How do you usually go about picking your books to read... a magazine review?... a friend?... a pretty cover?... blogcritics? Well, if you want to take some of the guesswork out of it you can usually rely on finding a good one by taking a look at sales across the country from multiple sources.
Yahoo has a list of the best selling books from the Associated Press. The link includes bestsellers from the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly compiled from a plethora of national booksellers. Quite a few made the top ten of all three lists, including:
- "The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown
- "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" by Mitch Albom
- "America(The Book)" by the writers of The Daily Show, Jon Stewart
- "Your Best Life Now" by Joel Osteen
- "He's Just Not That Into You" by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo
- "State of Fear" by Michael Crichton
Agree/disagree with any of these? Have any that should/shouldn't be on the list?
(the above post from www.bettergetter.com has been modified to fit your blogcritics page)
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Marty Dodge
DaVinci Code is poorly written dross; the ending is particularily bad. Of course, being the twit I am, I read all the rest of his books as well. None of them are that great.
I tend to stick to certain authors that I know and or read what they recommend.
2 - Temple Stark
Does anyone remember the Celestine Prophecy and the "cult" that surrounded it?
I was never more disappointed with just the sheer lame 6th-grade writing of a bestseller.
That little parenthetical note at the bottom is unnecessary. If you want to link your site, just do it. "For more see bettergetter.com" or something like.
3 - Mark Saleski
i have "book radar"....i just walk around in the sections that interest me.
when something is 'right', i just know.
it works very well.
too well, actually.
4 - Distorted Angel
Hmm...of all the books you list, I only own one, the Jon Stewart book, which I asked for at Christmas. Wouldn't read any of the others. It seems to me that whatever is popular is not necessarily the same as what is good or interesting, at least not to me. I do depend on recommendations from friends and family, I read the NY Times book review section, and sometimes I like to just wander around a bookstore and see what appeals to me.
5 - Aaman
Bestsellers are a poor way of deciding which books are good - the list above illustrates this point. My own sources are (in no particular order)
> blogcritics
> The New York Review Of Books
> The returns carts at my library (if others are reading it...)
> Amazon recommendations
> Following my nose in a bookstore
> Tangents based on books I'm currently reading
Some of my current list(Look for reviews soon):
1. "In The Shadow Of No Towers"
2. "Our Movie Year"
3. "The System Of The World"
4. "Jonathan Strange..."
5. "Something Rotten"
6 - Eric Berlin
I think most people tend to play it safe/conservative with books because they're such an investment of time. Therefore, "best sellers" at least tell you that this is crap (or Genius) that other people are buying and reading.
I'm no different: I trend heavily to authors that have done me well in the past. I do try and branch out, however, and therefore keep an open ear during conversations and an open eye at the book shop, online, at Blog Critics, etc.
Does anyone know if "He's Just Not That Into You" has anything to do with Sex & the City?
Eric Berlin
Dumpster Bust: Miracles from Mind Trash
7 - Marty Dodge
I am reading the new Neal Stephenson trilogy (on book two) and Stephen Pollard's bio of Blunkett.
Just finished two books: the Dummies Guide to Songwriting and Pros Secrets to Heavy Rock Singing.
8 - Dean
beat on the Da Vinci Code for being cheap thriller fiction but at least it was enjoyable cheap thriller fiction.
I'm just finishing State of Fear and I'm uniformly unimpressed...so uniformly unimpressed that I'm going to have a hard time generating any energy to review it.
Definitely should NOT on the best-seller lists...
9 - NancyGail
He's just not that into you was not only part of an episode of Sex and The City, but the two writers wrote for that show as well.
Agree with Davinci Code, and plan to read at some point. Personally, it has to interest me before I will open pages. Reading the back cover helps considerably. At my local library, have realized that I had better grab a book by a favorite author if on the 14 day checkout shelf. Otherwise, someone else will get their paws on it.
10 - Nick Jones
I have learned to be skeptical of blurbs, and the synopses on hardcover flaps. I also no longer buy hardcover books unless I actually know for certain it's a "keeper", since it's so hard to sell them. Imagine my dismay when I read Hannibal, and found it only half a good read. It was like reading a novel started by A.S. Byatt that was finished by Dean Koontz.
The inner sleeve of Jennifer Government made it sound like a really exciting cyberpunk story. But when the Bad Guy is the most interesting, likable, and three-dimensional character, you know there's a problem. Luckily, I had asked my local library to get the book, so it didn't cost me a dime, but I did apologize to one of the librarians for having requested it. (I also hated Jennifer Government herself, yet another egregious example of the supposedly intelligent woman having an 'oopsie' with her birth control to force a commitment.)
