How do you choose your next book?

[Ronny]

I don't really think about it until I go in the room and grab something. I close my eyes, go in, spin 3 times, head for the shelf I'm facing and grab one Not really, I don't spin but the rest is pretty true

[shackbleep]

Sometimes I go looking for particular authors I know I liked before... though since I go through an average of two books a week, I don't remember all the authors I've ever read!

 

Sometimes I'll just browse in the library, or a 2nd hand bookshop and pick up something that looks interesting. Pot luck!

[TammyRich]

Because I'm a member of RISI I have books from them hanging around the house but there are also books I've picked up in the past and old faves around. Sometimes my choice is because something's just arrived in the post, sometimes it's cos I've picked it up and glanced in it while tidying and it's grabbed my fancy, sometimes it's cos the author/title has been recommended or I've become hooked on an author and I'm reading the next in the series. All sorts of reasons and mood can have a lot to do with it. It also can affect whether I give up on a book. Since becoming member of online forums I think my reading habits have changed and affected my choosing.

[nuttymum303]

I have books that I look at the back and see if I like what I am reading at the time. I have started a few books which I have to finish first lol.

[Purple Poppy]

It depends on my mood at the time. Sometimes it's already dictated if there's a book to be read for a club or this forum, but otherwise, it's down to how I feel when I finish a book. Sometimes if the book was heavy going, you just want something a bit lighter. Other times you may think, ok, now I'll tackle War and Peace LOL!

 

PP

[hoopeybird]

I seem to be affected by the weather.

During summer i tend to read chicklit type of books.Winter its usually classics like wuthering heights etc

weather does affect our moods so i suppose it is all down to that really.

i love to read different types of books and have no favorite types or authurs really.

I just love books!!

the look of them,the smell of them when they are new

i couldnt live without books.I dread the day i cant see properly to read.

i work in an ophthalmic dept at my local hospital and my patients are mainly very poor sighted and have to listen to audio books-which are great-but you cant beat being able to read a book yourself

[Purple Poppy]

Hoopeybird said;

I just love books!!

the look of them,the smell of them when they are new

i couldnt live without books.I dread the day i cant see properly to read.

i work in an ophthalmic dept at my local hospital and my patients are mainly very poor sighted and have to listen to audio books-which are great-but you cant beat being able to read a book yourself

 

Yes, I think most of us would agree. You can't beat a book. Its like vinyl LPs...the covers are often as good as whats inside. I must admit to wanting a reader though. I can't wait for them to be released here. Sony has just released them un USA, but they are going to be about

[Pilgrim]

There's a fantastic fiction website which is where I go to find out the popular authors of different years and styles. I pick an old year, get to know a few authors and look at Dagger, Edgar, Agatha and other mystery and crime writers' Awards. Aside from Agatha Christie, whose books are all wonderful, there are just too many to test everything without a map.

[Guest]

It depends on my mood too, but I also tend to go through phases. At the moment I'm reading a lot of biographies.

 

How do I choose my next book though? It could be a conversation or a television programme that puts the subject or novel in mind, or it could just be that I have a nice, shiny new book that's calling to me.

[angerball]

I usually read library books first, so I don't have to keep renewing them. Unfortunately, I always end up borrowing more, so I've been neglecting the books I own and have yet to read. Oh, the travesty....

[aromaannie]

I am quite strict with myself - I have 4 piles, pile 1 & 2 are fiction spilt into new and secondhand (normally thriller with a few chick lit thrown in every now & then). The 3rs & 4th are non fiction (again split into new & secondhand) which consists of true crime, biography and true life type stuff.

 

I alerternate between the 2 types but generally read the new ones first . When I get a new book it goes to the bottom of the pile (unless it's a new release from a thriller writer that I read everything of and then it goes straight to the top) so I more or less read in the order that I buy.

 

Also my 2nd hand ones are the only ones I take with me when I go on holiday to Miami as it is so hot often ther glue dries out and the pages start falling out.

[Kylie]

I usually like to just sit and stare at all my books until one jumps out at me (not literally, of course ). Lately though, between recommendations from you good people and other places, I've had more of an idea of what to read next.

[Kell]

When I get a new book it goes to the bottom of the pile (unless it's a new release from a thriller writer that I read everything of and then it goes straight to the top) so I more or less read in the order that I buy.

I used to work like that too - all new books went to the bottom of the oils and I read them in the order they arrived, but I ended up with so many to choose from and eventually I just didn't fancy the ones that were at the top and I had to switch to random choice. I still have a couple of those ones waiting to be read now as other books take my fancy, but I picked up one of them to start reading today, so perhaps those other ones that have been waiting for ages will get read shortly too...

[Icecream]

I usually like to just sit and stare at all my books until one jumps out at me (not literally, of course ). Lately though, between recommendations from you good people and other places, I've had more of an idea of what to read next.

 

I do that too, although I too have had lot's of recommendations from here recently.

[Nici]

It depends on my mood - I have "easy" books and "concentrate" books, so depending on how I am feeling at the time I will choose one or the other and then read the back of them and decide which one I fancy.

 

Or sometimes a book will just jump out at me....

[Weave]

I just pick up the next on on my TBR pile x

[Polka Dot Rock]

Mood and subject is a big thing with me: I'm quite an instinctive person so I tend to pick up what I fancy at that time. Although, ahem, new books do have an occasionally sneaky way of pushing to the front of the queue It doesn't mean I abandon the others tho'!

