Choosing A Book To Read



Posted: Monday, November 26, 2007

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Whether you read often or only occasionally, when you go to read a book you first have the problem of choosing a book to read. Even the most avid reader could only read a tiny fraction of all the books that come out. At any given time, a book store probably contains many more books then you could read in your entire lifetime. How do you choose which books to read? Let me suggest a few ways to select a book.

Ask Friends - Ask friends, family members, and other people you know for recommendations. Friends work especially well for getting book recommendations, because they usually share the same interests as you. Also, friends know your personality well, so they can better guess what books you personally would like. Asking your friends for book recommendations will probably help your friendship also, because your friends will feel complimented that you want their opinion.

Authors You Like - Out of the books you have already read, try to think of your favorites. You can look at other books by the authors of your favorite books.

Bestseller List - Many newspapers publish lists of the currently best-selling books. If your newspaper does not have a bestseller list, you can also find bestseller lists on the internet or you can ask a book store clerk to see best-selling books.

Join A Book Club - Book clubs usually simply consist of a group of people who get together to choose a new book to read and discuss the book they previously chose to read. Most commonly, book clubs read one book per month. They usually do not cost anything, but the members may all put in some money for food and refreshments. Usually, the members of the book club take turns hosting. You can probably find a local book club by going on craigslist. Also, many public libraries have public book clubs.

Amazon - Amazon usually has ratings for books based on users who rate the book. It also has customer reviews of many books. When you view a book, it will show other books that you may like if you liked that book. That means you can get recommendations on Amazon by first finding some of your personal favorite books.

You can probably find other ways to help you select a book to read. If you want to try a certain book, you can avoiding losing money by simply borrowing the book from a library. If you do not like the book, you can stop reading it and return it.

Whatever you do, good luck and have fun!

Scott Hughes owns and and manages Online Book Club at OnlineBookClub.org and the Book and Reading Forums. You can use the forums to get book recommendations, and just to talk about books and reading. It's completely free to join and participate.
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