How did you discover the last book you read?

jdm · Apr 4, 2011

I am inviting everyone who bothers to view this thread to take the time to share their answer to this question: How did you learn about the last book you decided to buy?

Was it by word of mouth, an ad you saw (if so, where was the ad placed), being picked up by you off the rack and looked at it before purchasing, actively seeking out new titles in a genre, having received it as a gift, being forced to read it at gunpoint by a crazed author? What? How was that particular book brought to your attention?

I see so many of these threads read by hundreds of people, yet only a dozen or so will comment. Take the time to let me know how you usually find the things you read. Just a couple of words telling where is all I ask.

ShapeSphere · Apr 4, 2011

jdm said:
... picked up by you off the rack and looked at it before purchasing ...

That one.

I was in a book store and saw the cover of "I Am Ozzy" - the autobiography of Ozzy Osbourne. I love Black Sabbath and felt this book would be interesting and bought it immediately. I wasn't wrong. It was hilarious and honest.

VP_Benni · Apr 4, 2011

It was on my shelf.
...
That's about as much as I've got.
It's middle grade, so it's either
A.) my little brother's
B.) mine from middle school that I never got around to reading
C.) something my mom found somewhere and randomly got for me

~Amber~

MaryMumsy · Apr 4, 2011

That's two questions. The last six or so I bought were by authors I was already familiar with. The last I read I found by seeing the cover in a member's sig line. The one I'm reading right now I found in a review in the newspaper.

MM

Chris P · Apr 4, 2011

The book I'm reading now is book 4 of a series, so I've been looking for it.

mccardey · Apr 4, 2011

Review on a bookblog I trust.

( http://anzlitlovers.wordpress.com/ )

Her reviews are always well-considered and her choices are generally rewarding. (No, I don't know her. I found her blog by accident a long time ago.)

Smish · Apr 4, 2011

The last book I read was recommended by AW member DrummerGirl.

And the book I'm currently reading was written by AW member timp67 (his debut novel!).

thothguard51 · Apr 4, 2011

Book store via recommendation by store employee...

mccardey · Apr 4, 2011

thothguard51 said:
Book store via recommendation by store employee...

That's how I found "Gilead" by Marilynne Robinson - most wonderful book! What on earth will we do when the bookshops all close down?

Soccer Mom · Apr 4, 2011

I've been reading old releases by authors who are epublishing their backlists. The newer authors have all been word of mouth or blog reviews.

Ondi · Apr 4, 2011

Definitely, by word of mouth. Most books I read are recommended by someone (Yes, my mother). I do have a growing list of must reads.

These recommendations I'm compiling from blog posts via. Google Alerts. A simple tool, I feel all writers need to tap. Many posts are agent's reviews and announcements, but I've found many helpful resources sent direct to my email, and many great books.

Purple Rose · Apr 4, 2011

I have a stack of "Books I always wanted to or would very much like to read" on my shelf. I've been buying them for the past five years. I've read most. Right now it's John Banville's The Sea.

juniper · Apr 4, 2011

Just finished "One of Our Thursdays is Missing" by Jasper Fforde. I'd never heard of this author but the title caught me as I was leaving the library. It was on a shelf of "new releases" by the door ... I saw it, looked at the dust jacket and then checked it out.

If I'd known it was the 6th in a series, I probably would have put it back and maybe tried to find the 1st one, first. But I started reading it and was surprised and confused and amazed by the writing, alternately. Now I think I'll go read book 1. To try to make sense of it all.

cooeedownunder · Apr 4, 2011

I read a great deal of book reviews. Normally printed versions, though.

authorgirl1485 · Apr 4, 2011

It was a New York Times bestseller. Since that is my dream, I check the list with every issue and buy the first one, regardless of whether or not I'll actually enjoy it. (Best to keep up with the market.)

Lillie · Apr 4, 2011

I was just browsing in the library and it caught my eye. It was an author I had read before, although this was not their usual genre, and I thought I'd give it a go.

