How do you choose what to read next?

[dan95 DL=<3]

how in the sea of brilliant and not so brilliant books that you see everywhere how do you choose what to read?
I always feel like I'm missing out when choosing what to read next because I always think I may be missing good books and choosing other not so good books instead

 

[grechzoo]

for me, when i get obsessed with something, i usually compulsively research it day in and day out (in my free time of course....i do have a life....kind of)

so when i got into sf+f i came to this site and browsed the forum till i pretty much knew the top twenty authors and the top fifty books. (be general consesus of course, my opinions will obv differ after reading.)

and the same with non genre fiction recently. after reading cormac mccarthy's the road, (pretty much my first serious non genre book,) i really wanted to get into a genre i had for some reason ignored for years. so i researched the best 19th century books, best early 20th century and best modern fiction till i had a pretty masssive list of classics from the last two hundred years. im not saying i wont have missed some on these lists alone but they serve as a massive starting point.

here are some links i found helpful.

19th century:
(This is an ebook site, but it serves as a pretty great list of the most popular 19th cent books)
http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100bestnovels.html
also google "best 19th century novels" there will be plenty of results

modern lit:
http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100bestnovels.html
http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100rivallist.html (alt list by another guy)

Very modern lit (within the last 25 years)
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/21/books/fiction-25-years.html?_r=2 (American fiction)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2006/oct/08/fiction.features1 (non american fiction)

and from this MASSIVE list i usually try and find some excerpts on the web. for example i am anxiously awaiting rabbit, run by john updike after reading an excerpt on the guardian.co.uk, as his prose blew me away .

after you have read say 10 books from these lists, you can start to pick out the ones you enjoyed most and research those authors on say amazon and find some similar recommendations.

oh and keep on the nytimes and guardian.co.uk website to catch new fiction and nonfiction as its coming out.

also look for the national book award, nobel, pullitzer prize winner etc. they are usually of high quality for obvious reasons.

hope i helped

 

[algernoninc]

i keep a notepad wishlist on my computer, and I add items while browsing thhis forum, or from prize listings [booker, pullitzer, hugo, nebulam world fantasy award, etc], news articles on reddit, etc.
Once I have an author I try cross referencing on google, usually dismissing Amazon.com reviews [I used that before discovering sffworld and I got taken for a ride several times]

 

[grechzoo]

oh yeah

i didn;t mean amazon reviews.

steer WELL clear of those. they always include spoilers.


i meant the listamania feature, basically browse to one of your favourite books and scroll to the bottom. people make lists of their favourite books that include the one on the page you are on, so you can find some great picks like that for sure.

but yeah amazon reviews are pretty close to evil. it seems no-one understands the fact that people reading those reviews HAVEN'T read the book yet.

 

[Jop]

Lately, there is no real rhyme nor reason to how I select what book I'm going to read next. For the last while, I've been looking at the "To Read" lists and recommendations here, or purchasing a book which has a cover that interests me, is cheap, or whatever. I've also purchased and read a few ebooks of books that I read a number of years ago - presently Asimov's Foundation which I hadn't read in over 25 years (and am quite enjoying it again).

 

[Randy M.]

I have lists of World Fantasy and International Horror Guild Award winners, know where I can look up Hugo, Nebula, Pulitzer and Booker Award winners on the web ...

... OH! Look at that bright shiny new book! ...​

... I listen in on various bulletin boards and sf/fantasy/horror related websites (like owlcroft's) for those books of interest in those genres, and check out Michael Dirda's Reading Room for other titles ...

... geez, that one looks interesting. why was that over there and not already on the tbr pile? ...​

... and generate lists like "Next 10 books on your 'to read' pile" based on carefully calculated quotients of current interest ...

... i'm bored/happy/sad/miffed/tired/energetic/hungry/stuffed... guess I'll go in the bookstore and poke around ... ​

... and by the time I do all that, I've managed to acquire all the books that I'm interested in and no longer have time to read.

Seriously. Butterfly-like attention span ... Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell was good so start Clarke's story collec ... no, wait, a friend's been urging me on to The Road and it's great, so maybe I'll read another McCarthy ... but, no, wait, my wife liked Heat Wave so what the heck ... then a friend loans me War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches ... and then ... flit, flit, flit ...

And that's pretty much how the last few months of reading have gone by.

Randy M.

 

[grechzoo]

hehe, im almost the opposite, i read one book at a time and never moving on till i finish it unless it happens to be one of the worst things ever written (and if you saw where i got my recommendations from above you would know that i usually dont run into any of these)

it probably means i wiill never get through that whole list. or at least by the time i do there will be another list out (50 years )

its why im moving from sf+f to gen fiction for now. waiting for martin and erikson to finish their series, as other than that, 2500+ page trilogies are just too much of a commitment for me. ill happily spend a few months now reading some great stand alone 300-500 page books from the grreat authors of our generation

 

[Window Bar]

Choosing the next book

I often receive books as gifts ... in those case, the book chooses me.

I'm a happy browser and sampler in bookstores.

It is actually quite rare for me to go on a quest, searching for a specific book

 

[H.P. Rice Wells]

Good suggestions in all of the posts so far! Before the day of the internet, I kept jotting down authors/titles/series names in a notebook that I would check every now and then.

In the current day and age, I'll hit forums such as this one, or do google searches for book genre blogs. Having said that, I haven't done any serious reading outside of my school stuff, in quite a while, but I want to thank grechzoo for the killer links!

