What to read? My system

This is my TO READ pile. It's a mix of books I've been meaning to read forever,
finds from the $1 bin from Borders (seriously!), books I had to have, books from the library and
books borrowed from friends. It's a little out of control at the moment.

There aren't enough hours in the day to read books. So many books. But I'm usually reading a book and have a whole list of things to read.

There for a while, I didn't know what to read. How do you know if a book is good? If you'll like it? I certainly didn't like a lot of the books I was forced to read in high school. In college, I found more books I loved because professors to the care to pick amazing books, but what about in real life? In the real world?

At first I tried following book blogs and started with their recommendations. Wrong. The reviews were overly fluffy and the reviewers often LOVED horribly written books, books with plot holes, books with continuity issues, books researched for all of 2 seconds wikipedia scanning. I'm the first to admit that I love to read, and I'd rather like a book than hate it. I'm not that tough of a critic. I want to be entertained. I want an easy read. I want writing without extra pretentious words.

I really like young adult, but I read "grown-up" books too. I just like the Y/A takes less time to read, and with a crazy busy job, I like a book that's an easy read. I read Eat, Pray, Love. It took me 2 months to finish that book. I can finish a fast-paced Y/A book in a four-hour sitting on Friday night.

Step 1. Find your genre. If there's a particular niche that you really enjoy this can help you find books you like. And if you frequent bookstores, they often have the bestsellers on display in each section. So that's a good place to start.

Step 2: Keep track of book recommendations. If you get a newsletter or email about books you might like, keep track of those books. (I shop a lot from Amazon and Borders, so I get email recs and onlinine shopping suggestions from them all the time.) Also make a note of those books on the hot shelves in book stores. I keep these books, books friends tell me about and lists of top books (like best dystopian Y/A from goodreads or book of the month from Amazon) in a Gmail draft or my Amazon wishlist to come back to later. You can also use the To Read feature on goodreads.com as a reminder on what you plan to read. For books that my library has, I print out the call number and put the paper in a basket for the next time I go to the library.

Step 3: Research. On Amazon you can read the first chapter of a lot of books. This is so helpful because you can get a sense of the book.

If you're in a book store you can flip through the pages.

One good test is the page 99 test. Flip to page 99 of a book and read the whole page. It's a random page, but it should give you a good sense of the book. Usually the story is established and it's in rising action.

I also read book reviews. I like the reviews on goodreads.com. The members aren't professional reviewers. They're just fellow book-lovers who have a range of opinions on the books. (I don't trust Amazon reviews. They're too flattering and the star rating is inflated in my opinion.) I read some of the best, worst and middle reviews. I give more weight to the well written reviews, but I like to get a cross section. If every review says this book was probably "as much of a torture for xxxwriterxx write as it was for me to read," maybe I'll think twice on it. And if after doing my research on a book, I decide it's for me, I take it off the list.

Step 4: Pick a book, any book—off of your To Read list. My Amazon wishlist is like a running to-read list. I take books off after I read or borrow them. I have a stack at my house for books to read. And I also have a to-read list on Goodreads, for a reminder of what books I have to read. And if I'm heading to the bookstore, I'll usually put a note in my phone of what books I'm looking at.

So now you know what to read and have your list. You can order the books online, borrow from a friend, go to a brick-and-mortar store (help keep them alive), go to your local library or place a library hold on the books.

Things not to do
• Don't read a book because a book blog tells you to. Do a little research first.
• Don't buy a book because it's the hot new thing.
• Never pay full price for a book. Amazon has the best overall prices that I've found. If you spend more than $25, they'll ship for free. Borders ALWAYS has a coupon, print it out, show it on your phone and you can get a percentage off.  (You can write the books you're looking at on the coupon as a reminder.) I'm not as familiar with Barnes and Noble, but they often have coupons. Target, Wal-mart and other retailers often have discounted books. I've seen a lot of 20% off. And if you're going to be buying a series, you can sometimes get boxed sets. (And a coupon on a boxed set makes things even cheaper)

And after your buy a book, and you're done with it and don't want it sitting on your shelf anymore, pass it on to a friend or donate it to the library—that way more people can read it.

Happy reading!