TEV brought up an interesting topic yesterday. He’s noticed that reviewers and bloggers tend to flock to a few new titles each month or so. You can’t throw a stick (metaphorically of course) without hitting a review of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell these days. The same for Colm Toibin’s The Master when it came out.
Its hard not to notice this trend. And I definitely will fall into this pattern myself. I read all of these reviews of a new big book and feel the urge to run out and read it and write about it. I think of how I used to read BBS (that’s before book store). I’d spend hours trolling the aisles for something to read. Randomly grabbing a title off the shelf , attracted to a colorful spine, reading the back and the first few pages. That’s how I came across Murakami.
Now I usually head to the shelves with books in mind already. I have lists of things I want to read. Sometimes I will come across titles that interest me from looking through a season’s catalogs. Sometimes from reviews. And sometimes I will grab books based on the recommendations from other bloggers, e.g. John Banville, whom TEV loves.
I miss the days of browsing. When I go to other cities now, I always am drawn to bookstores. There I can browse without fear of being interrupted by a customer or co-worker. There I can browse without commentary by others (I am a private reader most of the time. I don’t want to have to discuss what I am buying and reading with co-workers). While in Virginia over the long weekend, I came across 2 great used bookstores in Charlottesville. And I went into each of them (partly to try and find some Nabokov whom I embarassingly enough I have never read. Nabokov is almost impossible to find used. I don’t know why.) and every time my boyfriend rolled his eyes. Not because he doesn’t like bookstores or browsing, but because he can’t imagine why I would want to browse in another store when I work in a perfectly good (let’s be honest, it’s one of the best bookstores in New England) store and can browse all day if I like.
So, now that I have rambled for several paragraphs, I suppose what I am trying to say is, how do you decide what to read? I want to support smaller, unheard of books, ones which might not get a review in the NYT or any place else. I want to give them a chance because there are some great books out there. But I also want to read the big popular stuff too. I guess its a matter of balancing. Any opinions out there?
Bookdwarf
Come fall into a book hole!
Bookdwarf 
BD (or is that officially Ms. Bookdwarf after yesterday?),
An interesting dilemma. Big books vs. the ones you’d like to support, or really, how to mix the two in the little time our lives allow.
Another dilemma I find myself having is there are so many new books to read, I find it hard to sneak in time to read a classic – Faulkner, Nabakov, O’Conner, etc.
I tend to focus on smaller books – indy presses, University presses and the like. Many midlist authors find their way to my shelves – Lee K. Abbott, Steve Yarbrough, Alyson Hagy, etc.
I will grab bigger books, the new TC Boyle comes to mind, as does anything new by Richard Russo. However, these are usually authors I’ve read since before they were bigger than midlist.
I discover the books I’m looking to read in various ways – blogs (of course), press catalogues, and some presses just send books my way. I also get suggestions from those who’ve read some things I liked and believe they know what I’d like. I also get the (moreso lately) occasional out of the blue email from an author suggesting I might like their work.
Working in a great bookstore, I’m sure you’re rarely stuck for ideas, but if so, visit the website (www.emergingwriters.net) and browse around the Forum – many writers like your aforementioned Chimamanda Ngoze Adichie are both reviewed and interviewed.
I don’t ever visit a new city without immediately grabbing the phone book and looking for the used bookstores in the area.
Enjoy,
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I’ve just discovered your blog – very nice! Great post on choosing what to read next. I feel like I’m in the same boat. Unfortunately I live in a city where there are no independent bookstores which I think usually do more for emerging writers and smaller presses. The only thing I can do is spend lots of time at the bookstores browsing. Going up and down the aisles and hopefully finding something other than bestsellers.
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I had a similar experience. Before I started working at a book store, I selected books almost randomly, and when I finished one I would go searching for another. Then I started working at a bookstore, and surrounded by readers and books, I suddenly became aware all the amazing books and authors that I hadn’t known about. Before long, I had a stacks of books waiting for me and I couldn’t read them fast enough. The worst part was that when I finished one book, I couldn’t decide what to read next, since I wanted to read them all so badly. I would ignore the books sitting at the bottom of my stack and go straight for the shiny new ones, and I always felt strangely guilty about it. My solution? I created the Reading Queue. I assign each book in my “to read” pile a number, and when the time comes for me to start a new book I pick a number out of a hat. And when I buy a new book, I just add it to the Queue. Maybe I’ll read it next, or maybe I’ll read it next year.
You can see the reading queue in action here:
The Millions
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