Metafilter discussion

This group has been quiet for a while, so I thought I would add a question born partly of my own frustrations and partly out of curiosity.
How do you select the books the books you read?
For nonfiction I choose mostly by the topic, but occasionally will allow a favorite author (John McPhee for instance) lead me down the path.
For fiction, on the other hand, I almost always choose an author and let their craft entertain me. It's not the tale it's the teller, as the saying goes.
Thing is, I haven't really read many books I've loved recently. I read some books I've admired, but I'm wondering if this happens to others and/or whether or not I should change my approach.
What works for you?

For nonfiction I go by topic usually and then usually search out what is considered the best book on that topic written. Sometimes I'm lucky and a topic spurs and interest in another and then I'm off over to that one and so on and so on. I love these little reading streaks and wish they'd happen more often.

For fiction I find it sort of a crap shoot. I have a few authors that I automatically get whatever they write. These are usually genre series with characters I really enjoy. Otherwise it is pure luck to find something interesting. I'll go into my library and browse and grab what cover looks interesting or randomly read past Askme's to get recommendations. I subscribe to a bunch of book feeds as well that sometimes spin off into good picks.

I actually love, love, love the Kindle/iBook "sample" feature for this reason -- you can get the first few chapters of books sent to you for free, and I end up doing a lot of browsing this way. Sometimes it introduces me to books/authors I never would have chosen to read otherwise; mostly it serves as a way to weed out stuff. (I have some admittedly picky rules about what I won't read -- with a sample, I can see whether or not the book that sounds good on the Amazon page or whatever in fact violates certain rules. Like, is there a character whose cutesy and/or quirky name is also a word with some kind of moral meaning or message, and does she live in a town that also has a cutesy and/or quirky name? Is there overly precious dialogue, phonetically rendered so as to illustrate wacky local dialect? Is there a precocious, annoyingly prescient child narrator? These are all dealbreakers for me -- though I understand they might not be for other people. Anyway, with the sample feature, I can skim and delete with abandon... Or end up buying a book that violates all my silly rules because in the end I'm won over.)

Actually, it seems like a lot of the fiction I read comes from friends on Goodreads. There's several local librarians that I'm friends with and they write good reviews! My library also has an email newsletter of new scifi/fantasy and that's turned up a few interesting books.

Non-fiction comes from all over the place, mostly things I hear about online, but also whatever looks intriguing on the new books shelf at the library.

I have no 'rules', particularly when it comes to non-fiction, I'm interested in so many things I just go wherever I go. I get most of my books from the library and I usually browse online and order books (often recorded books) to be delivered to my local library. I guess this is one of the big advantages of living in a big city. I've particularly enjoyed The Teaching Company's The Great Courses series. I'm just finishing Tocqueville and the American Experiment. I've learned so much! For fiction, I take recommendations from friends, follow favorite writers and often look for new authors and first novels. I just finished Life After Genius by M. Ann Jacoby. It was the best work I've read in well, I don't know how long! I can't commend it highly enough. I know she has a second novel out and can't wait to get my hands on it. I think I'm a fan! I also go on 'jags'. Right now I'm in an Indian author 'jag'. I love Jhumpa Lahiri.

Man, metafilter always seems to be good for fertile suggestions! I'm currently reading Red Seas Under Red Skies, the sequel to The Lies of Locke Lamora, which had been recommended to me in this thread. Between those two fantasy novels, I'd read Tao Lin's Richard Yates as a result of this thread. And just before those books, I read (and hated!) Jonathan Franzen's Freedom, in large part so I could jump into the conversation in this thread.

So metafilter people, give yourselves a hand! Absent internet-suggestions, I'll usually just go up to a friend of mine who knows me fairly well, and say to them, "What will I like. Tell me a book I will like. I will blame you a lot if I hate it."