Book Country Coordinator Nevena recently asked me a question that I'd never really thought about before: what resources I use for book recommendations. I thought about it for a minute, and then I realized that I find things to read almost exclusively in People and Entertainment Weekly (both of which I subscribe to). Because I love audiobooks (I listen to them while I commute and while I knit), I also browse my library's Overdrive selection for what they have that is compatible with my phone.

Even though almost all of my friends and family members are big readers, it doesn't really feel like I spend too much time chatting with the people I am close to about books. My mom tends to read classics, my sister Victorian mysteries, my dad non-fiction, and my fiancé very heavy, very esoteric literary fiction. I am used to reading books alone, for the most part. But now that I am working at Book Country, I am getting all kinds of recommendations from my coworkers, and it's so much fun to be reading books around the same time as other people so that we can talk about them and discuss. It's also turning me on to things I never would have picked up on my own, and I am loving that!

I am wondering how the Book Country community finds new books to read, and whether or not you think readalongs enhance the reading experience.

--edited by Lucy Silag on 8/8/2013, 10:17 AM--

Great question, Lucy!

There are certain writers for whom I am a "constant reader"; I will buy everything they publish: Stephen King, Stephen Dobyns, Michael Dirda, Michael Chabon, Harlan Ellison, Bill Bryson, Richard Dawkins, Billy Collins, etc. Far too many to name here!

As for that "something new": I'm a grazer. When I'm in a bookstore I'm constantly on the look-out for a new writer with a prose style and subject matter that piques my curiosity.

I am also heavily influenced by good reviews gleaned from a variety of sources: that is to say, establishment critics writing for newspapers, magazines, B&N newsletters, etc.

Recommendations from friends, family and co-workers count for zilch. (Unfortunately.) I'd say only 2-3% of the time does a "thumbs-up" from this quarter result in a purchase. Maybe it's just me, but in my life it seems like the people who know me best recommend the least-worthy (perhaps it would be better to say, "appropriate") books. To be fair this works both ways, heh!

--edited by Carl E Reed on 8/9/2013, 4:41 PM--

@Carl--Interesting re: where you get your recs. What do people usually recommend to you (LOL)?

Amen to Bill Bryson. I adore his work. I feel like I have said that already today, and I am happy repeating it till people tell me to stop. He's an Iowan, like me (he actually grew up in the neighborhood where my dad lives now), and he's one of the few authors whose books I read over and over again. I find him witty, comforting, and good-humored. Definitely one of my faves! I actually have an advance copy of his new book coming out in October. If you get it, I will be curious to see what you think. I read the first chapter a few nights ago and it was interesting, but not unputdownable.

I shop those library book sales. I rummage through the Classic Fiction table mostly, and also Biography and History. 

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I don't even look at the titles. I open to three or four spots, if I see anything that thrills me, in terms of style, or an interesting description, into my box it goes. I've found extraordinary things that will never be reprinted, obscure masterpieces, or garbage maudlin plots that even so are gorgeously written. A hundred years ago, even third-rate authors wrote beautifully. And for a dollar a book, or less, you can afford a few clunkers.

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I also read reviews, mostly on Salon or Daily Beast or Huffington Post. I am going to order Hopscotch because of one recent piece. Anyone who reads a review of it and is familiar with my work (that would be you, Carl) will understand immediately why I find it tempting. I'm still in search of strategies for shuffling around all that backstory of mine, and this guy has a few fascinating ideas about playing with structure, a screwball approach. Sounds like it's right up my alley.

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--edited by Mimi Speike on 8/10/2013, 11:39 PM--

Hey, @Mimi--Love your post. I love your bravery at the library book sales. I should try the same.

Are you referring to Hopscotch by the Argentine writer Julio Cortazar? I have a copy and I have been meaning to read it for a while now. Let me know when you start--maybe we could do a bit of a readalong, or at least compare notes when we're both finished. It's fun to find out who other writers read to better understand their own projects.

I think that must be the same book. Do you see notes in which the author suggests various orders in which the chapters might be read? Screw the plot, the approach sounds playful, and that's what appeals to me. I'm looking for a way to break up my arduous (interminable, I'm told) backstory. I do have to agree. But that stuff ain't going nowhere, except for migrating to another locale. I refer back to that material again and again in the course of my story. It takes a heap of fast talk to build a world in which a cat might (believably, sez me) talk.

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I've thought of shoving most of my scene-setting into a chapter of its own, called:

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Don't Read This. 

You don't need to know any of this stuff (or hardly any) to follow the plot. 

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I'll Warn You When Something Here Might Be Helpful To A Full Appreciation Of The Story.

At That Time You Can Investigate This Material Or Not, As You Like. 

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Oh, God. Another bug. I'm centering the above headline. It works in the edit screen, but reverts to flush left in the saved screen.

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I will order Hopscotch tonight, off Amazon, along with Lily's Christian Astrology, another book on my list. A period piece! Written in the early seventeenth century! It hopefully will add credibility to my hocus-pocus in Sly! He's about to run into John Dee, Elizabeth's Royal Astrologer, and he and I have got to be on our toes.

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I'm also going to order The Casual Vacancy. And, Wool. Join me on those also, if any of that appeals to you. This could be great fun.

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--edited by Mimi Speike on 8/11/2013, 6:52 PM--

Hi @Mimi--I took a long look through my apartment last night and my fears were realized--my copy of HOPSCOTCH is not there. I think it is in a box on an island in Lake Michigan, in storage at the home of my future mother-in-law. I don't know when I will be able to get to it!

So. For that reason, I think it might be a while before I get to it.

But I do want to read THE CASUAL VACANCY, and I was also thinking that next week we could kick off a Book Country readalong of a YA book (you know, for "back to school").

But let's definitely keep track of all these, maybe on Pinterest. Who out there is on Pinterest that Book Country hasn't connected with yet?

Well, I don't quite know what Pinterest is. I'm not on it, nor on Facebook, nor Twitter, nor any of that. 

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The Casual Vacancy, that I could get into. YA is not for me. I sampled a bit of Amanda Hocking at work once, out of curiosity. (I work for a compositor) It did nothing for me. Beautiful prose is the draw for me, even more than the story. I got deep into a book titled The Introspective Engineer (not a piece of fiction, it deals with the philosophy of engineering) last night (again, at work). The story is important, of course, but I'll read great style/nothing plot before I'll read great plot/poorly written.

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--edited by Mimi Speike on 8/15/2013, 11:39 AM--