How do you decide which book to read next?

Mood, balance, and timing.

I always have several books on deck. That’s so I’ll have plenty of choice, because I’m never sure what’s next until I finish one. I usually start another immediately—like in the next minute (unless it’s lights-out time)—so it has to be right there within reach.

Mood: Sometimes I just can’t face something heavy, and sometimes I want a slow, deep, enriching experience. If I badly need quick escapism, that’s one kind of book. If I want a very satisfying read, that’s another.

Balance: I don’t do anything as strict or rigid as alternating genres, but I do vary the mix among fantasy, mystery, realistic mainstream fiction, and experimental novels, and I blend in a fair amount of nonfiction. Fiction may be contemporary or centuries old.

Timing: This refers mostly to the fact that I normally have from one to four books out of the library. So I give some priority to whatever is due next. But occasionally I do renew one that I haven’t got to yet, and sometimes I even return books unread.

I’m never reading only one book at a time.

Mood, mostly. I go through phases. For a while I’ll read nothing but science, then go months only reading reports from early medieval archaeological sites, then pick a series of novels and vow to wipe it out.

Unlike @Jeruba, I don’t read multiple books at a time. Anything I’m reading gets my complete attention until I’m finished with it. That does mean when I start something that is less than gripping it will bite into my completion rate.

I buy books from the Friends of the Library bookstore. Paperbacks are $0.50, trade size $1.00, hardcovers $2.00. It’s an easy way to build a large collection of future reading material.

I read crime and spy novels my mom is reading so we can talk about them.

I read science history to marvel at geniuses who discovered truths that were unimaginable until they articulated them.

I read military history books to see how people face real, almost impossible, life-and-death choices, and how one can successfully overcome terrible circumstances.

I read novels to try to feel what it as like to live in a different place and time, or an imaginary time.

As to particular titles, I get tips from my mom and friends, I often find mentions in The New Yorker magazine, I follow my interests on the web, and I browse the shelves at the library.

P.S. This is the reason why I shy away from book clubs and book discussion groups. I want to make an entirely independent choice of what to read next. I average more than 500 pages a week, but the fact is that I’m a slow reader. I don’t want my choice of reading matter to be dictated by someone else; it’s much too personal and idiosyncratic. In the course of my career, I had enough of reading things that weren’t worth my time and attention.

It depends on why I’m reading. I read a lot for work so that reading is driven by need. What am I trying to discover?

My personal reading is driven by je ne sais quoi. I often read fiction on my kindle, so I flick through the list of books I’ve bought, I have hundreds, and I pick one. It might be the author – ‘oh I fancy some Stephen King’ or perhaps the genre. I’ve just been through a crime phase and read all the books by a particular author. Now I’m reading non-fiction because of something I saw in the news. Not sure what will be next. My personal reading is very spontaneous. If I’m reading paper books, the book jacket image or back blurb might be what makes me buy the book and then read it.

I alternate between the best seller list and the classics. For newer written books they have to be of a subject matter I have not yet read and there are so many classics I have not yet read that time is running out to even get a fraction of them read.

Unlike @Jeruba, I have been a member of an informal book club for the past 5+ years (“informal” in the sense that we meet once a month, and usually less than half of the meeting is devoted to a review of the book we’ve just read – most of us, anyway). Partly that is because I like being part of this particular group – it’s a great way to meet literate women, for one thing – and also partly because I very much do enjoy having someone else’s suggestions for books to read. (And I love tearing into a “dud” on the rare times when that happens.)

I find a lot of time to read, usually an hour a day at lunchtime and another hour or two on weeknights, so it’s no trouble for me to read the book-of-the-month, and in addition to that, some of the other books that have been suggested by other readers whose opinions I respect.

I also have a colleague in the office now who reads 90% non-fiction and makes great suggestions from his own selections. In addition to the suggestions from others, I like to browse used book stores, Goodwill and other venues for a long list of favored authors, genres, and sometimes whatever grabs my fancy.

When all else fails, I have subscriptions to several periodicals, among them Reader’s Digest, Reason and Discover, which sometimes pile up unread for a few months while I look for some fill-in reading time.

Depends on my mood, and depends on whether I can get my hand on the book. My mood is unpredictable and I can hear any book calling me at any time. But if I can’t get the book (in the bookstore, through torrenting…) then it’s out of my list, sadly. I notice that most of my books are obscure. In the past I could get my books from the bookstore, but as the need and the ability to read in English increase torrent becomes the bigger source for books.

I kind of wish I had as much time as I was in the past. My time is increasingly limited these days, and only one type of books comes to my mind: textbooks. I have to settle down with movies for entertainment.

My mood is the biggest factor in deciding what my next book will be. I like goodreads for finding new books, but I own enough books that I haven’t read that I really don’t need to buy new ones. Not that it stops me.

Whatever I find interesting on the shelves of the thrift store.

My ADD allows me to choose a book on a whim and that is pretty much how I do it.