 

[Sparrow]

I see that reviews on amazon are not highly regarded around here, but, I find that averaging them does help me decide if I'm going to like a particular book. I rather like to know what the average reader thinks as opposed to a more seasoned blogger.

Other than that I've found that this site...
http://www.sfsite.com/
... is hands down the best for weeding through book releases by year.

There's always been a tremendous amount of crap out there and with self-publishing and very small volume publishers popping up all the time it's getting worse by the year.


But sometimes I just fall back on the old ways of deciding if I give a book a shot... I'm a sucker for a cool cover and an exciting promo blurb on the inside sleeve.

 

[H.P. Rice Wells]

I see that reviews on amazon are not highly regarded around here, but, I find that averaging them does help me decide if I'm going to like a particular book. I rather like to know what the average reader thinks as opposed to a more seasoned blogger.

Other than that I've found that this site...
http://www.sfsite.com/
... is hands down the best for weeding through book releases by year.

There's always been a tremendous amount of crap out there and with self-publishing and very small volume publishers popping up all the time it's getting worse by the year.


But sometimes I just fall back on the old ways of deciding if I give a book a shot... I'm a sucker for a cool cover and an exciting promo blurb on the inside sleeve.

Yeah..I hate to admit it, but even now...I'll still do this..(sigh). *On a side note, I'm going bookhunting later today and using the 'safe' method..pre-thought out list that I'm strictly adhering to...so no fancy covers for me!

 

[ElinIsabel]

Seriously. Butterfly-like attention span ... Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell was good so start Clarke's story collec ... no, wait, a friend's been urging me on to The Road and it's great, so maybe I'll read another McCarthy ... but, no, wait, my wife liked Heat Wave so what the heck ... then a friend loans me War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches ... and then ... flit, flit, flit ...

He he. That is how I read. I think I have four or five going right now. If I'm not in the mood for a book I'll put it down until I'm in the mood for it again, and read something else for awhile.

I tend to go on the recommendations of others; Guardian.co.uk often has great recs, and have done some nice commentaries on fantasy on their blog. Sometimes browsing here I'll find stuff I'm interested in. Lists of Pulitzer and Booker winners also are usually a given for me. And sometimes just recommendation from friends.

And I must be Michiko Kakutani's reading twin, because pretty much everything with a positive blurb from her on the front cover I've loved. So I'll usually give the stuff she's said good things about a try.

 

[Randy M.]

I see that reviews on amazon are not highly regarded around here, but, I find that averaging them does help me decide if I'm going to like a particular book. I rather like to know what the average reader thinks as opposed to a more seasoned blogger.

I used to do a variation of this for movies: I've found that if the majority of pro reviewers say its good, the probability is I'll think it's good, too; if the majority say it's bad, the probability is I won't like it. If they split, then I needed to see it to make up my own mind. I did find, when I watched "At The Movies" with Siskel and Ebert that whatever they said was good, I almost invariably agreed with them; what they said was bad was another matter -- I disagreed with them quite often.

With books, I'm less inclined to seek out pro reviewers, though with sf/f I've found Gary Wolfe and Faren Miller pretty reliable over the years.


Randy M.

 

[Randy M.]

He he. That is how I read. I think I have four or five going right now. If I'm not in the mood for a book I'll put it down until I'm in the mood for it again, and read something else for awhile.

I tend to go on the recommendations of others; Guardian.co.uk often has great recs, and have done some nice commentaries on fantasy on their blog. Sometimes browsing here I'll find stuff I'm interested in. Lists of Pulitzer and Booker winners also are usually a given for me. And sometimes just recommendation from friends.

And I must be Michiko Kakutani's reading twin, because pretty much everything with a positive blurb from her on the front cover I've loved. So I'll usually give the stuff she's said good things about a try.

Yup. No matter how well organized my to-read list, I usually get pulled in other directions after making one.

You're lucky to find a reviewer who so nearly matches your taste. Not everyone can do that.

Randy

 

[Sfinx]

how in the sea of brilliant and not so brilliant books that you see everywhere how do you choose what to read?
I always feel like I'm missing out when choosing what to read next

Familiar sentiment First step for me was to shed the feeling of 'missing out' - nowadays I pick a book I think I'll like and I just see where it takes me. Thankfully, most of the times it takes me to unknown, interesting and sometimes bewildering places (Vellum...) and if not, well, in the words of one of my favourite authors 'when i get s**t in my eyes i close them fast and cry [..] and throw the book at the wall and scare the dog'; i.e. I quit reading, and move on to the next opportunity.

On picking a book I think I'll like: sites like sffworld help, friends' advice helps, reading another book by an author I enjoyed really helps, and sometimes (actually, this happens quite often) i just go by the cover. Cover art (or the lack thereof) actually quite often is a good indicator of the quality of the content. I am aware that opinions may differ on this subject

And finally, if i'm stuck, i just stick to the classics...Cervantes, Borges, Marquez, Eco, Wodehouse, Vance, Leiber, Conan Doyle...or the 'new classics' (imo) - such as M. Banks or Wolfe.

Cheerio,

Sfinx.

 

[Window Bar]

Familiar sentiment And finally, if i'm stuck, i just stick to the classics...Cervantes, Borges, Marquez, Eco, Wodehouse, Vance, Leiber, Conan Doyle...or the 'new classics' (imo) - such as M. Banks or Wolfe.

Cheerio, Sfinx.

Yup -- A return to the timeless tales doesn't hurt any of us. With very few exceptions, the classics touch on psychological truths that we would do well to understand. It may be that absolute pap can survive for generations, but none come to mind.