Resume with Monsters was compared on the back cover to a cross between Woody Allen and H.P. Lovecraft. It was nothing of the kind, although there was a liberal sprinkling of Lovecraft's monsters throughout. After finishing it, I had to agree with the protagonist's ex-girlfriend for leaving him, since he came off as a self-involved, delusional head-case.
So now I borrow from friends before I buy, make suggestions to the library for books I'm iffy about, read reviews on Amazon.com and elsewhere, and weigh the most recent reputation of the author's output with a synopsis of his or her latest (which is why I'm glad I didn't spend anything on Peter Straub's two latest).
11 - Tim Hall
I tend to buy books based on recommendations on various internet fora (including Blogcritics) from people who I know share similar tastes to mine.
I'm very wary of back cover blurbs; "Comparible with Tolkien at his best" translates to me as "Formulaic hack-written dross".
12 - Anna
I read authors I have a history with. I stay far away from Oprah Book Club titles. I take recommendations from trusted friends and colleagues. I also learn about new books of interest through BookCrossing.com bookrings and bookrays. The only times I use best seller lists and review sources like Choice Magazine and Publisher's Weekly are when I'm doing collection development for my place of work (an academic library).
13 - Mark Saleski
blurbspeak that creeps me out: LUMINOUS.
dang, there are so many 'luminous' books out there.
14 - Tim Hall
You only get luminous books if you live rather too close to a leaking nuclear waste dump?
15 - Mark Saleski
oh yea...also: erotic. which generally means that it's not.
16 - Eric Olsen
our 12 month-old is often luminous before he fills the diaper, though he THINKS he's far more erotic than he actually is
17 - Marty Dodge
At the risk of being trite, I am reading much less these days because I am too busy writing my own stuff (music, another book & short stories). About 5 years ago I was asked by a fellow writer, if I ever "got the chance to read" anymore. I didn't understand what he meant then, I do now.
18 - Eric Berlin
Marty -
You don't sound trite at all. I just finished grad school and am in the process of finishing my first novel. "Pleasure reading" for me is rare, and pleasurable. (I do manage to spend time tending to my blog and to Blog Critics, of course... priorities.)
Mr. Olsen: What we're learning about you today is turning out to be... slightly unsettling.
~ Eric B.
19 - Eric Olsen
as I have said before, "I don't have time to read anything because I am reading all the time"
20 - Temple Stark
>>Dummies Guide to Songwriting
That really just makes me want to cry.
...
There, ther's your first line. I'll shut up now (there's your last line).
21 - bettergetter
I agree with Eric B.'s earlier comment about people being conservative with book selections because of the amount of time they consume ... I know I am. I work pretty long days and only have a few minutes at night to read or do anything else (I can usually find a little time on the weekends). Therefore, I tend to be more of a magazine and RSS reader just because I like to cram in tons of info in the spare time I can find (ya gots to stay up on your pop culture & current events). I want to make sure the books I do read are good enough to spend my time on, so usually I'll begin with the bestsellers or suggestions I've come across and start scouring reviews on Amazon, blogcritics, etc. and most of the time I end up going off on some tangent to another book that I find along the way. Then of course there are those that I buy with every intention of reading, but something better comes along and it moves to the bottom of the stack (sure nobody else has ever done that). Perhaps if I didn't spend time posting I'd have more time to read ... go figure?
22 - Steve
Anna: You stay away from Oprah Book Club titles?
I stay away from Oprah, but in all fairness her Book Club has picked popularized some truly remarkable literature.
"One Thousand Years of Solitude" pops to mind - it is arguably one of the most significant works of the twentieth century. Also "Angela's Ashes" did quite well for itself. Come now!
23 - Eric Berlin
I agree with both Anna and Steve: many of Oprah's books are weepy, long-winded, and to be avoided.
However, being selected for The List doesn't preclude literary greatness. "A Fine Balance," by Rohinton Mistry is just that. Watch out, though: it'll tear your heart out.
~ Eric B.
24 - Marty Dodge
Eric B, I do find it rather odd when I find I have to schedule time to read.
As with most guides and "secret books" it is amazing how much of it is patently obvious or rather should be so. Its amazing how many simple small things there are to help one keep ones voice as a singer.
25 - DrPat
There's a big difference between choosing books to read and choosing between books to buy. Free books (such as library books and those borrowed from other people's shelves) have a lower threshhold for me. In other wods, I will take a chance on them.
For books I'm choosing to buy, I do as Mark Saleski does, wander around the sections that hold books of interest, pull them off the shelf and look at: the cover, the promo text, any excerpts, and the dedication. Really. You learn a lot from finding out to whom the author dedicates his efforts.
If it's a new author to me, I then apply the Rule of 33: I start at the top of page 33 and read no further than page 35. It gives me a good sense of the writer's style and ability to communicate.