The way we discover books is ever-changing. It sure seems like we’re far more likely to discover books through a tweet, Goodreads recommendation, Facebook post, or online search than we are through methods that existed before the Internet.
Where did you hear about the book you’re reading?
I’m reading A Wrinkle in Time at the moment, which I could have sworn I read growing up, but now realize I picked up and put down a million times when I was a kid. So, uh, I heard about it when I was a kid.
What about you?
Art: Conversation – Camille Pissarro
I read an interview with the author on CNN.com. It's a nonfiction book.
I'm reading The White Mountains, by John Christopher right now. It was loaned to me by a colleague at work, which is an extremely rare source for me, considering this is the first time it's ever happened.
The vast majority of the books I read are recommended by friends I know mostly on the internet.
I'm reading The Pearl Wars, by Nick James. My little sister brought it home from the library just before I came home from college. I found it lying around the house and picked it up.
The book I just finished reading I bought via Kindle on my phone after reading a free Kindle book by the same author. Times are a'changin'!
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I have three books going right now – one is third in a series (Blackout by Mira Grant) I heard about through word of mouth. The other two (Code Name Verity by E. Wein and Contested Will – I can't recall the author's name) I heard about on twitter. Twitter is pretty much the #1 place I hear about a book, then I poke into it and decide if I'm interested.
I find out about some books from my book club, but often it's Shelf Awareness which I subscribe to or just going through my favorite indie store and talking to book sellers.
I have a hard time deciding what I want to read. The internet has not made any difference for me. Often I just don't know what I want to read. I like funny, but it's hard to find. There's so much to choose from. I'm afraid of being let down by my purchase which has happened to me more than a few times.
Whether I like to admit it or not, Goodreads has become my go to place for finding new books.
The last book I read, which was a couple months ago, was for research on the book I was writing at the time. So I learned about it from research. It's about John Dunn, the White Chief of Zululand.
The Hare With Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal. Heard about it from my indie bookseller in Amsterdam. Excellent recommendation, excellent book.
I'm reading the Fairacre series by Miss Read. I heard about her work because it was an inspiration for Jan Karon's Mitford series, which I heard about from a friend (and which I reread at least once every 2 years).
My reading choices come from suggestions from friends or references in other books, magazines, or blogs. Another great way to choose something good to read is to read another book by an author you already enjoy.
Currently reading Storm Front, the first Harry Dresden file. The series has been mentioned to me by too many friends to ignore!
I'm reading Artemis Fowl for the first time, and I found out about it through a friend. I'm still old school when it comes to finding out about books. Don't really pay attention to Goodreads. Sad, I know. 🙂
American Gods by Neil Gaiman. After years of gushy tweets and status updates about it, I realized it was time to give it a try.
"Hold me Closer, Necromancer" by Lish McBride. It was recommended to me by Amazon and it's REALLY, REALLY good. I can't wait for the second one to come out now.
After you read "Wrinkle in Time" are you going to read the others in the series? I think there's five total, though "Wrinkle in Time" is the best one.
I'm reading Borkmann's Point, by Hakan Nesser. I stumbled upon it in a bookstore. Which, I must say, is still my favourite way to go about the whole process, preferably with a coffee in my hand.
I'm also reading String Bridge, by Jessica Bell. She's a friend of mine, so that's how I know about that one.
Getting ready to read Colin Powell's new book. Saw an article in Parade magazine from him on kindness.
I'm reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. I heard about this book in high school but never got around to reading it. Then a couple months ago a blogger reviewed it and so I added it to my to-read list. It's a terrific novel and I'm really enjoying it!
Every book I've read this year has been recommended through a blog I follow or a newspaper review, usually the NY Times.
Reading Alice Walker's The Color Purple – so I've always known about it and now's the moment to read it. I haven't seen the movie either, so I feel like I'm in catch up mode.
From your blog! Story Engineering by Larry Brooks
One, Moral Disorder, was given to me by a friend who knows I love Margaret Atwood.
Last Call is research for a WIP that I found searching Amazon.
Pick Your Poison was a book club recommendation.
Sing Them Home (yes I have a lot of books going at once) is Stephanie Kallos' second book, and I loved Broken for You. Heard about that one at a conference.
The Goodreads and Amazon recommendations I get are rarely anything I'm interested in. I tend to rely on friends, author blogs and NPR. And, of course, wandering around the bookstore and spotting something that looks interesting.
