How and where do you usually find books to read?

[onlyoranges]

I get quite a few off here and radio 4 both through book reviews and references made during other programmes. Where do people find their new titles?

And Goodreads, Twitter.

saturday Times review section
i used to get the Grauniad, but defected as the Times review is much nearer my taste

Good reads, Amazon recommend for you and very occasionally Richard and Judy's book club.

Luckily I also have friends that read the same genre as I do, so their recommendations

I like to look at "customers who bought this item also bought" and "what do customers buy after viewing this item?" on Amazon. I tend to click on one of them, and then click again and again etc to form a kind of tangled skein. Also, I do a search on mumsnet using a book I liked and there's bound to be someone who can offer recommendations. Mumsnet adult fiction forum is one of the forums that has never let me down. Some members have got particularly good knowledge. Friends, not so much. My friends tend not to be reading the same sort of books as me, and tend to do the sceptical emoticon at me if I share! But if you throw the net wide enough, you're never alone here, and you can be really educated by other members. Ok, enough of the suck up!

The library, the bookshops, and on Amazon - but usually only if I search for authors I already know and enjoy reading. The new ones I find either in the library or the bookshop. I don't find reviews anywhere of any use. I ordered some books based on NYTimes reviews (both adult fiction and kids books) and they were very disappointing, like early drafts of creative writing pieces that needed a good kick up the arse by a decent editor.

Aha! I was going to start a thread about this to share my new technique! I have started avoiding supermarket top tens and now I go to waterstones and look through the shelves and titles and pick at random.??I have discovered Lucretia Grindle this way (amazing) and Jon mcgregor (just started, love it) and garrison Keillor.

Huge Car Boot sale fan here.
Going rate in the Midlands is around 20 - 50p per book. Often in excellent condition. I never buy new, will keep a title in mind and usually guarantee it'll turn up at a car boot or table top sale.
At the moment I probably have around 70-100 paperbacks waiting to be read that I have picked up over the last couple of years. Imagine those at full price i.e. 7.99 each as opposed to car boot top price of 0.50p each !
This is how I have discovered many of my favourite authors.

The library and second hand book stalls + recommendations of friends and Twitter.

Come on then, Noeuf. How random is random? Interested as it sounds fun.

Literally walk over to adult fiction and scan for interesting sounding titles, book jackets and then pull out a couple, read a couple of sentences to make sure the writing style suits me and then buy it. I do avoid sci-fi but anything else I have to endure!
LG is based in Florence, and the first one was set in the war and modern times - quite long and still my favourite book.
The JM one is interesting, I'm not sure where it's going.
I do allow myself to put a book back if the writing style is appalling but apart from that I feel like I'm actually expanding my mind a bit.

See I'm such a baby I'm always swayed too much by the cover (which is why they do them, obviously). Also when buying bottles of wine!

Nooooo - the cover is meaningless! Doesn't reflect the quality of the writing.

I keep an eye open for when my favourite writers have a new book - a combination of looking at the Reviews section of the Guardian and seeing what Amazon is recommending (it will flag up books by writers whose books I've bought in the past).

For other books I might enjoy (i.e. not by my favourite writers), I again rely on reviews in the Guardian, but also increasingly on what people say on here. That's how I came across The Enchanted April, for example, which I would never otherwise have read.

I also look at what's on the Booker, Bailey's and Whitbread shortlists to see if anything appeals.

Every now and then I'll tackle a classic that I've never read but feel I probably ought to.

Finally, I have a close friend whose taste matches mine so I sometimes go on recommendations from her.

Here, the review and culture sections in the Times at the weekend, and the Bookseller magazine. Occasionally I look at the past Booker shortlisted novels for something decent.

I find that very little is written these days that caters for my taste, so I struggle to have much luck with Guardian reviews, best seller lists etc.

Generally speaking, I read the reviews on the back cover, and pick out authors that the current one is likened to. Then I track down their works at boot sales, charity shops etc, read and repeat. I am a bit of a book hoarder though and can never seem to get rid of any title I pick up hence the stacks of books cluttering my study which turns out to be handy as I can go back and select more authors.

I do ask for recommendations, but (while the genre I like is broadly written in) the criteria a book must meet limits me and most people think my taste is silly.

So if anyone knows of mileu/quest/character progression novels that do not contain any form of electricity (this usually wheedles out most things I won't read) and doesn't refer to any real location, person, time period or event, then I would love your recommendations

I tend to randomly pick books from the library shelf or the librarian often has recommendations for me. I also use www.fantasticfiction.co.uk to track down all works by individual authors. It often has recommendations for similar authors too. I also follow my favourite authors on Twitter and they're good for recommending new books.

Has anyone used the Gnooks literature map to find new authors? www.gnooks.com

You put in an author you like, then it maps authors depending on how close their style is to your original. Just wondering if it's any practical use?

Guardian saturday Review section for non fiction, asking on here / reading threads mostly for fiction.

I did rely on Amazon recommendations until I discovered the 50 book challenge thread on here. That has been brilliant for introducing me to authors and genres I'd never have considered previously.

Browsing the shelves of Waterstones for their staff recommendations - have read some fantastic books on the back of this.

The Times Saturday Review and Sunday Times Culture mag for reviews.

Booker longlist.

Mumsnet threads.

Mumsnet threads have been brilliant for new authors for me.

Otherwise, random browsing in bookshops - esp for history books.

Reviews in magazines (not very often useful)

My boss - we both like technical and history

People who bought this also bought.. recs on Amazon

People who find books to read on Goodreads, may I ask how you go about it? I've often seen Goodreads recommended as a place to find new books, but it's just so big I can never work out how to use it effectively.

I use Amazon recommendations and also boughts, personal recommendations, reviews on people's blogs, and Waterstone' s and library browsing.

Tbh Goodreads isn't that great at book recommendations, as it is computer generated and thus chucks anything and everything randomly at you. What is better, I find, is their monthly newsletter where they tell you about new releases from authors you've read. And, if you belong to a group that is active and discusses reads, then you can get to discover more and through making friends on Goodreads. That way you can see what others are reading and and add to your tbr list.

I'm on Goodreads (searchable by my MN nickname) if you want to have a look at my bookshelves :)

Goodreads is Ok, it has some good lists (under Explore - Listopia) so if a couple of books you love are on a list (say Historical Fiction, Funniest novels of all time or whatever) you will often see some good books to try. Or if you click on a book you love it will give recommendations based on that.

My latest gambit is to check out the Kindle daily deals, I have had some really good success with those as long as I choose carefully (and they're 99p!!). I bought My Brilliant Friend that way, plus a few other good'uns.

I go into the library and pick up four books.

Usually I'll pick the first because it's stacked on top of the shelving that I like the look of (always a good few on top as it's a small library overfilled with books!!) then I'll trundle around and pick up three more that are a similar size to the first one or if there happens to be a print out of loans left in the book I'll see if they are in and take them out too. If I don't like one I just stop reading it and put it back in the back for return on my next visit.

All very technical my library selection process!!!

My charity shop/fate selection is more complex. I judge the books by their covers, the blurb on the back plus the first sentence.

I work in a library :o

The to-read list just gets longer and longer. I see books when I'm shelving etc and sometimes they just catch my eye and it's a struggle not to just sit and read the blurbs instead of working! I totally judge them by their covers too

I also chat to customers a lot and share recommendations that way, it's one of my favourite bits of the job.