Buying books (series...one offs) on impluse

[Crowjack]

I often find myself without a firm reference point when trying to find a new author or new series of books.

Sometimes I get spectacularly lucky: I picked up THE BLADE ITSELF purely on a whim---at the beginning of the Fantasy section (oh fickle alphabet); use of a quote by Homer; two following books...score!

A salesperson at the bookstore (remember those? brick and mortar?) recommended ASOIAF...again a spectacular stroke of luck.

Discovered DUNE by reading a short story (the opening chapters of GOD EMPEROR OF DUNE) in Playboy and backtracking...damn but that was a lucky draw.

There have also been great disappointments: Brian Ruckley's GODLESS WORLD series (just a bit to derivative); S. M. Stirling's CHANGE series (never really caught me...gave up 1/4 of the way through the third one); and some really disappointing series from 30 or so years ago about a handicapped man who shifts into the body of a lion rider (really can't remember that one well, but I remember feeling somewhat betrayed).

Not really looking for recommendations (although I just did it again...just bought the Michael J. Sullivan RIYRIA REVELATION series after reading a couple of pages).

Anybody have a reasonable method of choosing new books/authors? Anybody have any serendipitous stories to share? Any really crappy series, or disappointments you'd like to share? And if you are in the mood, any recommendations?

[Leofric]

Prior to 1998, most of my reading material was discovered by browsing in bookstores and libraries, recommendations from family and friends ( mainly one of the my sisters who first introduced me to science fiction and fantasy ) and branching out from required reading in school.

In 1998, I bought Legends based on the included stories by Williams, King, McCaffery, Feist, and LeGuin. The Hedge Knight led me to The Game of Thrones which led me to an earlier version of this site just as anticipation was building for the upcoming release of A Clash of Kings. On this site I found, in addition to in depth dissection of ASOIAF, discussions on a whole bunch of other books, many I'd already read, and many more that I hadn't.

So this site as well as the different book blogs mentioned here became a major resource for deciding my next books, though browsing through bookstores was still my main approach. But as bookstores become more scarce ( my local Barnes and Noble just closed on Jan 1st :( ) , this site will become more important for finding new reading material.

[Darth Richard II]

Everyone once in a while I will just go to the local B&N and just grab random stuff that looks interesting, or for weird reasons. I'm pretty sure I actually picked up The Blade Itself because i thought it "felt nice".

Also if I'm iffy on a book the publisher can sometimes sway me in one direction. Night Shade = instant buy. Angry Robot = NO.

I could probably write pages about all my impulse buys.

[Myrddin]

Angry Robot = NO.

I don't know about the rest of AR's line, but Anne Lyle's books are pretty good. Which reminds me, the third one is out....

I picked up a paperback of Game of Thrones back in 1997 because of Robert Jordan's cover blurb. Best impulse buy. Actually, go back years before that and I picked up Eye of the World on an impulse too.

That said, I've picked up a bunch of stinkers too, but them's the stakes when you play the game of novels. You win or you cry.

[maarsen]

As a compulsive reader, I need a constant stream of books to feed my addiction. Rummage sales, used book stores or anywhere else where I can stuff a bagful for a buck or less is where I find my great reads. If I have to I buy them by the pound. If I actually had to spend real money on books I would be in a homeless shelter, pushing around a grocery cart full of old books.

[all swedes are racist]

As a compulsive reader, I need a constant stream of books to feed my addiction. Rummage sales, used book stores or anywhere else where I can stuff a bagful for a buck or less is where I find my great reads. If I have to I buy them by the pound. If I actually had to spend real money on books I would be in a homeless shelter, pushing around a grocery cart full of old books.

Right on. I've got a killer thrift store near me that has amazing book prices and usually pretty phenomenal, ever-changing selection. It's a lot easier to take chances on things that look or "feel" cool when I can fill a backpack for the price of a new hardcover at B&N. I also repeatedly but books I really like, and I just give the motherfuckers away like they're Tic Tacs. Some of my favorite books were lent or given to me by friends, and I like to think I've done the same to others (I've bought, and given away, used copies of the entire ASOIAF series probably a dozen times over)

I also set up a "store library" in our back room, where employees are free to bring in books they love that they don't mind people borrowing, and possibly never seeing again, and anyone is free to take, or just read during their lunch break. Expanded a lot of kids horizons that way...

[Procrastimancer]

Every time I walk into a book store I immediately forget what books I had intended to look for, so I end up wandering the shelves picking up titles that sound vaguely familiar. Has worked out so far.

Angry Robot = NO.

Glad I'm not the only one. They always sound so interesting, but they never really are. I've tried around ten of their books, give or take a couple, and only managed to finish one of them.