Discussions

Studious Saturday: How I choose what book to read next

studious saturdays

 

“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking” – Haruki Murakami

Welcome to another bookish Saturday post! Now that I’ve had the opportunity to explore the book blogging world a little more and have published several book reviews, I thought it would be the perfect time to expand my horizons and what better way to do so than try writing discussion posts? After last week’s Three Bookish Things book tag which I greatly enjoyed, I decided that I would start a theme here at Facing the Story called “Studious Saturdays” which would include a tag, discussion or list posted every Saturday with a new topic. Today I plan on discussing how I choose my next book in my constantly growing TBR list.

• Recommendations:

This is by far my favourite method. If a friend or family member recommends a book they read and loved and the description sounds like something I would enjoy, it goes directly to the top of my TBR pile and I usually start reading it immediately after finishing my current book. I am lucky to share the same reading preferences with my family and most of my friends so we are often lending books and discussing our thoughts afterwards.

• Ratings:

This used to be more popular a few years ago when I was a student and books wasn’t yet a commonly discussed topic between my friends so I resorted to Amazon and Goodreads top rated books in genres I liked in order to choose my next book. Needless to say, it didn’t always work for me and on several occasions I was disappointed with my choices. This made me realise that just because one reader may enjoy a book within a genre we both love, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the topics discussed in that book would appeal to me as well. Character development and pace is extremely important to me and I was often frustrated with the lack of these writing techniques in books I chose to read because of others people’s ratings. I am not so easily influenced by ratings any more and instead rely on other means when picking up my next book, though ratings are still a factor I consider on occasions.

• Opinions in the book blogging community:

A much more recent discovery, your opinions are something I really value. Ever since I started this blog, I’ve been so engrossed in reading your reviews, tags and discussion topics that I have since then realised how quickly this became one of the main aspects when choosing my next book. I’ve discovered new authors and special books and, unlike ratings and reviews on Amazon, I find I can relate to other bloggers’ opinions much more.

• Read once and loved authors:

Sometimes I stumble across a book written by an author whose writing style I love for one reason or another so I decide to read previous books that they have written or keep an eye out for any future books published by them. I find this method usually works well, though I am often inclined to wait or read another book in between so it is not necessarily how I pick up my next book even though I may add it to my TBR pile. However, I must say that if I decide that I loved the book that much, I have to get my hands on the author’s next book right there and then. This happened with Khaled Hosseini, one of my favourite authors, and it’s also how I discovered my love for Jodi Picoult novels. (Having said that, I am so excited to read A Spark of Light and Sea Prayer, who’s with me here?!)

• By pure chance:

This usually depends on my mood or other circumstances, such as not having any books around me which happens now and again. I don’t usually stray from my TBR list because it’s so long that it would take me years to get through and deciding to read another book not previously present in the list is nonsensical for me. However, if a book I’ve not heard of before is discounted or suddenly appears on Kindle Unlimited I sometimes decide to buy it, though I may not read it straight away. In the latter category fall books that I have to pick up, often because my kindle is out of battery or not with me at that moment. I am lucky that my parents’ and grandparents’ house is full of books in different languages so when I’m visiting I sometimes pick a book at random and I’m usually not disappointed with my choice.

Question

How do you choose what book to read next?

Thank you for taking the time to read this Saturday’s musings and have a lovely weekend!

 

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