How Do You Decide What To Read Next?

McMavis--

Welcome to A2K.

I know what you mean, finishing a Good Read and re-entering our mundane world.

As for Science Fiction--shameless self promotion:

http://www.able2know.com/forums/about92920-0.html


Soz--

Of course you'll never catch up on your reading. Welcome to Adulthood and Hard Reality. On the bright side, if you ever break both legs and are confined to bed for a long stretch, you'll have a chance to think about beginning to catch up.


BBB--

Books proliferate.

Story from my childhood.

We had a living room lined with bookcases and the entire family was addicted to massive, regular infusions of printed material.

Reportedly one neighbor told another, "Annie, you have books and I have books--and where are they? They are in boxes, up in the attic where they belong.

Asherman--

May you give Sozobe your educated perspective on impossible goals.

Only the well-educated are aware of their own ignorance. The illiterate watch sound bites on the evening news and consider themselves well-informed.

McMavis--

--and BBB and Asherman--Jacob Marley forged gold chains in life and was doomed to tote them round and round Scrooge's bedside as a Moral Lession.

Do you suppose we'll be greedy ectoplasm dragging cartons of books that we hoarded in life?

Mushypancakes--

Close one door...another opens. Lend one book....another materializes.
I'm a book lender myself--but I keep track of who has borrowed what.

Gargamel--

Feel free to quote Mrs. T.

Aren't some of the people who never re-read books insufferably smug?

Dys--

Good for you! Does your book have pretty pictures?

I was into lots of non-fiction in earlier times, (mostly books on psychology and medicine). Now, (and I am NOT embarrassed to admit it) my taste in books run to serial killers, murder mysteries and the lot. Robin Cook is one of my favorites, 'cause he is a doctor, and gets all his medical terms straight. Same for Johnathan Kellerman, who is a psychologist.

Phoenix--

To each, her own.

At our age, we've earned some dignified escape reading.

I've posted here about life-changing books in order to find something interesting to read. I've made quite an extensive wishlist at amazon from the answers

Velvett--

Another Organized Woman is always welcome.

I like to follow the NTimes list of the best books and if I really like one, then I'll buy it on Amazon.com for a reduced price.

I tend to keep my books forever...

Sometimes, when I really like a book by a newly discovered author, I'll read my way through just about everything they've written. Years ago, I read Welcome To The Monkey House on a long trip Western Australia & back. By the time we got back home I think I'd read just about everything that Kurt V had written. I was completely smitten! Other authors who I've flogged to death in this fashion have included: Doris Lessing, Margaret Atwood, Vikram Seth, Paul Scott, Janette Turner Hospital, Pat Barker, Maggie Gee, etc, etc, ... Oh & quite a few Oz authors that many of you wouldn't know.
Other times a really interesting review will inspire me to rush out & buy a particular book.

There seems to be a growing number of Asian-American and Middle-Eastern ( islamic ) books on the market these days, and they're all excellent reading material for the Summer or whenever.

A new one, by a new author is "Free Food for Millionaires" by Min Jin Lee.
( amazon.com book)

Re: How Do You Decide What To Read Next?


These days I know what to read next because it's an assignment.

Chai, I have felt embarrassed about reading "chewing gum for the eyes," too. But I didn't think it was so dismissable (word?) at the time. Years ago, I was addicted to John MacDonald, the once-popular mystery/detective writer. I loved his MO and had a shelf of his paperbacks. He would find a topic or area of interest, such as stamp collecting or rare coins, and use that as a prop in the story...teaching you a good deal about the subject while getting you involved in the plot. He read easily, and he had a standard set of characters, one of which was his main protagonist Travis McGee who lived on a houseboat in Florida and went around saving people from their dooms.

I have a pile of books as high as my widening waist that are must-reads. I am never without a book, even on the shortest errand, which might provide delays and reading possibilities. I have learned to carry a plain brown wrapper to use when I am traveling, and my husband says, Where are you going? And I say, Oh just down the road, to stop at the pharmacy... when I know that the best used bookstore in the world is on the next corner, and he must not see me coming back with two more books.

I have started to clean out. I was going to be submerged by books, literally, so I began boxing them up and taking them to the library...as donations or for them to sell in their yearly sales. I take boxes of them to retirement homes, too. I have offloaded maybe 500 books this year and still have hundreds to go.

Miller--

I'll check out Free Food for Millionaires. I'm cheered that the reading material of the American public is getting less insular.


Msolga--

We share the joy of discovering a new author--sometimes an author who has written lots and lots and lots of books.

You're right. Your Australian authors are new to me.


Littlek--



This too, shall pass.

Kara--

I've accumulated a lot of trivia from well-researched trashy novels.

Winnowing books is a melancholy business. I'm getting ruthless about saving only those books that I enjoyed enough to re-read, but I've moved from shelving in two layers to shelving in the front layer and stacking in the back....

Books are infinite. Shelving is finite.

I cannot have a stack of books in the shelf waiting to be read, I can;t stand having unread books in my bookshelf - i can't rest till i read them...

So, my list (consisting of a couple of books) is mental - gathered mostly from my Dad and from book reviews. But most of time, I dont have a list, i go to the book shops and browse till I find something interesting...I love that as much as reading....the process of looking for books, reading the blurbs, a couple of pages inside, reading about the author - i love that.

The time to buy new books is right now, because with each passing year the prices just keep increasing .

Other books, I plan to read this Summer:

The Inheritance of Loss, by Kiran Desai

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, by Lisa See

A Thusand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini


Novels are:

American ( Coates )

Asian American ( See, Lee )

Arab-American ( Hosseini, Desai )

Two things calm my nerves!

Summer baseball on the radio

Reading novels that don't strain my brain ( too much )!

Two other books I forgot:

Blue Shoes and Happiness ( Smith )

How Doctors Think ( Groopman )

The Groopman book isn't all it's made out to be!

The Groopman book was one I wanted to read. Gawande has a new one out too I think, even more interested in that.

"The Inheritance of Loss" was very, very good.

Sakhi--

For me a stash of unread books is more of a security blanket than a challenge.

Miller--

I couldn't agree more about the joys of escaping Real Life by diving into fiction.

Is anyone into e-books?

My bedside cupboard is bursting with various paperbacks, most of which have only been read to about page 20. If it hasn't gripped me by then, it goes in the cupboard.
The way I select my next book is quite simple. There's a dusty old discount bookstore near me, and I always make a point of browsing in there at least once a week.
I usually read the blurb on the back to get an idea of the storyline, and then pick a page at random to see if I like the style of writing.

I sometimes go for a book or two from the various awards shortlists, but am pretty loathe to spend big bucks on hardback books, especially when they are too heavy and uncomfortable to read in bed, which is where I tend to do most of my reading.

Miller--

E-books and paperback editions cost the same amount. If I buy a paperback I have a book to lend or to re-read.

Doowop--

I've found if I wait a few months until other people have read a given book and moved on that I can pick up bargains on Amazon. Six-eight months after hardback publication (and six-four months before the paperback edition is released) the used hardback is frequently cheaper than the new paperback will be.

What happens when the cupboard is full?

I give a book three or four tries before I abandon the effort. Once I've given up the book goes to the second hand store or the library book sale.