When I was younger (and by that I mean anytime before the internet was in full swing), when I wanted a book to read I went to the library and browsed the stacks. I wandered through the fiction section and just . . . looked for titles that seemed interesting or authors I’d read (and liked) before. I just randomly picked books. Sometimes I hit gold. And sometimes I did not. But I always came away with something interesting.
Every once in a while a friend might tell me they’d just read a good book, and I may (or may not) have remembered the title or the author when I next visited the library. It was all rather hit or miss back then, but it was fine. I read a lot of great books that I just stumbled on to all by myself. No “Best 100 Books of All Time” lists. No ready access to prize winning long lists (or short lists). No book groups. No book blogs. No book influencers. No Goodreads. No TBRs.
Fast forward to . . . today. Where we have ALL of those things! Today there is no shortage of book recommendations. In fact, we are surrounded by book recommendations and suggestions for what-to-read-next. And I don’t know one reader today who doesn’t maintain some type of TBR list.
So I thought it might be fun today, here in the Lounge, to talk about book recommendations and building (or ignoring) our own TBR lists. (Because I do have a TBR list, but I never look at it . . . )
- How do you like to choose the books you pick up to read? Do you pay attention to lists or personal recommendations from friends? Or do you just pick up something that sounds interesting?
- What are your most reliable “sources” for book recommendations?
- Do you ever read . . . randomly? If you do, what piques your interest in a book?
- Do you recommend books to others?
- Do you maintain a TBR list? If you do, do you refer to it when considering your next book?
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It’s nearly time for the Read With Us LOUNGE to shut down for the season (next week will bring us to a close), but there’s still time for you to grab a book and find a comfy spot to read with us for awhile.
No rules!
Just fun!
And be sure to visit Bonny and Carole today to see what they’re talking about in the LOUNGE.
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REMINDER . . . If you’d like one of our Read With Us LOUNGE commemorative stickers, be sure to let us know. We’ll be happy to send you a sticker if you send us your address (via email, please!). (You can send your info to either Bonny, Carole, or I — you don’t need to send it to all three of us.)
This is a time-limited offer. We’ll need your address by September 4. And when we run out of stickers, we run out of stickers! Reserve yours today.
Thanks again! We really appreciate your commitment to our No Rules. Just Fun. concept.
There are times when I miss the old days of just going to the library and browsing! But, I’m happy to have the option of requesting a book…going to the library and heading to the “patron holds cart” and then checking it out. Wham-bam and done! When I used to book shop (and come home with armloads of books I had bought), some were chosen based on covers. Some were chosen based on authors or genre. But, alas, I no longer really shop for books (except poetry and also those books recommended highly that I cannot get through my library).
Like most everyone, I do have a TBR list – I keep it in Excel on my computer. Every once in awhile I’ll look at it and delete books I’ve already read. I should probably just get rid of it because I don’t really use it. These days I get many (most) book recommendations from all of my bloggy friends (Unraveled Wednesday is great for this). One of my brothers and I share recommendations all the time and, of course, my friend Leslie and I talk books ALL the time! I also read book reviews in The New Yorker magazine and I look through The New York Review of Books. So many sources of recommendations – it’s no wonder my TBR list is a mile long!
I remember those sort of “aimless” reading days. Ambling the library and coming away with a stack of books… adventures awaiting? Friends I did not know about? You are right on hit or miss… but it was truly the thing that fostered my love of reading! I love that libraries still put out a book display that changes regularly… things to entice a reader! There is nothing like wandering around looking at books!
These days, it feels like if you are not “up on” the latest list, have mapped out your plan to read the listed books, and talking about it on social media… then you aren’t a very good reader. And I used to feel an inadequate reader… but, thankfully, my inner reader reigned me in… being up on the lists does not make a great reader (and really, most of those titles are not books I’d like to read) I have found that my circle of readers gives the best recommendations about books I might be interested it!
I confess to always taking a peek at President Obama’s reading lists… and I smile when I have read things before they made his list… and I usually add a few things from his lists to my TBR list. He might not be a friend, but he is a good reader!
I read the NYT most mornings, clicking on articles that sound interesting and I almost always read a book review or two. I put books that sound interesting on my TBR and then search my library for them. I listen to NPR when I’m working in the kitchen, and often hear about authors or books that intrigue me. Then there are the recommendations from Unraveled Wednesday. Another way that I’ve come across books is when I’m searching in Libby. They may not have the book that I’m looking for, but they do have lots of other seemingly random and unrelated books. Like Kat, I also check Obama’s lists; that was why I read Seek Immediate Shelter. I wasn’t wowed so maybe Obama should also include his reviews! I only really use my TBR if I don’t have anything to read (which doesn’t happen very often).