[JudyB]

Same here - depends what mood I'm in and I usually know what kind of book I'd like to read next. Sometimes I plan it - it's nice to have the next book in mind - keeps me focused. What I hate is when I can't decide and then I pick up books that I can't get into.

[Polka Dot Rock]

Ditto, Judy! I hate it when I don't have one in mind. Planning your next book is kinda cool too, as sometimes I'm quite surprised by what I fancy. I really want to read The Crimson Petal & the White, and last week I was starting to worry I wouldn't get around to reading it!

[JudyB]

Not sure what I'm going to read next - don't know what I'll fancy after Crickley Hall. I think by the time I finish One Good Turn will have arrived in the library and I have a book out that looks good called The Necropolis Railway - Victorian mystery (contemporary author).

[George Stark]

I didn't really want to start a new thread but i felt that i had to. This is the orginal thread;

 

"http://bookclubforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=220&highlight=who+you+choose+your+next+book&page=4"

 

I am reading The dark Half by Stephen King at the moment, i am loving reading it and i know it won't last for very long, i've mentioned it in another thread over the weekend.

 

By what i have been reading on threads that have been posted up recently or threads that have come and gone, people have either lists of books to read or actual piles of books to get through. So i have been thinking about what i should read next. I don't have a reading list to get through and i don't have the foggiest idea what i should read next.

 

Well, i have read all the books on my pile, it wasn't really a pile to be fair, it consisted of two books strewn around my room. I am really confused what book i should read next. I can't make up my mind. I thought that i should carry on reading Stephen King, while i have a healthy enthusiasm for his writing, but i am very mindful that i have only been reading his books lately and quite worried that my mind is slowly getting warped. So i started thinking about reading something with abit more emotion, a story line that doesn't included someone being disenbowled by a made up pen persona or a town full of human-alien hybribs.

 

The choices that i had, were well overwhelming. I wouldn't go for a classic, as i read Dracular and Frankenstein not to long ago. Along with being quite heavy reads, they there were also quite dark. As i have ruled anything with blood and guts out of the equation, crime/thrillers are a nono.

 

But then i had a phone call from my travel insurance company, asking if i would like to 'update' my insurance plan, which is their code word for trying to get more money out of me. I told them "No thanks" and hung the phone up. I gasped "What about some action adventure, to get me in the spirit for traveling". It soon faded because i am not, unfortunatly, doing anything as exciting as anything Sir Ralph Fiennes gets up to even in his spare time.

 

I started to read again with no idea what i was going to read next. Even as i am sat here at my computer trying to write this as excitingly as possible, and failing miserably, I STILL DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO READ. It really annoys me. I do occasionally have lulls where i don't read anything for a couple of months. In these lulls i am forced to watch tv when i am bored. They also force me to actually do the washing up when there is a sink full of dishes. They even force me, by the way don't tell anyone, to actually clean the house up.

 

I'm trying to figure out what mood i am in. As many people in the above article have mentioned that they choose their books on what mood they are in. What if your not in a mood? More importantly, i need a book to read in the eleven hour fifty minute flight i have to South Africa in June. I won't even get started on that, i got another month to find a good one anyway. OK it's turing into a rant so i will get to the point.

 

Do lulls contribute to your hunger for reading? Or do you even have lulls, are you some kind of book reading machine? Finally, is reading for you, a life style or is it just something you do to pass the time.

 

I went through one just after christmas. I had a few more books on my untidy pile and i only started reading them in March. Since then i read six good sized books and a few smaller ones. For me lulls do make me want to read more. Just as not doing any mountain biking even for a week makes me want to just ride day and night.

 

Books are very much part of my lifestyle, but they do not really rule over my life. I don't really get upset of depressed if i am not reading for a while, because most of the time my lulls correspond to times when i am up to my eye balls with work and social life. But i do find that i am much more bored if i don't have a book to read, the biggest thign with me is that if i have free time and i am watchign telly or playing computer games and i am not reading, i do feel like i am wasting my time.

 

Sorry for going on a little rant.

 

P.s. still haven't found a book:blush:

[Michelle]

Actually, I prefer threads to be resurrected, rather than new ones started. It just meakes things simpler in the future. Thanks

 

PS Hope you find a book soon!

[George Stark]

Sorry my bad!

[Nici]

George, did you decide on a book?

[Guest ii]

Hey, it was a good non-rant, you're perfectly forgiven. And yes, as the resident goddess of all things with high heels over here, I can decide who is forgiven and who not. (Sorry, I was reading a dictionary, it always gets me into a weird place in my head.)

 

Funnily enough I know what you mean by "not being in a mood". I think, assuming I got you correctly, what you're referin to is slight case of ennui. Do you have that word in English? You just don't feel like anything, really. For those occasions, I'd suggest just picking up a book either by the author whose style you know to enjoy, or rereading something you liked a lot. Just to get you going.

 

My favourite ennui book is Naive.Super by Erlend Loe. You might want to check that out.

 

What else..? Oh, yes! Where in SA are you going to? And funny you should mention is, 'cause I was just at the store earlier today, trying to decide what to have for dinner and finally settled for some bobotie. (I love it, haven't had it in ages and I hadn't really realised how much I'd missed it!)

As for on-flight reading, take something light (not just literally but also figuratively), something you are pretty certain you'll enjoy and something that doesn't suffer too much if your attention span isn't really at its greatest. There's always some distractions on the plane. Those would be my tips. I also recommend packing a light scarf (I for one cannot sleep without a "blanket"), small spray-bottle of water (makes you feel gazillion times better upon arrival, refreshes like no other) and some lipbalm.