I'm reading "Howl's Moving Castle." It is one of the top 100 on the Goodreads list of "Best YA Books." I have been trying to read the entire list for almost a year now and I only have a few more to finish.
Respectively, from my bookclub, Patricia Cornwell's Blowfly, and the bookstore, Julianna Baggott's Pure. Which are outliers to be honest, I find most from sci-fi fantasy blogs recommendations and reviews.
Currently reading THE SCORPIO RACES. Good reviews and praise from friends
… I think it is different and it isn't. It seems to me it's still word-of-mouth that generates the most interest. That word-of-mouth now just isn't words coming out of mouths anymore. It's facebook, twitter, blogs..But it's sort of the same. We hear praise, from several sources, for a certain book and we begin to take notice. I think reviews matter about as much as ever, but online reviews have a bigger share of attention.
Currently reading Alex J. Cavanaugh's books, CassaStar and CassaFire. I had my interest whetted on Alex's site.
I'm getting some of my ideas from bloggers (not necessarily Book Bloggers either). I don't look at Goodreads or any other book review sites for my choices. I prefer blogger friends suggestions and my own interests.
I've recently discovered my love of Diana Gabaldon's books, and I got that from researching a writing conference.
Maybe it depends on WHAT you read.
I'm reading Dexter by Design by Jeff Lindsay. I discovered the first in the series because I stumbled across an episode of the TV series.
"Victoria said…
Currently reading Storm Front, the first Harry Dresden file. The series has been mentioned to me by too many friends to ignore!"
Wonderful series. I was driven by uncontrollable need to buy all of them, and reread until the next came out.
I'm reading 'All About Lulu' by Jonathan Evison. Evison keynoted the Field's Writing Conference on Whidbey Island last month and no one in the audience was in their chair at the end of his remarks. They were either (a) participating in a standing ovation (b) still rolling in the aisles over his comedic schtick (c) charging the podium to be the first in line to chat him up as he descended to take his seat.
I only get to see/hear one author of the one hundred that I read; so the 'Where?" is USUALLY from the sweet murmurs of someone's lips.
Currently reading And Yet They Were Happy by Helen Phillips. Pretty sure I heard about it through an article about her on SheWrites. I'd say I tend to come to the books I read because: A. I already like the author, B. I hear/read an interview, review, or section of the book on NPR, in Poets & Writers, or elsewhere, or C. a friend recommends it. And even though it's superficial, I'll admit that a cool cover in a bookstore will at least get me to pick a book up and read the back cover description.
I'm finding most of my books from sites like Pixel of Ink or Ereader News Today. They try to find the best free books every day and post them along with the description and ratings. They are good filters. I just finished "The Only Witness". Sorry, can't recall the author at the moment and I'm on my work computer, but it was free on Friday. Very good read. I had a houseful of people coming over Sunday evening, but the book kept me reading all that morning. I couldn't stop until I finished it. I just closed off doors of rooms I didn't get to clean. 😉
I have quite a few in my reading queue at the moment.
* Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend by Susan Orlean – heard about on TV and by coincidence so did my boyfriend and he bought it for me for my birthday 🙂
* Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty – found while browsing the shelves of Half Price Books
* The Great Earthquake and Firestorms of 1906: How San Francisco Nearly Destroyed Itself by Philip Fradkin – ditto
* The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan – ditto
* A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future: Twists and Turns and Lessons Learned by Michael J. Fox – read his first book, loved it, happen to discover he'd written more while on Amazon
* Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist by Michael J. Fox – ditto
Of other recent reads, they were all the next volumes of series I'm reading. I heard about the Book Girl series while browsing the publisher's site to see when the next volume of the Kieli series was coming out. Kieli I heard about while looking for info on the next Spice & Wolf volume LOL. Spice & Wolf I learn about from the anime.
I can't think of a single book I've learned and actually considered reading from a Facebook post, and I don't twit or use GoodReads.
Finally reading Bonfire of the Vanities. I was reminded of it because it was mentioned (oddly enough) in Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis, which reminded me that I'd been meaning to read it forever ….
The book I'm reading (and loving!) right now was a free book from the NYU Summer Publishing Institute last summer; I guess it was a gift from a publisher to us wanna-be professionals. The book I just finished reading I picked up based upon a recommendation on goodreads and on loan from that same friend.
I'm finding that Goodreads and Shelf Awareness are my increasingly main source of book recommendations. Also, I'm starting to plow through the collection of books I own but have never read. Being on a book budget is helping me work through my backlogged to-read list!
anon@7:30-
I usually only read the first book in a series, so no. I'm weird like that.
