Not very long, I used to finish a book after starting it come what may, but as I’ve gotten older I’ve realised I’ll only read so many books in my lifetime and I shouldn’t waste my time on books I’m not enjoying.
Though I do usually skim-read it to see what happens and if it seems to get any better.
I guess it was about 30 years ago that I was at an exhibit of SF/fantasy cover art, and there was an oil painting that caught my eye. I don’t know if it was the jewel-like colors, or the trompe l’oeil quality, or what, but I kept going back to look at it.
A year or so later, I saw the book (The Shattered World by Michael Reaves) and had to buy it. The printed cover was only a dull copy of the actual painting, and this online image doesn’t even compare to that. The story was OK – I enjoyed reading it at the time, but I barely remember what it was about – but I still remember the painting.
I’ve gotten a heck of a lot of good recommendations right here in Cafe Society! Most of my friends are readers, and we lend books around most promiscuously.
I also do a lot of browsing, especially of the catalog at Project Gutenberg. (Free classics! Yay!)
I used to be religious about always finishing books I’d started. But life is short and time is precious. If I’m not enjoying it by page 50, then I toss it aside.
One of the best cover-art illos ever is for Robert E. Howard’s collection of Lovecraftian yarns, “The Mythos and Kindred Horrors.” The artist got doubly clever and actually sculpted the statue, and I have one sitting and glaring at me right now. (Undoubtedly costing me my few remaining SAN points…)
I bought that book for its cover! (Not a bad collection of tales, actually.)
ETA: That is a nice cover you linked to! I can see how it would be very enticing! I may track that’n down myself!
By any means necessary?
I typically triangulate across NPR, the NYTimes, New Yorker, Entertainment Weekly, the SDMB, other websites, a few friends, etc. If something hits my radar a few times and its interestingness is reinforced, I check it out.
Selected out of books I find at used booksales, I pick out any by authors I’ve enjoyed before, authors or books that I’ve seen recommended or heard a lot about, and anything that’s won a Hugo or Nebula. I used to also apply the same criteria to books from public libraries, but I’ve pretty much bled all of the local public libraries dry of fantasy and science fiction, by now.
It has changed over the years. I used to go to Borders almost every weekend to pick up a new stack. My husband finally persuaded me to transition to ebooks, so I replaced the trip to the bookstore with perusal of Amaxon’s “New Releases” lists (yes, I feel a little guilty about it because I still love physical bookstores on the much more rare occasions I go into them now).
Increasingly now, I’m buying books via my daily email from Bookbub. I love Bookbub. It’s a free service to find discounted books - you sign up on their website and click the categories that interest you. They send daily recommendations. I’d say most are 1.99, but there's also free, .99 and $2.99.
Aside from that, I’ll see references in magazines or websites, or someone will mention a book they liked. The wife of a man I used to work with writes a reading blog, and I check that out every once in awhile.
About five years ago, my very literary neighborhood of Park Slope, Brooklyn decided en masse to stop trying to sell each other our old books for a quarter apiece at stoop sales, and just set piles of books out in front of our houses.
At least twice a week I’ll walk past a little pile of books the owners have tired of, and are willing to pass on to whoever wants them. I do this myself a few times a year.
I recently finished Harold Frederic’s 1896 novel The Damnation of Theron Ware. It’s not a book I would have sought out, but I recognized the title and picked it up. It was a fascinating and memorable read.
(I still buy assloads of books in shops and online too)
The latest series of fiction books I have been reading, Tony Parsons’s DC Max Wolfe stories, I discovered from the ad at the bottom of this page:
The day I spent on the underground with the Clash. I was intrigued to see that a former punk music chronicler had become a best selling crime novelist. Having enjoyed the brief article I thought I may enjoy the novels and I certainly have.
The number one thing that will get me to read is a book is a good title. A fantastic title might get me to buy it. If the title appeals to me, 75% of the time I’ll love the book too. Those are pretty good odds.
I also listen to recommendations from friends. Every once in a while I actually read book reviews.
Overwhelmingly, I choose by going to the library, setting my two daughters down with their books to read, and going to the new books section. I grab between 2 and 5 books depending on what looks good. I go for, in no particular order:
I generally read 1-2 novels a week, and over a year I’ll set down a half-dozen or so books after a couple of chapters because they’re shitty. My method is scattershot, but it also means I end up reading some excellent stuff that I wouldn’t expect, since #6 figures pretty prominently in my method.
for fiction it’s all the ways people already mentioned, for non fiction I frequently hear an interview with the author - often on NPR - especially on Fresh Air. 
honestly, Terry Gross is the best interviewer ever. 
Lately I have been using Facebook.
I started by becoming FB friends with a best selling author I enjoy. Reading his feed lead me to become FB friends with other authors both established and new.
A side benefit of this are things like a very minor character in a NY Times bestseller carries my name and I have had several authors send me manuscripts for comments and correction.
Free Books! Yaaaaaaaa!
For fiction, it tends to be a recommendation from someone I share my reading taste with, and then I will often read everything ever written by that author. Sometimes it will be because a friend or acquaintance has written the book - I’m an author and we tend to know other authors.
I write non-fiction so I tend to read mostly non-fiction. I will read books according to whatever topic has me obsessed in the research for my own books. I will often go on a splurge and buy lots of books on my new topic, only to have another new obsession before I get through them all. But I will read them all one day. Well, as long as I manage to live to a hundred at least.
I go to B&N and browse. I’ll look at the new releases and the employee referrals first, but then I head for the Science Fiction / Fantasy section to see if there’s any sci-fi there. After that, it’s off to the science/mathematics section, followed by crossword puzzle books.
Sometimes, I will hear or read a book review, and, if I like what I heard (and can remember the name), I will seek that out.
When browsing through the various sections, I read the blurbs on the back cover to see if it seems interesting. Known authors can help, but I’ve discovered a few new authors as well.
Oh, and in terms of what to read next … I get most of my books from the library, so there’s a bit of a random element with which book becomes available first. It’s sort of liberating, in way.
No love for Litsy here? I’ve gotten loads of good recommendations from that app lately. I don’t think they’ve rolled out their Android version yet - just iPhone - but Android is coming very soon (if not available).
Methods:
The most innovative book trading method I’ve run across was at the SF club in the U of I when I was there. We had a poker game where the chips were used sf books. It was not only a game, it was an interesting method of criticism, since the least favorite books wound up in every pot. I did quite well and wound up with the most popular to ante book, The Best of Barry Malzberg.
I use pretty much the same library method as Left Hand of Dorkness with some minor variations:
I’m probably the bane of the publishing world…
When it comes to buying books, anything Stephen R Donaldson publishes and that’s it. So it’s been just about two years since I paid for a book.
Other than that, my method is to look for whatever is being offered for free on Nook. I start with sci-fi and fantasy and occasionally venture into horror or thrillers. If there is a dragon, a raven or a spaceship on the cover, I’ll probably like it and I’m pretty much that shallow when it comes to casual pleasure reading.
I need to explore my local library more. My eyes are too bad to make it pleasant to read paper, but I know that more libraries are offering digital titles now.
