Picking Books

I'm not sure that there is a rhyme or reason to how I pick out books to read. Honestly, my to-be-read piles are so massive, I just dig around in those until one seems to fit my mood (and then there are the times where the huge, towering stacks just make me groan because nothing looks good, so I either head to the bookstore or download something on my Kindle).

Of course, there has to be a way to get those huge stacks. A lot of the books I pick up are from recommendations - either friends, students, authors I follow on Twitter or Goodreads. I also like taking a look through Barnes and Noble's staff picks shelf. Sometimes I've found some good stuff there. I also know my favorite authors, so if they release something, I usually have it pre-ordered. Another source for book ideas is the Iowa State Book Awards lists (http://www.iasl-ia.org/p/state-awards.html). I focus on the teen and high school awards lists. Most states have a similar list, so I'll search those every once in a while. And I always pay attention to the national awards - the Printz, Pulitzer, National Book Award, etc. I will fully admit that those are sometimes a crapshoot, but it never hurts to check them out.

Going back to Goodreads, I only really started using that this winter. At first, it didn't do much good because I didn't have many books rated, but I've gotten a lot of suggestions from them - some good, some bad. But, it's also expanded my reading horizons and made me aware of a lot more books when they come out. The biggest thing I've gotten from them is following book bloggers; because they will write about the books as they read them, they often get sent ARCs (advanced reading copies). This means they get a first look at books months before they come out. That has really added to my to-be-read list!

It is perfectly fine to abandon a book. However, I rarely do that. I will force myself to finish one - usually because I hope that it will redeem itself by the end. Many times, it does not. I also try to finish all of the ones I get for the classroom because I want to be able to at least talk to you about them. This makes it hard for me to do the booktalks because I don't want you to get a negative view of the book, but I at least want you to be "exposed" to it (and this is why I don't read most of the military war books I have in the room because I know I won't like them).

Feel free at anytime to recommend a book to me that you've really liked! Trust me, I've had plenty of students just throw books on my desk for me to read - and I always will read them!