It was OK.

Now I have to take it back.

It was Anne Perry, The Sheen on the Silk. I know her better for her Victorian crime novels, but the font on the front of this was so pretty.

Kitty Pryde · Apr 4, 2011

Current book I'm reading because the author is doing a reading/signing with an author I really like, and I wanted to check out her first novel before seeing the reading.

Normally I read books because I hear about them in the "What Are You Reading" threads, or they're well reviewed in the blogs I read (tor.com, whatever.com, bibliophile stalker, and a few others), or they pop up as "Books I May Be Interested In" on Amazon or Borders emails.

blacbird · Apr 4, 2011

Given to me for Christmas by my wife. A recent history of the explorations of lost explorer Percy Fawcett in the Amazon in the 1920s, who disappeared on a Quixotic quest for a fabled "lost city" related to Atlantis.

The previous one i finished just before that, the obscure novel Mardi, by Herman Melville, had been sitting on various bookshelves in my various residences for forty-some years. A hoary Signet Classic paperback that cost 75 cents.

Methods vary.

COchick · Apr 4, 2011

On AW. I'm trying to go through and read books by the members here.

shelleyo · Apr 4, 2011

I'm reading Alas, Babylon! because my daughter has to read it in her English class. I wouldn't have read it for just that reason, but she's fascinated by it and wanted me to read it, too. So technically, word of mouth/recommendation.

The book before that was a recommendation from my daughter, too. It was actually a YA book that I ended up loving, to my great surprise. Before those, at least three were recommended by my cousin, who has similar reading tastes.

I guess I'm a word-of-mouther. It certainly helps to have people who like similar things, because I'm not into the genres that are hot right now, so most lists and bestsellers currently are things that don't interest me at all.

Shelley

readitnweep · Apr 4, 2011

Last book I read that was't one I already own I found on the shelf at the library. The cover grabbed me. I'm a sucker for all things tartan, and it was a Peter Kerr. A real treat!

Tracey Taylor · Apr 4, 2011

I'm currently reading the third book of series. I discovered the series online through recommendations. I then checked out the first book in the series while at the bookstore and decided to buy it.

That's how I normally do things when it comes to finding books. I hear about titles online from people with similar tastes and then I see what it's like the next time I'm at the bookstore.

Susan Coffin · Apr 4, 2011

jdm said:
I am inviting everyone who bothers to view this thread to take the time to share their answer to this question: How did you learn about the last book you decided to buy?

Was it by word of mouth, an ad you saw (if so, where was the ad placed), being picked up by you off the rack and looked at it before purchasing, actively seeking out new titles in a genre, having received it as a gift, being forced to read it at gunpoint by a crazed author? What? How was that particular book brought to your attention?

I see so many of these threads read by hundreds of people, yet only a dozen or so will comment. Take the time to let me know how you usually find the things you read. Just a couple of words telling where is all I ask.

Wherever there are used books, there I am. It was either a second hand store or the Book Fair, I can't remember which. I think it was the second hand store. It's a great book too!

PulpDogg · Apr 5, 2011

Last book I read I think I found somewhere either here or on Kindleboards, I can't really remember. Current book I read is the 2nd of the same series ...

Then again, I am having around a dozen books lying around half read ... so "currently reading" means I am switching between a lot of books.

fireluxlou · Apr 5, 2011

I was browsing Amazon and adding books to my wishlist from recommendations.

How did you discover the last book you read?

Hello, Hooray

likes a colorful font

the original blond bombshell

Likes metaphors mixed, not stirred

Reads more than she writes.

A Gentleman of a refined age...

Crypto-fascist

practical experience, FTW

Always curious.

Grateful for the day

practical experience, FTW

practical experience, FTW

i luv you giant bear statue

in a holding pattern

Just another face in a red jumpsuit

Tell it like it Is

I should be writing