I'm terrible at choosing new books. In the beginning, I would just buy a bunch of the ones I saw on top lists, put them on my shelf, and then realize I was an idiot as books that were way more interesting to me came to my attention. I still have a bunch of books I wasted money on that I don't plan on reading in the immediate future. I don't think doing a bunch of research first is necessary most of the time, unless you are looking for inspiration from a certain genre. As a writer, I think you can learn just as much from bad books as you can from good books, so going to a library and just reading something that looks interesting is really good to do every now and then. I read the first two books in the Divergent series until it became such mental torture that I just had to stop. Taught me a lot about how not to write, though it also took me a few weeks to mentally recover.
I decide was book I buy via three things: Is it a new book from a favourite author? Does the outline and book cover catch my attention? Recommandations - like when Emma Watson mentioned The Queen of the Tearling, I instantly bought it on amazon and loved it.
I do something similar. I follow some reviewers in Goodreads because they like the same books I do and others because they hate books I like. If I see a good review from the former or a bad review from the later I get a sample of the book on Kindle. It's actually funny seeing the later shred the book because of something I know I'll love.
I have a lot of respect for Anthony Burgess. He once wrote a slim little book called 99 Novels, in which he gave short reviews of his choice of best novels in English published between 1939 and 1984. His selection is pretty high-minded and intellectual, and I like that, and I discovered quite a few writers I'd never heard of before based on his list. The literary magazine The Paris Review includes extensive interviews with writers in every issue. I subscribe to that magazine and have discovered many outstanding writers by reading their interviews. Several volumes of these interviews have been published, and I have them to learn about writers interviewed before I started my subscription. I highly recommend The Paris Review. Sidenote: the large majority if the interviews they've done since they began publication in 1953 are available on its website. I also subscribe to The New Yorker, mostly because I appreciate the intelligence and perception of its reviewers, especially James Wood. I've discovered a wide variety of authors through that magazine as well. Pretty much all of the sources of book-info I just listed focus intensely on literary fiction, which is what I read most these days. I also consult lists of books that were shortlisted (or longlisted, even) for major awards like the Man Booker Prize, the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and so on. After a while, you start noticing the same writers popping up on those lists, and in the interviews I've read, etc. They become famous to me even before I've read a word of their work. Those are some of the ways I choose the good stuff I read. I also have to avoid the bad stuff. I do that mostly by genre. I don't read fantasy any more because there are planetfuls of bad fantasy out there. I don't like magic, or supernatural beings, or strange races. I also recoil from books in a series. If a novel has a subtitle like "Book 9 of The Chronicles of Xanthropuntz", I know it's going to turn my stomach and wrench vomit from me until I'm puking blood. I don't read horror because I hate being terrified. When I was a kid I read nothing but science fiction, and I recently returned to some of my favorites from my early years, and I found they just don't hold up. Most of the prose is crap, the characterizations thin to nonexistent, and the ideas that used to blow my preteen mind make me yawn these days. Oh well. My tastes have changed over the years. I guess that happens to just about everybody.
I sometimes find free ones at the library. That's how I discovered Barabbas and it was a Godsend. I also search for "similar authors" on Amazon
I have a goal to read the complete works of several authors - so this project is taking a long time - but those are the main books I buy: Kurt Vonnegut, John Updike, Margaret Atwood, Alice Munro are the biggies. I also buy lots of poetry books for any poet I'm interested in - I want to own the original print editions of paperbacks of these poets. I read other things now and then, usually when a review sparks my interest, but I'm usually having a harder time getting in to most of these recommended readings.
I usually let the book catch my eye, wheter by the cover, title or author or whatever. Then I read the description, then the first few pages, if I fi d myself engulfed in it, its a winner. If not I keep looking
Oh, I want to try this, but I think my library card expired. I'm not sure if it's worth renewing since I'm about to move for college. Anyway, I look for reviews on goodreads.
I often buy books because of their cover or size - with little to no intention of ever reading them. I love bookshops - especially the second-hand ones with books piled in every available space that you often find in little seaside towns. But I too find them overwhelming and more often than not leave empty handed, exhausted and a little depressed because none of the books made me 'feel' good. I don't buy books, books buy me.
Authors I already like. If I am looking for a new author I look at what authors the author that I like recommends. I read a lot on kindle, and then if I really like a book, I buy the hard-copy. The advantage to Kindle and other E-book formats is that once you have read enough books, the ones it recommends to you tend to match your tastes pretty well.
