What to read Next?

What to read next?

If you are anything like most serious readers (and most not so serious readers too) you have a pile of books sitting next to your bed, in the hall, in the back room, etc., waiting to be read. Deciding which book to pick up, or to put on hold at the library or buy online depends on lots of different things. But how do you decide?

I have a lot to say about reading and books and a lot of questions as well. I take a lot for granted and I would like to understand more. For instance, why do people read fiction as opposed to non-fiction? Why is someone drawn to only war books, or westerns, or historical romances?

But the topic of the choice of the 'next book' is very interesting. People have all sorts of reasons for deciding on the next book. Some have a list and stick to it. Some decide on the spur of the moment. Some depend on other people to give them books to read and some depend on the bookstore to tell them what is good.

For me, there are several processes to consider. The first one is what book I just finished. Often I follow up a very difficult or time consuming book with an easy read. It can't be a flippant read, or a mindless read, just something lighter and, most of the time, shorter - less of a commitment. This gives me time to feel in control again. I can put it down easily and do the chores or visit the friends that I have neglected while reading the last book. Often it is young adult fiction. Now, don't scrunch up your nose! Some of the best books I have ever read have been considered young adult fiction by the unknowing - The Book Thief, The Hunger Games, The Giver, His Dark Materials series, even To Kill a Mockingbird. The chance that a so called 'kids' book will fulfill my needs is great.

I also keep an eye on several of my favorite authors and what they are up to. Three good books puts them on my list. If they have written two great books and one dud I still keep an eye on them but I won't go out of my way to get their next book and it won't have pride of place in my to-be-read-soon pile. I will read anything that Annie Proulx writes. Alice Munro, Peter Carey (although I haven't read Parrot and Olivier in America and I was so disappointed with His Illegal Self that he went to the bottom of the pile!), Tim Winton, Elizabeth Knox, Haruki Murakami, Salmon Rushdie, Neil Gaiman, Cormac McCarthy and Markus Zusak are a few I will mention. Tom Robbins used to be up there but he has had two duds, in my opinion, so he is in the wait-and-see pile now (and I have loved him for so long - sigh!).

There are also authors I have never read that are on my best friends' lists - Saul Bellow, Christopher Isherwood, David Foster Wallace, Kingsley Amis and Martin Amis. I have books by all these authors and they are absolutely high on the list but other reads just seem to get in the way.

There are also, just as an aside, authors that will never have a place on my bookshelf ever again. Margaret Atwood and Marion Halligan and two (sorry!). Well, maybe I ought to just leave that subject alone for now?

I wander through my favorite bookstores when I get the chance. I look at my favorite bookstores online to see what they are advertising as good reads. I take recommendations from several friends who have similar taste to me. I read newspaper reviews in the NY Times and most of the Australian papers. I read whatever my literature professor has assigned for class and I try to read the highly recommended suggestions, as well. Oh, and literature prize winners get a place on my list.

I have added classics to my list this year and have over 100 out-of-copyright classics on my ebook reader. I am in the middle of Madame Bovary at the moment. Actually, I haven't read it for a few weeks so I will probably have to start again, but I love it.

The reason this subject has come up is that I have just finished my 'interim' book - a silly fantasy called The Magician's Apprentice by Trudi Canavan. It was one of the books in the 50 books I won last year. I didn't want to let go of the David Mitchell I finished a few days ago, but I have to be reading a book at all times. This one was on the floor with the rest of those books and just happened to end up in my hands. I won't review it - it is the typical fantasy book - not that I know that much about the genre. An orphan in a made up world, who has special powers, saves the day in the end. It was easy to read and had enough (just) to keep my attention through my jet lag.

I have to start Othello for my class which starts this week, but I need a night time read. Do I feel like a substantial read or a light-hearted read? Do I want to be swept away to another country, read about someone's real life, immerse myself in a mystery or pick up one of the library books that are due back tomorrow? I would love to know how you pick your next book. Really!

OK - I think I will decide right now as I write. It is between The Eagle of the Ninth - a children's fiction book written in 1954 about Romans and Britains in the 2nd century (there is a movie coming out soon) or Boneshaker - another kid's book highly recommended by my 13 year old nephew. So which one of these will fit better between Architecture of the World and Spanish Verbs?

I think it will be Boneshaker by Cherie Priest. Done!