focus on what's on my book shelf.

But how did they get there?

i tend to pick up books that have won awards, but haven't read them all.I need to stop collecting.

Probably because they're all boring naval gazing.

[Anonymous]

Recommendations from friends
New books by an author I've liked before
Browsing a shelf and like the cover/title/description
Reviews/recommendations from places like NPR (I like their annual Books We Love site https://apps.npr.org/best-books/#view=covers&year=2022), Modern Mrs. Darcy
If it was something I got on Amazon, I'll look at the "People who bought this also bought" list