Lately, I think my holds list at the library is my TBR list. I read some reviews, but reviews can be almost as unreliable as any recommendation from a stranger. Every now and then I’m a third of the way through a book and think “why am I reading this?” If I kept a more formal TBR list, I might have a record of the source of the bad fit books. In the early days of the internet, I was in an AOL book club. For many years, a friend from that group was my bellweather reader. If Sue liked an author or a book, it was more than a good bet I’d be a happy reader. Sadly she passed away a couple of years ago.
This summer, Chuck and I have been helping some kids from a big family get to the library regularly. It’s been such a treat to help them find books they’d like, and watch them try the serendipity of the stacks, the joy of introducing someone to the Tillerman books, or Ramona the Pest.
In the days I could only go to the library as a place to look for books there were few resources other than friends or teachers. Now, I love perusing bookstore shelves and asking for recommendations from book sellers as each one of them has a favorite genre. But, most of my recommendations come through people in my on line book groups and from prize lists (world wide). The book group people have varied interests and I often hear of books I never would have picked up, such as, translated texts and books not published in the US. I read to stretch my imagination and challenge my thinking, bring me other worlds, to places, eras and times unimaginable. Reading can be anything you need or want it to be.
The internet (and the friends I’ve made on it) has been such a boon for learning about books. I used to do the same as you — browse the shelves at the library and bookstore and pick up things on a whim. Sometimes it was good, sometimes it wasn’t. But now I’ve made Good Reader friends who have similar taste and whose recommendations I trust. And if I’m thinking of reading a book no one I know has read, I can read plenty of reviews and get a sense of what others have made of it. I don’t keep a TBR in the sense of “these are the books I am going to read next” and work through it like a checklist but rather have it as a way of remembering books that sounded interesting to me.
My TBR “list” is the always changing stack of books on my nightstand… or side table in the living room, or kitchen table, or counter… all the places where books gather in my home. 🙂
I do still go to the library and wander the what’s new section. I do keep a TBR list in Goodreads but know I will never get to all those books. In June I wrote myself a list of books to read over the summer. I have followed it but haven’t finished them all except for my Netgalley list which I keep adding to. I do read what a few people on Instagram say and check out a book on Goodreads to see if I may want to read it. My sister and niece and local book club members mention books and sometimes I read them, sometimes they get added to the list. I also like to wander the shelves of the independent book store I go to and read what people have written about the books. At work their is a teams channel/chat thing that is all about books and it’s not super busy but people do talk about what they just read so that is nice to read when it pops up with a new message.
This summer I have come to realize that I am a random read so I have abandoned the idea of a TBR – I just never seem to be able to get to those books – sigh. I listen to others talk about books and I used to create tags a title on the library site but that has gotten cumbersome lately too. I almost hesitate to tell others what I am planning to read because I so often get distracted and move on. That said, I love to talk about books and to ask people what they are reading and to wander around the library or book store.
Funny, I was just thinking about the way I used to discover books and the way they now come to my attention via the Internet. Often with nonfiction, I’d read a book and come across a reference to another book or author that would spark my attention. My sister and local book reading friends shared and continue to share titles. Other times I’d browse an indie store that sadly has closed and the library. I keep a little blank book of book titles as ideas for reading but it isn’t a true TBR list. Each season, I made a TBR list and then I read some of those titles but also stay open to whatever else might spark my fancy.
Interesting topic, Kym. I have a very long TBR list on Goodreads, just as convenient reminder of books that seemed interesting to me when I read about them. Occasionally, I refer to it when I am loose ends about what I want to read next. I have, many times, seen books on that list that no longer interest me at all, and I delete them. I still wander my library looking for books, but not as often as I did in the past. I still find books that I really enjoy that way. Not every new author has a marketing department behind them these days.
Quick answer because my long ones were too spread out for Google’s liking. Mostly my choices were random, sometimes from best sellers or others’ suggestions. Never occurred to me from the Internet, for some reason. Although, why not??
Here’s something I observe on a regular basis: LOTS of people still visit the library and peruse the stacks looking for a good book to read. And we’re happy to help them with the process. I get a lot of my TBR from reading professional journals at work: Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and Kirkus. I also use our library accounts with Ingram and Overdrive to alert me to new and/or popular titles. And my staff usually has great recommendations. I create a monthly newsletter of staff recs and people really love it. I also look to see what my friends are reading on GoodReads, books mentioned on blogs, and talks with friends IRL.