Tuesday, September 4, 2012

How to Choose A Good Book

Hey friends! Sorry I've been absent. My class is very needy this year and I've been staying late at work every night. I feel like I've been stretching myself thin and I haven't even blogged at all! Now I'm feeling a little sick and I'm taking the night off from the gym so I wanted to give you a guest post about choosing the good books. You can use this information for yourself and your students.



How to Choose the Right Book
There are thousands and thousands of books out there, with seemingly new ones coming out every day. Every politician, and person on television also seems to be writing a book as well. Not to mention all of the classic novels that are still popular to this day. There are even more options if you have an e-reader as there are many places to download eBooks for free or for nominal prices. So it can be difficult to actually find the one that you want. Luckily there are ways to narrow down your choices and find a book that will be enjoyable and suit your needs.

Follow Authors
Many people love to read books by the same author, even to the point of eagerly awaiting their next book. This is not always a solution for authors who write very few books, but for a lot it is. Generally an author that writes a lot of books will write in the same genre and style, so this would be a natural place to look.

Websites
The nice thing about websites that sell books is the review system. An easy way to find books that you may like is to go to Amazon. From there, you can look up books in the past that you have read, with that, it will show you other books that were purchased when this book was purchased. Basically, it shows similar relevant authors and books, which can be an easy way to find new books. Not only that, but the similar books will have reviews so you can see if it is something you would like.

Solicit Advice
It would be a good idea to ask around to friends and family if they have any recommendations. If someone knows you well enough they should know what type of books you enjoy reading. This can be very helpful, if they know a good book or author, they will jump at the chance to tell you. Not only this, but often they can lend you the book if they do own it themselves.

Top Books
Often at the local public libraries, there will be displays of popular books. Not only that, at times, the library will set up displays showing favorite books by library employees. This can be a godsend in finding a book that you will like. Once you find one you like, you could note which employee recommended it, and even ask them for more ideas. They certainly should be more than happy to help.

Read a Little
When you are looking at a book, if possible read the first chapter. This may not be necessary if you know the other. But if you are delving into a new author or genre of books, it is a good idea to look at the first few pages or ideally the whole chapter. You should have a good idea if you like the book or not.

It can be difficult choosing a new book as there are so many choices and opinions out there. Luckily there are a lot of resources to find the right book for you. When choosing a book to read, do not be afraid to look outside your normal interests in regards to authors or even genres. You may find something new that interests you.

Deborah Brock writes about literature, education & more at www.travelinsurance.org.

-- 
Guest Post U
The University of Great Content

No comments:

Post a Comment