Sunday, July 27, 2008

Sunday Salon: Choosing Good Reads



I am very good at choosing excellent books.


I was at a book sale this week. I was ploughing through tables and tables of books and throwing books, right and left, into my box.


A lady stopped me. "You are fast," she said.


"I know what I like," I told her. "I know what books are good."


She looked at me and my enormous box of books. "How do you know those are going to be good?" she asked.


A good question. I read newspaper reviews, I told her. I look through lists of award-winning books. I read other people's blogs. I keep a wishlist. I listen at book groups. I read lots of books about good books.


"Wow," she replied, looking a little bewildered. "I thought I was doing good. I read the reviews in the New York Times each week!"


I wonder what other ways there are to find the good books. That's what we want, right? The good books.

9 comments:

  1. Haha! Me too!

    "We're good and fast and proud of it!"

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  2. But do you read them? ;)

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  3. Well, I can definitely say my TBR is composed of excellent reads!

    I will read them...someday!

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  4. I like to linger in bookstores, but at book sales, I am all efficiency. Give me two boxes, five minutes and I am good to go.

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  5. I read a blog post last night suggesting that a good way to choose a book is by reading page 69. I can't wait to test this theory!

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  6. I highly recommend A Good Read on BBC Radio. You can listen on-line. Their current season just ended but they should be back soon.

    Each week the host and two guest recommend one book that they all read and discuss. The books are very wide ranging and the conversation interesting. I usually end up with at least one more book added to my wishlist.

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  7. LOL. I had almost this exact same scenario happen to me while I was shopping the local library book sale several years ago... Like you, I was grabbing books very quickly and just shoving them in my bag without reading covers. Some lady asked me how I know the books are any good... I explained that I belong to quite a few online book groups, and that I am frequently browsing around online, reading about different books. So, when I see books I've heard of, I grab them and go! The woman just shook her head, and said she wished she could do the same. :P LOL. I got a bit of twisted pleasure out of that. :P

    I guess, though, that I should just be really grateful to have been blessed with the time and ability to be online so frequently, and to be so involved in the online "reading world". ;)

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  8. Thanks for the excellent suggestions. If only we had some sort of book barometer that would ring a loud gong when we found a book that worked for us!

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