NYT Bestsellers List

Anonymous wrote:I go to articles about "the best books of 2013" or some other year, because I can get them from the library without waiting usually. I'll get to the current best books in about 2030.

yes same!

Oh man it's WORK, LOL, because I am critical and also have a ton of criteria.

I cross reference good reads and audible reviews and amazon.

I also ask here, a lot.

When you click on a book on Amazon, it'll tell you similar books, and that guides me.

Anonymous wrote:
At the library:
Online: my library system has “new releases,” both the “just arrived” and “on order.” This gets me a ton of new stuff to read.
In person: I hit the “just returned and ready for reshelving” carts. For the most part, these are books that have been fundamentally recommended by other library patrons.

I really like this. I don't actually go inside the library enough but seeing the recent reruns could give me some insight. And it's not the same as just looking at a bestseller list because the returns changes daily so you can really see continually what being read and what looks interesting. I may start doing this.

I’ll caveat this first that I don’t like fiction. If it isn’t Agatha Christie or old enough to have its drivers license revoked, I’m not interested, but I do this for non-fiction and have done for years.

At the library:
Online: my library system has “new releases,” both the “just arrived” and “on order.” This gets me a ton of new stuff to read.
In person: I hit the “just returned and ready for reshelving” carts. For the most part, these are books that have been fundamentally recommended by other library patrons.

Otherwise:
I go to a local independent book store and peruse the newer books, like we used to do in the olden times. They also always have staff recommendations (and sometimes why they recommended that book) on the wall and on the shelves.

I go to articles about "the best books of 2013" or some other year, because I can get them from the library without waiting usually. I'll get to the current best books in about 2030.

New Yorker, WP, NYT and NPR, plus I follow my favorite indy bookstore on Insta, and a few authors/literary types on Twitter.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Goodreads and their recommendation tab on pages of books I liked. I also follow multiple people for their reviews; even if we don't exactly the same tastes, they point me in the right direction. I followed literary magazine accounts like Paris Review on Twitter, back when I had one, and found books through that. I'll also scroll through Libby and see what's similar to books I like. And friends and DCUM, of course.

+1. Goodreads also lets you "compare books" with someone and indicates how similar your tastes are. The readers/reviewers I follow are at least s 70%+ match with me. I use several books in the genres I'm looking for as a gauge as well. If the don't give the Kate Daniels series at least 4 stars, I won't use them for recommendations in that genre.

+2 I also compare books with someone who'd give a bad review to a book I hate.

I used to read mostly famous authors or top bestsellers because they were they felt like a safe bet in a crowded bookstore. The source I give the most credit for breaking me out of the rut is a series on the Ms Magazine website called “Reads for the Rest of Us.” The criteria for who gets featured seems to be loosely anyone under-represented, whether due to race, sexuality, disability, or whatever. Great in combination with library ebooks because it’s easy to take a chance and just drop a book if I’m not into it.

https://msmagazine.com/tag/reads-for-the-rest-of-us/

Anonymous wrote:Well, if you want to avoid duds, my method might not work. Of course I use recs from friends, best seller lists, WP reviews, and the like, but sometimes I just like to go to the library and peruse the new release section, or wander the fiction aisles and pull something that looks intriguing. I rarely find a piece of fiction I don’t like enough to finish. Some aren’t great, but some are amazing and I love the thrill of finding a new (to me) author.
Returning to the other methods, I get a lot of great ideas from the Style action book reviews of the WP.

This used up be me. I would totally judge a book by it's cover. I think Veronica Roth and whatever book she released that people said was similar to Hunger Games was my dud that made my watch movies for a while

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Goodreads and their recommendation tab on pages of books I liked. I also follow multiple people for their reviews; even if we don't exactly the same tastes, they point me in the right direction. I followed literary magazine accounts like Paris Review on Twitter, back when I had one, and found books through that. I'll also scroll through Libby and see what's similar to books I like. And friends and DCUM, of course.

+1. Goodreads also lets you "compare books" with someone and indicates how similar your tastes are. The readers/reviewers I follow are at least s 70%+ match with me. I use several books in the genres I'm looking for as a gauge as well. If the don't give the Kate Daniels series at least 4 stars, I won't use them for recommendations in that genre.

This is an interesting feature. I've never heard of it but it need to try it out

The local Friends of the Library book sale has a staff picks section. I have found some good ones there.

The Overdrive app suggests similar titles when I search for a book by an author I already read and it's not available.

I occasionally listen to a couple of podcasts geared toward writers when they have author interviews. I enjoyed a couple of these authors, but I also tried a couple that I could not finish.

I follow book influencers on Instagram. Grace Atwood and Ashley Spivey are favorites.

Well, if you want to avoid duds, my method might not work. Of course I use recs from friends, best seller lists, WP reviews, and the like, but sometimes I just like to go to the library and peruse the new release section, or wander the fiction aisles and pull something that looks intriguing. I rarely find a piece of fiction I don’t like enough to finish. Some aren’t great, but some are amazing and I love the thrill of finding a new (to me) author.
Returning to the other methods, I get a lot of great ideas from the Style action book reviews of the WP.

Are you talking about new fiction books? I go to the library and find the oldest book on each shelf. (You can easily identify them by the library binding.) I figure if it's still in circulation after all these years it must be a good one. I'm almost never disappointed.
For nonfiction I check out books referenced in news articles, or if I'm interested in a subject google what the essential books are.