There are thousands of books in the bookstore, and you may find it difficult to choose a good book. I will tell you how to make it easy.
By: Mengyi Lu 120905338 Class2
If you go to the bookstore, you will find thousands of books sitting on the bookshelf. You look at them, but don’t know which one to choose. It’s hard to tell a book is good or not just through its name. I’ll share some experience about how to select a good book with you.
When I was in primary school and junior school, our teacher would give us a list of classic books and suggested us to buy one or two. I really don’t like to read classic books at that time. They are old, boring and hard to realize. But why are they been recommended by so many people if they are worthless. You can’t deny that those classic books have stood the test of time. If you really have trouble in reading classic books, maybe you can wait. I remember a scholar once said that he didn’t like reading Analects of Confucius when he was young, but he finally accepted it in his middle age.
I don’t like reading books when I was a little girl. I began to love reading books after I read a book written by Yingtai Long. Then I bought all her books to read. What I want to say is when you are attracted by a book, it’s a good idea to buy the author’s other books. You will not only read her or his other good work, but also know more about the author’s style of writing. If a writer wrote an excellent book, then her or his other books won’t be very bad in general. I used this method to select books, and it worked every time.
In order to sell more books, sometimes the publisher will put advertising slogans on the cover of the book. It is not wise to believe the slogans entirely, sometimes they are exaggerated. So who will give you a honest review of a book, I think is our teacher and other readers who have read the book. Moreover, sometimes your favorite writer would quote sentences or stories from other books. I suggest you to read those books, because that means as your favorite writer seems highly of those books, those books are worth reading.
I once watched a TV program about reading books. Some people recommended the books they read. I remember there was a reading club, members of the club gathered once a week to share feelings of the book. If there is a reading club around you, try to join it. You will make friends with people who have the same hobby with you, and you will be able to select a proper book after the gathering.
Sometimes, you don’t know a writer until he or she win a prize in literature. I didn’t know Mo Yan before, but after he won the 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature, I bought all his novels. After I read his work, I finally realized that he deserved it. So if you have trouble in choosing books, it’s a good idea to read a prize-winning work sometimes.
With the development of the Internet, there are different kinds of websites provide help for different people. Goodreads is a website created for people who love reading books. Thousands of books are listed on the website. Once you click the cover page of the book, you will see a brief introduction of the book. And there are lots of comments written by other readers below to help you decide whether the book is worth reading or not. What’s more, there are some tips which make Goodreads cleverer.
First, you can add friends to see their latest reads. Reading is more fun when shared. Second, you can rate books you’ve read to get recommendations. Rate 20 books and Goodreads will learn your tastes. Third, you will be able to find and add books to your shelves. Search by title, author, ISBN, or list.
In a word, although there are millions of books in the world, you will always find the proper one for yourself as long as you try to. I think reading books is very important in my life. A good book is just like a teacher who can impart me knowledge. I have used the methods above to select myself proper books, I hope my methods can help you too.
