Suggestions on how to find books to read

[rlparker]

Originally Posted by sirbruce

You can try asking Gnod for related authors:
http://www.gnooks.com/faves.php

There's also literature-map. Related in some way to gnooks. I haven't used either one but they look interesting.

[xmiyux]

I would also check out the book Book Lust and the sequel More Book Lust (both by Nancy Pearl). They each contain around 1,000 reading recommendations based on themed lists and I have found the lists to be fascinating. She gives a little blurb/discussion about each book that helps give you a clue whether it would interest you or not.

For example, here are a couple of her themed lists (just the titles - leaving out the recs):

Horror for Sissies
Codes and Ciphers
Men Channeling Women
Books to Ignite Discussion
Space Operas

Just some examples from More Book Lust (which I keep by my computer so I can use it when reserving books from my library or shopping on Amazon).

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by Argelius

Thanks for the suggestion! I'm finding it far easier to find music onine that I like (as opposed to going to a CD store -- not that they exist anymore); however, browsing thru a book store is much easier. But I'd determined to try to read more...

I find that browsing Kindle Store on amazon.com on the computer is much more efficient than using Kindle. It's much faster, and easier to read reviews and the 'customers who bought this also bought...' links. When I find something that looks interesting, I click the link to send a sample to my Kindle for further review. It's nice to have some of this experience on Kindle itself, but given its current performance limitations, small screen, etc., it is not what I'd want to use all of the time for browsing.

Amazon's web site offers much more powerful browsing tools than any physical bookstore. I used to enjoy browsing in bookstores very much, but after a few years patronizing Amazon (for books and many other things), I get frustrated when I try to find something to read there. The selection is so limited in comparison, one doesn't have the benefit of reader's reviews, and the linear organization isn't very flexible.