Challenge: 50 Books discussion
Where do you get your "recs"?
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I am always looking what my friends here are reading, I am also asking my sister what she likes and I go into the bookstore and look around and if I find something which looks interesting and I have enough money then I buy it. A good thing is also browsing Amazon.com and looking for interesting books. I hope that I helped you with that.
Agree with Lisi, I get a lot of recommendations from friends with similar tastes. I also check out what the people are reading in the groups I am a part of -- like this group of course :)
Oh, I would love a good reading buddy, but I am pretty much alone. I don't know many readers and the other readers I do know seem to stick with one genre (nothing but Stephen Kings or spy thrillers gets old) so I depend highly on the good taste of Goodreads members to help me choose, and then I double check the Amazon recommendations before ordering my penny used book. I also google award winners--Pulitzer, Christie, etc.--and then see what the gentle readers at Goodreads and Amazon think about them.
I keep track of new books through book clubs like BOMC and History Book Club. I also use the websites Fantastic Fiction and paperbackswap.com. I frequent about three libraries in the area and any bookstore I can find!
I get recommendations from Bookmarks magazine, a bimonthly publication. They have current reviews, special features and suggestions by readers. I love this mag and have been reading it for about 4 years. Check out their website. Bookmarks is also a Goodreads member. There is also a Bookmarks Subscribers group here on Goodreads, which I co-moderate.I love getting recommendations from friends. I also get inspiration just from walking around Barnes & Noble and looking at all the displays. One other source is the NYTimes weekly book review I receive by email.
In addition to what everyone listed: swaptree.com, The New York Review of Books, Bookforum (both pale in comparison to Goodreads, but I flip through them), The Week has a decent book review page . . . and wandering through any used bookstore I can find!!!!!
People magazine has great recommendations, but you have to buy the mag or look at it at the library. Also Entertainment Weekly (you can find them on their website). BookBrowse will send you sample reviews as well (online).
Online communities (livejournal, etc), lit geek , checking out amazon.com recommendations, looking at writers who were friendly with the writers I already enjoy, and here actually- I look at the books people I've friended are reading. If it sparks my interest I try and track down copies. Being able to post comments to their currently reading status is a nice feature I tend to employ.
I use the bookreporter.com, Barnes and Noble and my local newspaper.
Oh wow. Thanks for sharing, everyone! :)
If you like to travel or to read about other places, longitudebooks.com has excellent choices for specific locations. They sell travel guides and maps, but they also recommend fiction and history. Their choices are always smart.
I spend hours on Amazon's book section and the 'if you like this you may be interested in' bit! I've also signed up for alerts from publishers like Picador, Penguin etc. And now lots of new ideas from fellow Goodreaders!! Thank you.
I occasionally get recommendations from friends, but primarily I find new titles by browsing the used bookstore, noting suggestions in my online book club (yahoo group - bookgrouplist), book excerpts emailed 5 days per week from www.dearreader.com, and scanning Goodreads.
I subscribe to a regular podcast from NPR simply called Books Podcast. They compile several book reviews or author interviews which have occurred on various of their news programs during the past week or so.
I get recommendations from all over the place: i.eGoodreads, Goodreads readers and friends, New York Times, NPR, favorite author's websites, blogs (All About Romance, Dear Author, Smart Bitches-Trashy Books, the Whatever, Jezebel), e-mails (Amazon, Borders, Powells Books, Unshelved, publishers) and etc.
Fantastic Fiction http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/ has interesting recs as well. But it is UK directed, so sometimes US readers may have problems (titles different, publication dates different, some authors/books hard to find here.)
My all-time favorite is Library Journal! Their reviews have pointed out some great new reads for me that I would never have come across on my own.
If you have access to it at a library, (it's too expensive to order/subscribe to for yourself), I highly recommend checking it regularly. It is published weekly. Reviews are for books soon to be released.
I get recommendations from friends, Bookmarks magazines, NYT Book Review, and lurking in bookstores. While my local Barnes and Noble isn't exactly "helpful" with recommendations, they are fabulous with constantly updating display tables and shelves with new books.
NYT Book Review is probably my favorite. Also love to scour year-end "best of" lists.
Where do you get your book recs, on GoodReads (where here?) and/or somewhere else? If on other sites, please link. I'm always looking for more recs. :)