I'm slowly but surely starting to learn to be careful of the latest and greatest releases--to stop buying out of curiosity's sake, if that makes sense.
Yeah, it does.
Because I plan what I'll be buying each month in advance now, I do a lot of research on books that are from authors I don't know - and some on books that are from writers I know who are starting a new series, trying something that's a departure for them, and so on. Since I can't pick the book up and browse it before buying, I read as many reviews as I can find, first chapters or excerpts if they've been put on line, and so on.
Most of the books that come to my attention that I am sufficiently interested in to do research on, do so through reviews from people I've come to trust - like you - or conversations in various sff online communities. I also look at short lists for some of the awards, especially the Tiptree, the Lambda and now the Carl Brandon Society, as well as the more mainstream awards like the Hugo and the World Fantasy Award.
Mainstream and literary novels are more likely to come to my attention though the traditional media - there are a number of arts programs on TV that have interviews with writers of literary fiction (at least this is true in Canada), and then I go look for reviews.
Oddly enough, a lot of the non-fiction current affairs books I've been putting on my book list these days, I first heard of on the Daily Show and The Colbert Report. ;-)
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2008-10-20 08:41 pm (UTC)Yeah, it does.
Because I plan what I'll be buying each month in advance now, I do a lot of research on books that are from authors I don't know - and some on books that are from writers I know who are starting a new series, trying something that's a departure for them, and so on. Since I can't pick the book up and browse it before buying, I read as many reviews as I can find, first chapters or excerpts if they've been put on line, and so on.
Most of the books that come to my attention that I am sufficiently interested in to do research on, do so through reviews from people I've come to trust - like you - or conversations in various sff online communities. I also look at short lists for some of the awards, especially the Tiptree, the Lambda and now the Carl Brandon Society, as well as the more mainstream awards like the Hugo and the World Fantasy Award.
Mainstream and literary novels are more likely to come to my attention though the traditional media - there are a number of arts programs on TV that have interviews with writers of literary fiction (at least this is true in Canada), and then I go look for reviews.
Oddly enough, a lot of the non-fiction current affairs books I've been putting on my book list these days, I first heard of on the Daily Show and The Colbert Report. ;-)