How do you decide next book to read?

[Smartie]

I am sure all of you have tons of ebooks in your ereader, so when you finish current one, how do you decide which one to read next? I found each time when I finish one book, I usually try read a few pages for couple of books then decided what to read, so in my ereader, a lot books are 2% read, I am wondering how your guys do

[mewmartigan]

Originally Posted by Smartie

I am sure all of you have tons of ebooks in your ereader, so when you finish current one, how do you decide which one to read next? I found each time when I finish one book, I usually try read a few pages for couple of books then decided what to read, so in my ereader, a lot books are 2% read, I am wondering how your guys do

Usually it comes down to whether I want to start a new series or read a "one of". Obviously If I am in a series, it makes it easier to known what I will read next, haha.

I am all sci-fi and fantasy so there are plenty of epic series and I also usually decide whether I want hard scifi or not on my next read.

Then there are authors that get an automatic read. When the new Honor Harrington book comes out in November, I will read that right away.

[Hampshire Nanny]

Oh -- I have a mental list of the potential "next up" books, but there's no guarantee that I'll follow thru. Sometimes I'm surprised when the library up and notifies me that I book I had requested has become available. Sometimes, like today, when I'm reading a topic I stumble across a book that sounds really appealing and which I can get for cheap (free book, KU book, available at the library, under $4 ...), so it jumps onto my reader and worms its way to the top of the list.

I like to read in a series where I'm already invested in the characters. Case in point, on my Kindle I have 3 volumes of the Amelia Peabody mysteries by Elizabeth Peters. I bought them years ago when there was a sale. But I have one more book to read before I get to the ones on my reader. It just came in from the library and I picked it up today. I'll read the library book and then the other 3 will move closer to the top of the stack. But I also like variety and know that I won't read all 4 of these books back-to-back.

I've also had a copy of 1632 around since I first got my Kindle in 2008 and I *still* haven't read it. After reading the discussion around this month's Book Club selection, it's moving up the list as well.

It appears random at times. I often pick my next read based on my mood. (And sometimes it's the cover!) And I typically have two or more books "going" at the same time. I'm not shy to set a book aside if it's not working for me and then resume it later -- or maybe not, depending on my mood and what else I have around.

There are over 2000 physical volumes in my house which I have not yet read -- each of these was acquired (purchased, traded for, picked up for free) with the *intent* to read them. Many of them I have in electronic format now and I just need to cull the collection and pass the physical ones along.

[sakura-panda]

I have a list of all the books I've bought, in the order I bought them, and I generally just pick the next book on the list.

Occasionally I'll want to read something specific, and then I'll pick that, but usually I just take from the list. If I'm reading a series, I'll read through that series before I go back to pick the next thing.

[drjd]

I usually read fiction in a series, often containing five books or more, so it becomes easier to decide the next obvious book. However, if I am reading a long series with 10+ books, I sometimes read a book in between with an entirely different subject, may it be hard science non-fiction or a biography/autobiography, just to break the monotony of the series. This helps me recollect my consciousness and I can come back to the series with renewed energy and interest. The real indecisiveness comes when I have finished a series, and have to start another. It takes a pretty good time to finally decide the new series to begin with.

[DiapDealer]

Chances are I don't own the book I'm going to read next. I don't like to limit myself to only the books I had the foresight (or weakness) to purchase ahead of time. So I always go "shopping" for the next book I'm going to read. It's a process I enjoy immensely!

Once I've found four or five titles that interest me, I make them fight it out (melee style) and read the winner (buying it if required, of course). Some of the losers will go on my virtual "kinda sorta might wanna read" shelf (especially if they showed spunk in the melee round).

[pwalker8]

It depends. I have a to be read list. Generally, I'll scan through that and mark four or five books that look like something that I'm in the mood for, then start reading the first. If that doesn't grab my interest, I try the next.

A lot depends on my mood. I generally have a lot of different types of books in my to be read list. Sometimes if I'm in the mood for a particular type of book and it's not in my to be read list, I'll scan through my digital library to find one that matches my mood.

Also, if there is a new book by a favored author or a book that is recommended to me, that jumps to the front of the list.

I'm still looking for the perfect ebook library tool to facility how I like to decide on the next book. In a perfect world, I would have something like Calibre/Marvin with Apple's manually sortable lists.

[DrNefario]

My strictest rule is that it should be something in a different genre to the book I just read. Even this one can be waived if, for instance, it's an omnibus and I've borrowed it from the library, so have a deadline.

After that I will consider my various challenges and ongoing series. The ones with more to do in less time tend to take priority, but I try to keep everything moving, and sometimes it's easy to throw in a quicker read from something less pressing. There's no real deadline on my Agatha Christie read-through, for instance, but they barely take any time to read, usually, and there are a lot of them, so I aim for one a month.

I will also take format into account. For my purposes, there are basically three formats: Kindle, ePub and paper; and which one I am in the mood for varies. Sometimes I want to get rid of some of my old unread paper books, but on the other hand I don't want to travel with a paper book. And kindle/epub depends on which reader I want to use - if I feel I've been neglecting one of them I'm more likely to give it a run out - and whether any of them is "blocked" by being in the middle of something. Right now I'm reading a non-fiction collection on my kindle, so I won't use it for my next novel, but I'm also away visiting family overnight this weekend, so I won't start a paperback, which leaves me with ePubs on my Nook or Kobo. This is a more limited selection than my kindle since I've never taken my kindle books through calibre, which tends to make it an easier choice.

Finally, sometimes I just want to read some particular book.

[Catlady]

I generally don't read according to any plan. If I like a book I've just read by a new-to-me author, I'll tend to seek out and binge-read other works by him or her. If authors I like have new books out, I'll read them. If a hold comes through at the library, I'll read that. If something reminds me of a book I bought and never read, or of a book I read long ago, sometimes I'll read that. Recommendations at Amazon or Audible may catch my eye.

I don't like to make reading into a chore. I read what I want, when I want, as the mood strikes me. Why should it be more complicated than that?

[ametzler]

Originally Posted by Smartie

I am sure all of you have tons of ebooks in your ereader, so when you finish current one, how do you decide which one to read next? I found each time when I finish one book, I usually try read a few pages for couple of books then decided what to read, so in my ereader, a lot books are 2% read, I am wondering how your guys do

I do not have tons of unread books on my kindle. I read a lot (>= an hour a day) and have a hard time finding books that really interest me. I have got a TBR collection which usually contains about 6 unread books and 10 possible re-reads. Choosing from these is not difficult.

[bgalbrecht]

I have a lot of TBR, a lot of times I pick something because I recently read a recommendation for something I already have, or I just bought it, or I've been flipping through my books and the cover draws me in. Pretty soon, there will be a Hugo award packet coming out, and then I'll mostly try to be reading material from that, although I'm sure that a bunch of the rabid puppy nominees won't make it past 10%.