Choosing Books

Last weekend I was out with my friend at a local bookstore and she asked me, "How do you decide what to read?"

It's a great question, because there are so many books out there that interest me, but even if I read all day and all night (what a great job that would be!) I could only read a small fraction of the ones that capture my attention. So I have to be somewhat discriminating. I thought I'd share with you a few of my favorite sources for finding great books.

My absolute number one source is the library. I am a huge fan of the public library system. I read so much that I couldn't possibly afford to purchase or find room for all the books, so 90% of what I read is borrowed from the library or leant by a friend. One of my favorite things to do is go to the main branch and browse, although I tend to do that less often now that the online system for searching and requesting books is so easy. I used to have sort of a system for my library browsing though, because I wanted to choose a well-rounded stack of books to bring home for the next week or two. It sort of went like this:

1. Check out the new fiction. I almost always picked up a book from this section.
2. Venture into the cavernous halls of nonfiction and browse through subjects that interested me: history, music, arts and crafts, health. Sometimes I found things I liked, sometimes not. But I loved being in that section because it smelled like old, musty books.
3. Go to the mystery shelves and pick up an Agatha Christie, preferably one starring Hercule Poirot. I'm sorry to say that I've read them all. But I think I've forgotten most of the endings by now, so maybe it's time to read them again.
4. Go to the general fiction section. This is where I got creative. I knew I couldn't possibly browse through the whole section each time I visited, or I'd be there for hours. So each time I went, I chose a letter from the alphabet and only looked at those authors. I wasn't totally regimented about it, though. I could have gone from A to Z in a year, but I just picked random letters. If I had less time, I'd pick something like O or E. If I had more, I'd go with M or S. Once I'd picked a letter, I'd choose a few books, depending on what caught my eye or whether there were particular authors I'd heard of but never tried. After that, I'd go hunting through the rest of the fiction stacks for whoever were my favorite authors at the time.
5. Finish with the YA and audiobook section because in the main branch of my library, they used to be in the same room, right near the checkout desk. I love audiobooks, although I am careful with my selections, because the reader really makes or breaks the book. I listen to them in the car on the way to work, and consequently, I love my commute.

By the time I left the library, I always had a stack of books I could hardly carry. It never seemed to occur to me to bring a shopping bag.

A more recent source of book searching is the website Good Reads, which has lists of top rated books in each genre and also shows you what your friends on the site are reading. I also like browsing Amazon and walking through Barnes and Noble with a pumpkin spice latte in hand. My Barnes and Noble browsing is similar to my library browsing, except I tend to spend more time in the memoir section these days. I also walk out with far fewer books.

I also check out recommendations on authors' blogs. I figure they're in the business and must have their fingers on the pulse. One of my favorite memoirist/novelists is Jen Lancaster, who blogs frequently at Jennsylvania. Every season she puts out a couple of lists of books she's screened from the advance copies she receives. I recently read one of her summer recommendations, Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok, and it was fantastic.

Finally, I listen to recommendations from friends and family, especially my mother and mother-in-law, who always seem to know what I'll like.

How do you find good books?