For The L♥ve of Reading discussion

how do you determine what will be your next read or why you want to read a specific book?

do you tend to read the same authors? are you open to new genres out of your comfort zone?

do you primarily read fiction or non-fiction? or a cross-section of both?

if someone recommends a book, do you always read it? what determines if you will read it or not?

I read to escape, so I prefer fiction. That's not to say I won't read non-fiction, but really only if my book club chooses a non-fiction book. I'm always looking for books by new authors, I know it sounds silly, but I want to give them their chance to make it.

I read all genre's within fiction except for maybe something that might scare the crap out of me (I'm kinda a wimp there). My favorite is YA fantasy/sci fi. When I pick a book for the first time, I like it to be as long as possible (I read fast) and if it's a series that is always nice because that means there is more to read. I'm terrible because I judge a book by its cover, but I also like to read something that I haven't really read before. Like for instance, I read a lot of fantasy fic so I try to steer clear of vampires and werewolves because it has so been done. That's not to say I won't read them at all. Of course I have my favorites and if someone really really recommends it I prolly will.

I really only read recommendations from certain people. I have a couple sisters who recommend books to me and we definitely don't share the same opinion on books.

I thought this was an intriguing question, and have been paying attention to how I'm choosing. I have something of a system to my reading.

If I don't want to think, I'll grab something like John Sandford or Janet Evanovich. Good candy reads.

Lately, I've been printing my list of TBR off here and taking to the library. I'll get 4 - 6 books off the list, then choose whichever book, based on my mood. The next one often comes based on my prior read - if I didn't enjoy it, I look through my pile for whatever looks different. If I loved it, I'll find the most similar book. I find I read in streaks - I had a European History theme going for awhile, now it's been a bit more random due to the books I had available at the library.

karli,

interesting. i will make note of authors that i like and try to read more books by them. i don't usually read books of similar subjects - but that's an idea.

I know so little about other cultures, other histories. We can be so very isolated here, and I'm not sure what education looks like in other parts of the country, as I went k - 12 to the same, small school, but we were VERY good at the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria, to the Revolutionary War, the Civil War and through 1800's. However, the end of the year always seemed to hit before we could really get into WWI, the Great Depression and in general the 1900s - SAD, since that was the era we were living in. And a lot of us had grandparents who'd fought in WWII, fathers who had been involved in Vietanam. But we didn't deal at ALL with living history. Then the next year we started with our textbooks again at the beginning. So...I chose to take a more autodidactal approach to my history education, and learned a lot - and delved very specifically into WWII, the Halocaust and the Internment camps on US soil. And I STILL only know a very little.

That's a lot of why I end up reading in streaks. If something piques my interest, I want to know more, and understand more. I feel like I have less than a thimble-full of knowledge, and there is so much more to learn. A well-researched piece of fiction is just a really sweet way to get my history lesson.

have you read Snow Falling on Cedars

this is a great read about the internment camps during the second world war.

i love this book.

I'm attracted to covers lol, the prettiest cover attracts me usually! Or its a mood thing, recently I went through a few weeks of just crime, other times I mix genres a bit more.

I have to say until I came across Goodreads, I read books by a few authors that I knew I liked; predominantly Stephen King and James Herbert for example, then I stopped being so narrow minded and tried others and now I would say I try a wide variety of authors/genres that I may have otherwise missed out on!

I don't tend to read non-fiction but I intend to get round to reading more.

As for recommendations, if I'm honest, if I don't like the sound of it, no I won't read it. If I do, then maybe I will. All depends really.

I don't really have a way that I pick what to read next. Sometimes I want to read something different from what I just read and sometimes I want to read something similar or maybe the next in that same series. It is mostly a mood thing.

This year I am doing challeneges for the first time and I have read mostly books that appear on my challenge list to make sure I finish them all. I have started to feel almost trapped by the challenge books and have been reading a few things that aren't on the lists :)

Elizabeth wrote: "have you read Snow Falling on Cedars

this is a great read about the internment camps during the second world war.

i love this book."

I have - I read it in undergrad. :) I'd forgotten about it until you mentioned it. I borrowed it from a bibliophile cousin, so I don't see it.