Interesting post question. I heard about The Psychopath Test on NPR and am reading it now. Fascinating.
Currently reading A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. I heard good things about it on both GoodReads and Facebook. Social media works!
I get notification of free books for Kindle and those I enjoy I follow up with further 'real' purchases.
From three sources. One, it's by a favorite author and I had been vaguely aware it was coming out soon. Two, a review blog just posted a very positive review of it. Three, a friend just mentioned to me that it was out.
I'm reading Elements of the Novel: A Primer for Beginners by Eileen Charbonneau. (It's great, by the way.)
Eileen's a novelist who also teaches writing, and she ran my writing group.
I'm unfortunately not reading anything at the moment, but the last book I read was Insurgent by Veronica Roth, which I heard about at the end of the first book Divergent, which, interestingly enough, was the first book I bought after seeing an ad about it on the internet (and on Facebook, no less).
Reading stuff I heard about in my childhood but never got the chance to read, too! ;D IRONY
I never thought I'd say this, but I love the recommended books feature on my nook. It's not always the greatest, but sometimes it reminds me that a favorite author has a new book out (such as Drop Dead Healthy, by AJ Jacobs, which I started last night.)
I'm reading an ARC right now, but I've heard good things about the author through social media.
I'm reading Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.
I first heard of Cold Mountain because of the movie, and of course THG was from all the media attached to the film.
I picked up Cold Mountain because it's on my list of award winning books. While I picked up THG because my daughter is reading it now, and I wanted to read-along with her.
I just finished A Wrinkle in Time. I find my books through recommendations from others. My GoodReads friends, bloggers I read a lot, references in books I'm currently reading.
I'm also a library frequenter. I roam the aisle with my topic of choice and see what catches my eye. This works best for craft books though.
Currently reading two books:
"At Home" by Bill Bryson. Got it as a gift because I told my wife I loved his other books I'd read. (familiarity with work)
"The Feedstore Chronicles" by Travis Erwin. He's an online friend I met through writing circles a few years ago. (personal connection/reference)
verification word: ourchive
I love this nonword as a way of describing a family's historical records.
The Retrieval Artist series by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, which I found by reading her Spade/Paladin short stories in either Hitchcock or Ellery Queen Magazine.
Molly Murphy series by Rhys Bowen, which my children's school librarian recommended.
I just finished The Solitary House which I first saw on Goodreads but on the same day Lyndsay Faye recommended it at her book signing …I get many of my recommendations from Goodreads or the "customers also bought …" on amazon
I get a lot of book recommendations from FB/Twitter posts. I download a lot of samples to my Nook and then buy the ones I'm hooked by. And I'll download the sample for any author that I've read before and liked.
Bransford,
So it had paper pages and you literally picked it from amongst your book collection, or, you "picked it up" virtually with a computer device?
I'm still reading "A Palestine Affair" by Jonothan Wilson, fiction. I usually stick with NY Times best's but/and, this book won, "National Jewish Book Award Finalist", reflecting its popularity. And I literally picked it up from a tree lined, first floor, low rise at 3251 North Broadway in Chicago. This address is, "Unabridged Bookstore". It's been there some time, successful, adequately staffed and the owner can be found.
At "Unabridged Bookstore," the space between reading shelves is wide, not too much traveling to do either, from bookshelf to bookshelf. This is the catcher: they only sell the best in, of, literature, in almost every single genre.
That's the short version of my answer to this question Bransford.
This morning I spent too long attempting to delete yesterday's typo-s. Sorry though.
Lucky
I have so many on my reading list, and I don't know where I hear about them. Most of them are popular as it is. Anyway, currently reading Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.
I just finished 'Sharp Objects' by Gillian Flynn, which I heard about through the blog of Lisa L. Regan, soon-to-be-published author. It was quite good.
Currently reading
==> The Selected Letters of Allen Ginsberg and Gary Snyder because I saw it in a local, independent bookstore
==> Silent Spring (Rachel Carson) because I have meant to since I was a wee teenager
==> The Sea, The Sea (Iris Murdoch) because it's what my reading group has selected (i.e., recommended by a fellow reading group member)
And I had that same, weird un-deja-vu with A Wrinkle In Time — thought I'd read it but when I picked it up "again" it turned out I hadn't. A wrinkle in reading…..?
