This post is for those who have ever finished a book and said, “I not only want my money back, but I want my day back! That was awful.”
Congratulations! You have joined the club of discerning readers. In a way that can be a good thing because it means you are either 1. Reading widely; 2. Reading a new author; or 3. Reading thoughtfully.
Or it could mean you need some help with choosing books. That is what we will do here. Here are a few tips – then add your own in the comment section.
- Evaluate the externals.
- Before you get any further:
- Does it have an interesting title?
- Does it have a good cover?
- Does it have a good publisher?
- Does it have good recommendations?
- Does it have a picture of a lonely looking woman on the cover? Chances are that is how you will feel after reading it.
- Before you get any further:
- Read reviews!
- Before you ever read a book you have to, have to, have to read a review on it. This tip alone can save you hundreds of hours of confusing, heretical, and just plain poor writing.
- A great place to do this is at www.amazon.com . Make sure you check the “helpful box” on the fair reviews and the “not helpful” box on the bad ones – giving the fair reviews a higher standing than the biased ones. I post all my reviews over there.
- Other places include googlebooks.com and goodreads.com
- I have found that Amazon normally has the best ones.
- If you don’t know the author, check it out at a library.
- Find good authors and stick with them.
- If they consistently put out good material, buy it.
- Supporting them helps them write more. Everyone benefits.
- In addition, get other people hooked on them.
- We have a few authors that we try to buy whatever they have written
- Fiction
- C.S. Lewis
- Andrew Peterson (Wingfeather Saga)
- N. D. Wilson
- Christian living
- Jerry Bridges
- Tim Keller
- David Powlison
- Martha Peace
- Elizabeth George
- Paul Tripp
- Fiction
- If they consistently put out good material, buy it.
What are some criteria you put on reading/buying books? Do you have any authors you could recommend to us?