At the moment, I\u2019m in a bit of a reading slump, and no book seems to appeal to me. My pile of unread books has shrunk considerably, and the selection is accordingly small. So, I set out to look for some new books that would really draw me in\u2014but somehow, that\u2019s not going so well. Is it me? Am I just a lazy toad these days, or is it actually not that easy to find good books as one might assume?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
I often wonder how other readers choose their books. I suspect that the display in a bookstore\u2014or in the virtual shelves online\u2014has a major influence on how one\u2019s to-be-read pile is composed. For some time now, I\u2019ve also been browsing Instagram, following many book bloggers, avid readers, and book people. From what I can tell, what you see there corresponds quite well with what\u2019s promoted on Amazon\u2019s landing pages or displayed on the tables of your local bookstore. You really have to dig deeper to find genuine hidden gems. It\u2019s probably mostly my fault that all these current hyped books rarely appeal to me. Recently, I\u2019ve also browsed more closely through the Spiegel bestseller mainstream shelf. The Spiegel sticker has definitely proven to be a seal of \u201cdo not buy\u201d for me\u2014there have been only a very few books with that stamp that I found worth reading. I think I once read that the right to put that sticker on a book has to be purchased by the publisher from Der Spiegel<\/em> in the first place.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n I\u2019ve taken a closer look at a few books that seem to be permanently featured on Instagram and in blogs. For example, Three Women<\/em> by Lisa Taddeo, which has been rather panned in the blogger world. Apparently, it\u2019s about three different American women and their relationships with various men. Honestly, that already sounds so incredibly boring from the blurb that someone would have to pay me to read it. Circe<\/em> by Madeline Miller was also practically omnipresent on Instagram and blogs for a while. It\u2019s praised as a feminist retelling of a Greek myth, which doesn\u2019t particularly entice me either\u2014besides depression and the ever-popular topic of the search for love, feminism seems to be a huge trend in the female-dominated book market. Certainly for good reason, but it often feels like stewing in one\u2019s own juices, as old white-haired men probably rarely pick up such reading. In the same category falls Miroloi<\/em>, which flooded Instagram so completely upon its release that I briefly wondered whether anyone was reading anything else at all. A kind of literary synchronization, so to speak.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n As with everything, it\u2019s not all black and white, and completely dismissing commercial titles would also be a mistake. For instance, I really enjoyed The Mirror Visitor<\/em> series by Christelle Dabos. Even if they\u2019re not novels for the ages, I find the books very beautifully written and entertaining, and I\u2019ll definitely pick up the fourth volume in May. And The Mirror Visitor<\/em> was, it seemed, featured in every other Instagram photo.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n So how does one find that perfect book, that special masterpiece that completely blows you away, excites you, and won\u2019t let you go? I\u2019d gladly pay for a guarantee that every book I pick up would be a hit. To have a selection that\u2019s always just right\u2014that would be perfect. Since that doesn\u2019t exist, and my literary mind tends to be a bit fickle, I\u2019ve developed a few strategies\u2014nothing particularly unusual, but tried and true\u2014that I use to replenish my pile of unread books.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n 1. Of course, I browse my usual suspect publishers. For me, the publisher has become a very important selection criterion. If I\u2019ve read several good books from a publishing house, a certain editorial style often emerges that I like. Then I study their catalogs and browse their programs, including titles published several years ago\u2014there are often great bargains to be found. Likewise, there are publishers whose books I no longer read at all because their editorial preferences differ too much from mine.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n 2. Naturally, authors are a good guide. Especially with classics, one often gets lucky\u2014there are authors who were truly prolific and are an inexhaustible source of good books. Dumas, Balzac, or Verne, for example, fall into this category. If I can\u2019t find anything new, I simply order a book by one of these evergreens, and it\u2019s rarely a disappointment.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n 3. Say what you will about Amazon, but its book database is excellently maintained and easy to search. I often go there and set categories and filters so that all upcoming hardcover classics are listed (here\u2019s the link<\/a> to my filter settings). That way, I don\u2019t miss any charming new editions of classics. At the moment, in the land of poets and thinkers, you only need to scroll through about six pages to see them all.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n 4. I don\u2019t enjoy aimlessly browsing books on Amazon at all. The plain lists always show the same stuff, and everything looks rather drab. What I do, however, from time to time, is search for similar books based on ones I\u2019ve really enjoyed. On a book\u2019s detail page, there\u2019s a section showing what other customers who bought this book also purchased. There are often similar books there, mostly from the same publisher or in the same thematic area. Especially when you\u2019re starting to read in a new direction, you can find some good suggestions this way. But once you\u2019ve thoroughly explored a genre, the same titles tend to keep popping up, and it quickly becomes repetitive. Still, clicking through recommended books sometimes leads me to new finds even now.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n 5. There are books about books\u2014like The Literature Book<\/em>\u2014and books often reference other works. The latter especially always grabs my attention, because those are usually books that are relevant and have influenced the author. For example, The Lady of the Camellias<\/a> by Manon Lescaut<\/a> is mentioned, and both are truly wonderful. This effect isn\u2019t new\u2014I remember when vampire novels were so successful that a character in the Twilight<\/em> series read Wuthering Heights by Emily Bront\u00eb<\/a>, which led to that classic enjoying renewed popularity.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n