Just started reading Ashes by Ilsa Bick. At the end of April, my last A-Z Blogfest post was (of course) Z is for Zombies. Through twitter, friends and I discussed best Zombie books. I posited The Reapers are The Angels. Ashes was one recommendation I got over and over. I get most of my recommendations from people I haven't met in person 😉
I love that at least two of the books listed–The White Mountains and A Wrinkle in Time– are at least 50 years old. It's great to see the longevity that books can have. John Christopher recently died at age 89 but his books live on.
99.9% of the books I read I read because someone blogs or Tweets about it. I read a lot of book blogs, which is where most of my recs come from. Anyone who says book blogs aren't useful hasn't seen the part of my household budget my husband calls "Sommer needs to get a second job" fund.
The three books I'm in the middle of: HOW LAMAR'S BAD PRANK WON A BUBBA-SIZED TROPHY — writer friend's recommendation.
THE LITTLE WORLD OF DON CAMILLO — found it in our library's used book sale.
PLATFORM by Michael Hyatt — ebook, advertised through his own blog.
I saw Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman in the new arrivals section of my local libraries ebook webpage.
I'm in the same boat as you, Nathan. I am reading The Giver, which I swore I already read.
I'm reading "Pretty Amy," a YA by Lisa Burnstein. 🙂
I get a lot of book recs from my Twitter feed. But I also have specific publishers that I tend to follow because they release the kind of books that I like. I know that I can't go wrong with Entangled Publishing!
I'm reading "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" which I heard about though rather old- fashioned means… there's a very knowledgeable salesperson in Indigo bookstore who has never steered me wrong.
I usually find my books because they're mentioned in one of my college classes or someone I respect is reading a book and talking about it on Facebook or Goodreads.
My writing group always comes up with new and interesting books. My son gave me Patrick Rothfuss – Name of the Wind….Love his writing…Mostly get my books from friends and family referrals, but there are certain authors I buy each time their new book comes out. (And I mean hard cover book)
I'm reading TAFT 2012 because I feel a moral obligation to read everything affiliated with Quirk Books.
Was looking for a writing conference last year, noticed local author Erica O'Rourke won an RWA Golden Heart for "Torn." I read that, then met author at the conference, bought her second book in the YA series called "Tangled." 🙂
NOBODY MOVE by Denis Johnson.
Queued up is A CONSPIRACY OF PAPER by David Liss.
I like to read "unknown" (to me) books by author's that are revered by author's I personally revere. WOW…that was a ridiculous sentence. Did it even make sense?
I'm reading A Spy Like Me by Laura Pauling – a friend's (and fellow Indelible's) self-published book.
The novel I just finished: from the author herself.
The nonfiction: amazon searches.
I almost always go with word-of-mouth. If enough people I know/am friends with/trust their reading tastes like it and recommend it, I figure there must be something to it. Also, I don't really trust internet and Amazon reviews — you never know whether they're honest or not.
Actually, I hardly ever read reviews, because people react to books in such different ways. If it catches my eye or ear, I'll read the jacket flap, and pick it up if it sounds interesting.
An exception: I'm reading A Clash of Kings right now. I first heard of the series when I saw the TV show poster, and picked it up b/c Sean Bean is my favorite actor. 🙂
From Jenny Cruisie–I'm reading Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen. Fun read!!
I get a lot of new authors from Amazon Kindle Free Bestsellers…great place to discover new writers.
I just finished Wild by Cheryl Strayed and Let's Pretend This Didn't Happen by Jenny Lawson. Now I've just picked up Cures For Hunger, a wonderful memoir by Deni Y. Bechard, and The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes. All wonderful books, but these last two are amazing. I usually take suggestions from friends, Twitter, GoodReads, etc.
I just finished ALL OVER BUT THE SHOUTIN' by Rick Bragg, who spoke at a conference I attended in March.
Right now I'm reading THE MAPMAKER AND THE GHOST with my boys, by fellow Class of 2k12 debut, Sarvenz Tash.
Was at a SCBWI conference last weekend and Andrew Harwell of HarperCollins recommended "Okay for Now" so that's what I started reading today.
I'm reading BLACKOUT by Mira Grant, which was just released. I got a copy of the first book, FEED, as a freebie at Comic-Con and got hooked on the series.
I'm reading three books right now:
The Writer's Journey by Christopher Vogler which was recommended by a crit partner
You Are Here by Jennifer E. Smith I found at the book store the old fashioned way
Ghost Story by Peter Straub is this month's book club choice.
