HOW DO YOU FIND A NOVEL? - Late Last Night Books

Are you currently reading a novel? How did it land on your reading list?

Once upon a time serious readers looked to esteemed media sources such as The New York Times Book Review or The New York Review of Books to ground their reading lists. Displays in book-and-mortar bookstores also shaped choices, as did library recommendations.

I suppose some of my books still come from these sources. Lately, though, I’ve noticed that most of my reading list comes from other places as well – including book club recommendations, online book reviews, “customized” recommendations from Amazon, and social media posts.

With this vast sea of choices, I am no longer sure about the best way to find a novel worth reading. And since, as the late Frank Zappa so painfully observed, life is filled with so many books, and so little time, getting clear on that question becomes increasingly critical.

So, in an attempt to figure out the best way to find a novel worth reading, I’m conducting a (completely unscientific) poll on anyone who is currently reading a novel. Please answer the poll below based on whatever novel you’re currently reading, or the one you just finished.

If you’re only reading non-fiction right now, stay tuned – I may post a poll about that at a later date, depending on responses to this poll.

POLL: HOW DID YOU FIND YOUR NOVEL?

Where did you found out about the NOVEL you are reading right now or that you most recently read?

Book review in print media? (Please specify which one.)
Online Book Review (Please specify which one.)
Online Blog
Personal Recommendation
Book Club
Book Store
Library
Other (Please specify)

Please share responses via the comments section below, the contact form on my website, my Twitter account (@terraziporyn), or the Late Last Night Books Facebook page. I’ll share results next month.

Terra Ziporyn

TERRA ZIPORYN is an award-winning novelist, playwright, and science writer whose numerous popular health and medical publications include The New Harvard Guide to Women’s Health, Nameless Diseases, and Alternative Medicine for Dummies. Her novels include Do Not Go Gentle, The Bliss of Solitude, and Time’s Fool, which in 2008 was awarded first prize for historical fiction by the Maryland Writers Association. Terra has participated in both the Bread Loaf Writers Conference and the Old Chatham Writers Conference and for many years was a member of Theatre Building Chicago’s Writers Workshop (New Tuners). A former associate editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), she has a PhD in the history of science and medicine from the University of Chicago and a BA in both history and biology from Yale University, where she also studied playwriting with Ted Tally. Her latest novel, Permanent Makeup, is available in paperback and as a Kindle Select Book.