Why do you choose to read what you read? And how do you select your next book?
If you’re anything like me, you have a stack of unread books and still you purchase/borrow more. So what makes you pick up a book and buy it in the first place? And how do you choose which title will be read next?
Do you need to be in the mood for a certain read at a certain time? Or do book reviews/radio interviews with the author influence your choice? Is it the cover, the story or the author that attracts you? Or is it completely random? Or do you go for the 69 theory that Hazel Gaynor discusses over on writing.ie?
When I’m selecting my next read, I always have a stack of five or more books to choose from. They’ll range in genre, length and style and I’ll reread the blurbs before narrowing my choice down. Then comes the final stage; I read a paragraph or page (whatever the book dictates) and will go for the one that grabs me.
I thought seeing as reading is such an integral part of my life, I’d take a look at what I’ve read so far this year and what it was that attracted me to the book. So this is my year so far in books… What have you read recently? And how do you choose your next read?
This was one that slipped through the reading list & my hubby bought it for me for Christmas. The winters are long here so it was the perfect choice for winter nights.
I’m attending an Arvon course in July with Melvin Burgess – so I’m rereading/reading more of his books now in preparation.
I love Japanese writers and apocalyptic stories & this was a new author & a great-sounding story, so I couldn’t resist it.
This was a book club choice – we decided to delve back into the classics.
Another book club choice, this was chosen because one of our members met the publisher on her travels and he recommended it.
I bought this at the 2013 Cork international Short Story Festival as I try to read a short story every day during winter. This was so good, I decided to read the whole collection from start to finish.
This is further research/preparation for my 2014 Arvon residential writing retreat.
I actually won this book on twitter – and I happen to know one of the authors (Paul Perry) so I was doubly excited about this one.
I like Dave Eggers and the concept behind this creative non-fiction book sounded incredible – and like nothing I’ve ever read before. I’m also writing an apocalyptic story so I used this as research.
This is a regular reread to help keep going and make sure I don’t forget any basics. (Apologies – not the best image!)
E.R.Murray 
I’ve only read ‘Zeitoun’ and ‘On Writing’ out of this pile of loveliness (though I do own ‘Wolf Hall’ and keep meaning to get to it!); I love the look of the Kitamura, so I’ll be checking that one out. I choose my next read based on covers, a lot of the time – I’m a real sucker for a good cover. Then it’s the back cover blurb, the first two pages and a random page from somewhere in the middle of the book, and I usually know at that point whether I want to read it or not. I also hear about a lot of upcoming books on Twitter, and that usually gets my reading radar primed for action whenever I cross the threshold of a bookshop. 🙂