I'm currently reading Demon's Surrender by Sarah Rees Brennan…it's the third book in the series, and I can't remember exactly how I ended up reading the first one, but it was probably due to social media/seeing it online. Nobody I know has read it or talked about it, so it wasn't a rec from a friend or anything. Anyway, I loved the book and I'm a huge fan of Sarah's, and I finally remembered the 3rd book was out and picked it up when I saw something about it again online.
I get most of my book recommendations through book blogs, Twitter, Goodreads, or Amazon, as I am very immersed in book stuff online. A lot of people tend to go with recommendations from friends, but very few of my IRL friends share my reading taste, so I rarely rely on that. And if they are reading something I like, it's either something probably something popular and tied to a movie or TV show, like The Hunger Games or Game of Thrones (nothing wrong with either of these, but I read them both like 5 years ago).
I still depend on the old way of choosing books, reviews in NYT, WSJ, or those that have won awards.
Dennis Lehane's "A Drink Before the War" because I wanted to read one of his earlier works. Not disappointed.
Philip Kerr's "Field Grey" because I like the WW II genre when it's done well.
Julian Barne's "A Sense of the Ending" because I overheard someone at a writer's event mention it.
William Boyd's "Waiting for Sunrise." He's one of the best living British writers. Every one of his previous books I've read was a revelation. I think about his "Any Human Heart" years after I read it.
I'm reading Rasana Atreya's Tell a Thousand Lies. She's an independent author and friend in one of my Facebook Groups. I've been enjoying a lot of indie books lately.
Artemis Rising: The author, Cheri Lasota, is a friend of mine and a very active local author.
Insurgent: I read Divergent last summer and I've been dying to read the sequel ever since.
Behind Jane Austen's Door: A review book for the Jane Austen website I co-own, Indiejane.org
About half the books on my TBR were written by authors I know. The other half I found at the library or from book blogs.
I'm reading QUIET: THE POWER OF INTROVERTS IN A WORLD THAT WON'T STOP TALKING. My Mom told me about it through Facebook and then gifted it to my Kindle (which, really? Best feature ever).
I tend to receive book recommendations at work and more often than not I receive recommendations for non-fiction books from men and fiction books from women. Weird.
I'm reading Katana by Cole Gibsen which I found out about from checking out a blog review.
Just read Choke by Chuck Paluniuk. Read Fight Club and loved it. Had to have more.
I'm finally reading The Help. My daughter (and everyone else on the planet!) recommended it to me.
I'm not much of a bandwagon-jumper, but I just got 50 Shades of Gray. I'm a book merchandiser, and I first heard about the book when one of my customers asked for it before it had even been released.
We finally got them in stock at the store, and I swear I can't keep them on the shelves, they sell as soon as I put them out.
So I had to see what the fuss was all about.
But I also bought a YA fantasy from Kristen Cashore, FIRE.
Recommended by the guy sitting in the seat next to me on a recent flight…
He was an intelligent and interesting person to talk to, so I figured I'd like his recommendation. And I do.
I'm reading The Haj by Leon Uris. It's a popular crossword answer so I was eventually tempted to read it 🙂
I didn't hear about it: I saw it in a bookstore, and I bought it. Just like the last 75+ books I've purchased since the beginning of the year …
I'm currently reading THE EXECUTIONER by Chris Carter, and it was good old-fashioned recommendation from my Mom.
I'm reading Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, which was recommended to me by my wife and loaned to me by my in-laws. No technology here.
I found out about mine from my brother-in-law's 16 year old sister.
ALWAYS listen to the teenagers…
Reading for a book club a book I read before, but like your Wrinkle in Time Experience, seems like a completely different book: Bless Me, Ultima. The book is currently banned in schools in Arizona for ridiculous motives, which is one reason the book club took it up. I'm finding it to be a beautiful story of a Latino family in New Mexico in the 1940s/50s.
I'm also reading "Shades" to see what the fuss is about–the writer in me wants to criticize the 21 references to his/her "breath hitches" and the main character's annoying asides ("Holy crap!"), but I have to hand it to her for the success of the book and a female main character who so far is pretty assertive despite what I'd assume from the subject matter.
I'm old-fashioned and newfangled: I found my current read browsing my library e-book catalog. Not sure I had heard of "Pretty Monsters" or Kelly Link, but my intuition was spot-on, it's a great read!
