I stumbled
upon this question on Quora - How do you
decide which book to read? There are some more questions which requires
same answer:
My first
response to the questions above was – By
Instinct. When I gave it a thought, below are the pointers which make me
purchase a book or download it on my Kindle or read it:
1. Goodreads – I take a look at my
Goodreads home page and see that one of my friend has rated a book or marked it
to his/her to-read list:
a. Sometimes, I add it to my to-read list
without even looking at the blurb. That’s when I like the cover or the title. I
know they say that “never judge a book by it’s cover:” – but then, accept it or
not, the cover does make a difference sometimes!
b. If my friend has rated the book high
and it belongs to the genre I read, I sometimes check it’s blurb and add it to
my to-read list.
c. Goodreads also recommends some books
based on one’s read list.
2. Book store – Now-a-days, there are two
types of book stores – a store and a stall (I think both have existed ever
since).
a. I pass by a stall – Book stalls are a
book lover jackpot points. Believe me, if you happen to cross one, do not
ignore it. Carry your to-read list with you (it’s easy in present era – just an
app in the mobile and show it to the seller. Chances are that the seller would
have at-least one book from the list on sale! That’s what I do.
There are times, when I
just ask for a recommendation from the sales person. Romance is the genre that
comes to my mouth at this time.
b. I spot a book store – I try and avoid
entering a book store. Reason? I get lost in there! I love it, but my time does
not. At a book store, I either just go and ask for any book that has been on my
mind for some days.
I also browse the children
section a lot and pick a book or two for my kids.
3. Received for review – Some books on my
shelf also belong to this category where either the author/PA/publisher/agent
approached me for a review.
4. My Book Shelf – I have a lot of books
in my shelf which I seriously need to pick and read. Many times, I just pick one of them when I am
done with my current book.
I visited my
to-read list on Goodreads and surprised myself when I saw I had a long list! Unfortunately, I am not able to show the complete list (Goodreads - widget bug), check out the list at the link:
