how do you find new books to read?

Cafe Society
21

Oprah Winnfrey.

22

This is going to sound terrible but…I judge them by their covers. If it has a good cover and title I’ll get it. Does this make me a bad person?

23

  1. I peruse the book review section in the Sunday editions of the Washington Post and the New York Times.

  2. I read threads like this one because Dopers have turned me on to many books and authors I would not otherwise have read.

24

I should also say that I’ll get a book with a reputation. Not just “hey I read this book and you should check it out,” but a classic.

Lolita is my favorite book of all time. I keep eyeing War and Peace, but fear it slightly.

25

Well, you’re going to miss out on a lot of good books this way.

I forgot to mention, my daughter works in a used book store and brings home interesting books that come her way. She’s allowed to take home and read books, no charge. The owner and manager know about this, and encourage it, so that the workers there know what they’re talking about. Besides, it’s about the cheapest (yet most pleasant) benefit that the owner could give! They know that I’m likely to read the books too, and that if I particularly like a book, I’m likely to send in the money to buy it with Lisa! How cool is THAT?!? I’m also exposed to new authors this way.

I do browse the library pretty thoroughly. Unfortunately, my local branch does not get much in the way of SF/fantasy. It’s got a pretty good craft section, though, and THAT saves me big bucks.

26

I read all the reviews and I often think I’d like to get a certain new book based on what I’ve heard, but the library usually has a waiting list for new, well-reviewed books and I’m generally too cheap to buy the hardcovers at full retail price.

I do love to spend time in bookstores, though. So I end up browsing through the remaindered books tables, and there are almost always…no, always one or two books that I’d meant to read but never got around to, or that sound interesting based on the cover blurb, or that grab me when I read a page or two. I’ve found some of my favorite books this way, and those authors end up benefitting from it, because I enjoyed their writing so much I will go out of my way to buy their next books new.

I just can’t resist a book that costs less than half the magazines on the newsstand.

27

I read the ones on the back of the book but not the ones on the flaps; for some reason those tend to give away more.

No, I don’t rely on my friends (nobody at my high school besides me seems to read for fun), but my mom has good taste for light novels. And I don’t generally buy just for the author.

I generally ignore Amazon’s recommendations, just by habit; maybe I should check that out.

I buy and check out books based on their plot. If its concept seems interesting, I’ll read it; it doesn’t matter what other people think of it. I do the same thing when buying books that I do when I go to the library, just meander through the aisles and pick out what’s interesting.

Oh, and I’m a sucker for cool cover art. I shouldn’t be, I know, but I can’t help it. Pretty fonts! Slick colors! Must buy/check out! It’s not the only criteria…but it helps.

28

I had some more thoughts, so I’ll pad my post count some.

NPR helps me. I seldom listen to it, but every now and then something catches my ear. For example, I was listening to this guy giving this great interview and telling some great stories. By the time he was done and he did the “About my book” spiel, I was ready to read it. The book? “My Losing Season” by Pat Conroy. And I’d NEVER have picked it up otherwise. Haven’t read it yet, but my copy is around here somewhere.

The Dope helps and I love the book suggestion threads, but I’ve gotten ideas elsewhere. I picked up “Lady Slings the Booze” by Spider Robinson cause two or three people mentioned it and I like Spider Robinson anyway.

29

Well, I’m a bit of an odd duck. Some of my favorite subjects are human behavior, the orgins of customs and everyday objects, as well as history and biography, but my deepest interest is in Tudor history. (I’ve pretty much exhausted that subject, I think.)

After years of intense book-buying (I literally spend more per month on books than I do on rent) it’s getting to be pretty slim pickings in my favorite areas. I’ve broadened my horizons, so to speak, in order to quench my appetite for the written word, but finding books takes hours of searching.

I rarely read fiction, unless a book’s gotten a lot of critical acclaim, or it’s a fictionalized biography of a favorite subject, so that cuts out a huge chunk of what’s published annually.