I'm reading 'Cloud Atlas' by David Mitchell and head about it on The TV Book Club here in the UK. It was likened to another book 'Girl Reading' which I picked up at the library yesterday. Cloud Atlas looked like it was going to lose me early on, but has turned out to be stunningly spectacular. I'm in awe of Mitchell and his incredible grasp on the English language; to invent believable patois is something truly admirable
I'm reading Death Comes to Pemberley, which was recommended to me by my mother-in-law. But before I dove in, I had to reread Pride and Prejudice. I could have sworn I read it at least two times but for some reason it's blocked from my memory. So I think that one was recommended to me by my high school English teacher.
Most of the books I read are ones that I come across when browsing in a bookstore. Either that or I'll read something by an author I really like, and then I'll seek out other stuff by that author. For example, I read Nora Ephron's collections of essays, including I Remember Nothing; I liked them so much that I went out and bought a copy of her novel, Heartburn. I was not disappointed. I wish she had written more novels.
I love A Wrinkle in Time.
I'm reading Kristen Callihan's Firelight – Kristen's a friend from the Compuserve Books and Writers Community!
I searched Lewis and Clark expedition in my Kindle, because I'm going on a vacation to Oregon. I found the novel Sacajawea by Anna Lee Waldo.
I hear about most of them by word of mouth.
A book on Greek and Roman gods…I wanted one for WIP research and sorta walked to it in the used book store.
Nation by Terry Pratchett–same sorta thing as above.
Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter by Mario Vargas Llosa–recommended in a couple of writing books I was reading at the same time, then, um…same as above.
Funny how we find things.
Running my finger along the shelves at the library. The title and spine design is the most important part of the book. If you can't get my finger to stop on your title . . . .
I've Got Your Number
Kinsella, Sophie
Actually, I don't care for the cover itself, but something on the spine got me to pull it out.
I reckon it is best described as chick lit. I don't go looking for the category, but do read quite a bit of it. (Lot of good Brit chick lit out there in particular.)
Reading Candice Millard's Destiny of the Republic about James Garfield. I heard her talk a couple weeks ago, and she can just tell a story wonderfully. I am reflecting on her writing style while working on writing my own book. She is a good guide!
That's hilarious! I did the same thing with "A Wrinkle in Time" when I was a kid! I would read a bit of it and then stop for one reason or another. But I kept randomly picking it up again. I can't remember what it's about though. The book I just finished was "Fair Game" by Patricia Briggs. It was the third book in the series. I originally found it while stalking the shelves at Barnes and Noble. It's my favorite series at the moment.
I just finished reading "The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green. I heard about it on the internet, primarily through Tumblr and Twitter since I follow a lot of YA readers and writers.
I found Mary Doria Russell's THE SPARROW in a search for fiction by anthropologists. The fact that it turned out to be an excellent piece of science fiction was a bonus.
I'm reading five books, actually. Sacred Games I started five years ago, when I was working at Borders, but only got about thirty pages in before I had to put it down. It's fantastic. The Idylls of the King I heard about in some literature class– high school, I think, since it's got contact paper on it. War for the Oaks I'm reading for a book club, but a friend told me about it years ago. Twilight, of course, everyone's heard of, and I'm reading it out of a sense of professional obligation more than anything (I'm writing a YA novel). I still remember seeing it at B&N before it got famous, though– the first of the dramatic black-and-color-pop YA fantasy covers. I was really struck by it, and would have picked it up at the time except that i was broke.
The last book, Everything You Need to Know About Latino History, I picked up while browsing at the bookstore, and it's actually not very good. Usually I check reviews online now before I buy books, because it's so easy to market a mediocre book in a way that makes it look fantastic. Goodreads is my usual source for helpful reviews.
Twitter, blog posts, and goodreads are where I get the majority of my book recommendations! 🙂
I've been finding great books at Goodreads,Kindle and local book shops on sale for printed books.
I'm reading One Thousand Lives, a non-fiction (of the very engaging variety) about the Jonestown massacre. I was at the library picking up some other books that I had ordered, and just saw it on the shelf looking good.
I'm reading How the Way We Talk Can Change the Way We Work, recommended by a colleague. I guess most of my reading comes through recommendations. And I'm pretty loyal to authors I enjoy if they keep publishing. I still remember the mixed sense of accomplishment and sadness the day I finished the Louisa May Alcott section at my local library as a girl.
A Wrinkle in Time was one of my absolute favorites growing up. I recently started reading it with a student I tutor and fell in love with it all over again.