How do you choose your books?

[Urban Sprite]

I'm doing a little reseach into people's reading habits for an entry I'm planning to write for my blog, and I just wondered how people choose the books they read.

When I go into a bookshop, I tend to head straight for the genres I enjoy and look for similar authors to my favourites. I might also choose a book if it sounds interesting from the blurb on the back, or if its been recommended to me.

How do you choose your book? Any feedback gratefully received :)

[Tomi Clark]

Most of the time I head straight to the new releases shelf. Then I read the back cover. Most of my fave bookstores post Top 10 and new release lists on top of the shelves to help me find just what I'm looking for.

I enjoy so many different genres that it's difficult to just head to a specific genre so I usually walk around checking out all the areas.

[Jamie]

At the library the first place I check is the new release section. Then I have reading challenges I'm in which dictate some book choice. I also pick books based on reviews I've read and lastly I have a list of authors that I would like to read that I pick and choose from.

[Bibliophile]

Usually, when I walk into a book store, the first thing I do is :

1. Stop
2. take a deep breath
3. look around giddily

Then I'll just start browsing. I generally go to YA or children's lit first because I read alot of that. I buy a lot of my books for my 5th grade classroom so I'll read the books first in order to be able to match them with a kiddo.. 

 

It really just depends on my mood though. I've got a mood for every genre. 

[Lulu]

Me too.  My armloads usually require shoving aside for room on the short story shelves, or the science shelf, etc.  I like your three-step process :)

[Miriam Downey]

I am trying to grow as a reader. I read in four genres--generally in order--fiction, general non-fiction, memoir, and spiritual. I pick a spiritual book either from my church library (where I am the librarian) or a book that I will be putting in the library. I read reviews from New York Review of Books, The New Yorker, BookMarks, and New York Times to pick the rest of my books. I am starting to get books from publishers, so I am adding them to my list. I try to read as much as I can from the public library...also whatever my book club is reading. I'm having a great time!

BTW, my blog is mimi-cyberlibrarian.blogspot.com

[Lulu]

Miriam, neat blog!  Are you a New Yorker?  I am moving back soon and miss the Strand greatly, because I loved perusing the different display tables and finding random selections.  The same goes for any great used bookstore, or an independent one.  Sometimes even Barnes & Noble has great displays - I got a bunch of interesting titles from the one in Union Square, where they had a table full of great history and science books labeled "Who Knew?"  My review that grew out of one of those selections: http://bit.ly/dGRm4q

 

Happy choosing!

[Miriam Downey]

I looked at your blog too. We have similar tastes. No, I am not a New Yorker, although I probably am in my heart. All of my kids have lived there at one time or another. I was so disappointed when they moved away. I am in Kalamazoo, a lovely, intellectual city in the southwest corner of Michigan. Tracy Kidder will be here next week; Jonathan Franzen in May. Life is good for a reader!

[SidneReadz]

I first check out the new releases, then over to the african american literature section, then i will look at other sections of interest: spiritual, cooking, health, business.

[Christine Korda]

Depends - Recently I read a ton of the classics like "Alice in Wonderland", The Portrait of Dorian Gray, etc because they came loaded for free on my Kobo

[Kathy Maxwell]

I generally read children and YA fiction or Christian fiction.  I automatically buy any new book written by a favorite author.  For books by unknown authors, I choose the ones with interesting stories to tell.  Before I buy, I check out the reader reviews on Amazon that gave the book 1 or 2 stars.  It helps me to see why a person didn't like it!  

There have been times when a book "calls" to me!  I usually end up buying it.  Some of these books I have kept and read (usually with good result), and some I have given away to someone else who seemed to need it more than I did.

[Miriam Downey]

Recently, I was approached by a publicist who hired people to write 5 star reviews for Amazon. It has made me leery of the whole star thing on Amazon.I tried to do one but the book was crap, not even worth two stars. I couldn't even get through it let alone give it five stars.

[Kathy Maxwell]

Interesting!!  "5 Star Reviews paid for by **** Publishing Company"!!!!  It's like a political endorsement!