Angela wrote: "I don't really have a way that I pick what to read next. Sometimes I want to read something different from what I just read and sometimes I want to read something similar or maybe the next in that ..."


i know what you mean about feeling confined. the book club i belong to doesn't read the same book. we just get together once a month for dinner and we exchange books we have read.

it's easy and less stressful.

That does sound like it would be fun. I would like to have some time of real life good club

hmmm my to read books, here are my steps:

1. get some books
2. if i have some from the library, i read them before my own, unless i cant survive no reading mine
2.5. decide the ones i want to read the most at the moment (if theyre all mine)
3. put them in the order ill read them on my bookshelf (the real woden one) - the 1st's on the top and so on...
4. i start reading

thats pretty much what i do

I usually read all i can get, unless ive read something of a certain author and its hopeless *cough*dickens*cough*

I love ficton, but since ive found some non fic books that sound really good, ive decided to give them a chance

My next reads tend to be last minute decisions. I've constantly got a monstrous stack of TBR books at home, and when I finish what I'm currently reading, I just rake my eyes over what I've got and pick up whatever stands out. Recently, I've been trying to force myself to catch up on a lot of the series I've started.

I don't choose to read any specific genre or author. I do have favorite authors, of course, but when it comes to reading, I'll read anything. Often, I will read an author and decide I like them, then go out and attempt to read everything else they've written. Fiction or nonfiction, I love it all. As for genres, they don't particularly matter to me. I like anything based on the plot and the ability of the author to write well and pull me in.

I don't always read recommendations because no two people read the same. What I may love another may hate, and vice versa. If someone recommends something to me, I'll check out the blurb here on goodreads and decide if it sounds like something I'd like to try. If so, I add it to-read and get to it sometime (my to-read list is killer).

Heather wrote: "My next reads tend to be last minute decisions. I've constantly got a monstrous stack of TBR books at home, and when I finish what I'm currently reading, I just rake my eyes over what I've got and..."

I LOVE the TBR option on Goodreads - that's really made my book choosing a lot more fun.

It depends on my mood. Sometimes I stay with the same author or topic. Other times I want something new and different than what I just read. I have problems with series books because I don't always want to read the same ideas. I did enjoy reading the 5 books about Charles II by different authors.

I'm a really random reader. I have a few books but I have been going to the library lately. I've been lucky at getting my hands on some newer books. But I usually go in order of how much I want to know what is inside the cover. I'm not a synopsis reader (that is too much reading... kidding, I like to be surprised. If it is good then it is really good, if it sucks then I don't finish the book and move on).

Lately it has been going in order of books for school, and books from library mixed with a book for group reads here on Goodreads. Lately, it has been hard to get in some fun reads for myself but I just had some book candy by reading Wake and Fade.

I usually read fantasy books but generally I choose my book based one what book seems to appeal to me most or based on what books I can get at the library. I am not too choosy because I know I that if I don't read it now I will get to it. Sometimes I need to switch it up a bit from the norm too.

I think I choose books at different times for different reasons. I think that lately it has been because of the order they come and are due back at the library. It is actually getting really annoying to be on the library's schedule.

Well, I found my unintentional theming happen again tonight...I have just finished The Life of Pi (about a shipwrecked boy surviving on the ocean with a tiger in his boat) and then Bel Canto - a terrorist organization takes over a dinenr party of internationally diverse guests...and now I'm on Beside a Burning Sea - ship has gone down, and we have Japanese and Americans on an island with an unknown betrayer there with them...

karli,

how did you like life of pi? did it live up to the hype? i read it when it first came out and my mouth dropped at the end. what about you?

and how is bel canto? it's on my shelf.

Life of Pi did NOT live up to the hype for me. I loved the first 1/4 and the last 1/4 - the middle was a slog. Seriously though - he's on the ocean with a tiger. I don't know how you make that a fabulously interesting read. It was a solid 3 star, and would have been 4 if there'd been more like the beginning and endings.

Bel Canto was a character piece really - the dynamics were well done, but I didn't get that engaged, so it wasn't a show-stopper for me.