My procedure.....1. Copy and paste anything that I find interesting on this forum, and ONLY this forum, to a word document. I've tried others but this is the only one that doesn't waste my time. 2. Open Amazon.com and read the synopsis and reviews of each. Delete what doesn't appeal. 3. Order whats left from paperbackswap.com. If I'm 57th in line I order using bookfinder.com and never pay more than five bucks including shipping!
So thats how they end up on my bookshelf. I only read three genres really so whatever I pick up from the shelf I'm ready for.

Like karalk, I write down anything interesting, either from this forum or other media. Check Amazon for synopsis (I do not read the reader reviews - thats for after I have read it). Then the ones that are left I check at the library, or browse the bookstore and read a few lines, see how its written. I like to read a paragraph or two in the beginning and the middle, and read how conversations are written. I might decide to just check it from the library, or go to bookfinder.com to see if there are used copies to be had.

When I go to my TBR stack, I pick a book that sounds intriguing (remember, I wanted these in the first place!) Often my mood isn't ready for it, so I pick another (this happened several times to Cloud ATlas, then all of the sudden it clicked). Eventually I find something.

Remember too, sometimes books just aren't what you need at the moment. I know, sacrilidge, but there are times that nothing I pick up is interesting. Thats when I call friends and chat, or catch up on magazine articles, or finish a project I've been putting off. Usually its not long before the book I tossed aside is suddenly just what is calling my name!

I will write down books that seem interesting to me, I then browse Amazon or a bookstore and read they synopsis. If it seems interesting, I pick it up or put it on my wish list (I know I should visit the library, but I feel pressured to read a book in a certain amount of time and I am not always ready for a book when it is ready). If I purchase a book (or usually books) I put them in my library and browse through them when I am ready for my next book. Like cindy, sometimes I'm not ready for anything - so I take a break, and then I find I am ready to begin another book.

I find it very easy. I only bring home books I think will interest me. The only thing I can say regarding which book I choose is the one that sounds the best from reading the flap.

Recommendations from here, mainly, or occasionally from reviews I've read elsewhere.

Like the others, I look here first, look at book catalogs, read the "recommended by your librarian" lists that my library offers, and there are a few friends whose reading tastes are similar to mine. All of these titles go in my TBR notebook.

Also, and this may seem a bit overly-particular, I've begun a file system. I went to a local office supply store and got 5 x 8 color index cards, and an index card box - all for about $6 total. I use these cards to keep track of all of the works of my favorite writers so I know which books I've read, which I've not read, and which book comes next in a series. It takes almost no time at all. When reading a great book, I simply jot down the other books that person authored from the front of the book and then stick it in my file alphabetically by author's last name. It's been a real help to me because I can grab an index card or cards and head to the library - it's not so easy to take www.stopyourekillingme.com in my pocket. I love it, and my daughter has decided that she wants to keep track this way, also. And I can keep a few cards in my purse so when I see a great book at the bookstore that I don't want to buy, I can jot the author's name down and file it. Viola - no more lost little bits of paper everywhere. I can't believe I didn't think of this before.

But when decided on one particular book out of a stack, not only do I read the flaps and/or back cover, but I also need to feel the pages and read the first few lines. Naturally, there are mystery series whose characters I've come to "know" and those books are easier to just pick up and read. Right now, lucky me, I am inundated with books.

PAM

I have a notebook where I write down the title of any book that interests me AND has been recommended. I get my recommendations mostly from on-line book groups, but also peruse Bookmarks magazine, newspapers, etc. Plus I enjoy reading award-winners, so that's another never-ending source of reading material.

I've found it doesn't work for me to just go in the library (or bookstore) and randomly pick things out. I end up with too many "duds" that way. I used to come home with a stack of eight books from the library and end up finishing maybe two of them. The rest I'd have to give up on because I ended up not liking them. My "did not finish" rate has dropped way down since I've started keeping my TBR list.

Pam, the index cards to carry with you are a great idea. I have an alphabetical Word document (well, plural, really), but it gets very crossed out and dog eared.

My lists come from RP, book clubs, browsing, and Stop, Your're Killing Me.

I keep at TBR list in my purse so I have it with me when I turn up at the library at random moments. I also get suggestions from here at RP (my main source) although I do read the magazine the English bookshop Waterstone's puts out. (My wonderful mum sends it to me.) And occasionally (very occasionally) I might get a reccie from a friend or someone.

But RP is my usual source (THANK YOU ALL).

Most of the time I do rational things like read the flap. Often a cover will entice me on a visceral level--maybe the picture is a place I think I'd like to be. But (here's where you will probably write me off as a wacko) sometimes I go into a sort of fuzzy trance and wait for a book to "call" to me from the shelf. This works best at the college library where the stacks are very quiet and (preferably) deserted entirely. You don't want witnesses when you are psychically communing with the tomes!

I select books to read by many methods- author, subject, recommendations, this forum, even a pretty cover sometimes! But I have a method to select which book is the next read and it's worked for me since I was a child. I read the first sentence of 3 or 4 books and the one that captures my attention is the one I read. As mood and interests change, I work my way through everything I want to read, but it's that first line that really does it!

I reread your message and found that I hadn't answered in quite the same way. You asked how we chose books to read when we were at the library, book store or at home. Well, it's tricky to explain because a lot of the time, it's a feeling more than anything. "What do I FEEL like reading right now?"

Since I am not in school, I have the luxury of choosing anything in the world that strikes my fancy (and that I either own or can borrow or buy) so sometimes I go to the library with a list of books to find and look at. I read the book flaps and the reviews on the book, flick to the first page to see if I like the way it's written and think about what I know about the book. If it seems like something I am interested in, then I take it down and start to read it.

However, I rarely pull unknown authors off the shelf. I used to be able to do this, but since coming to RP, I have been swamped with fabulous new authors to try so I don't need to do that. I sometimes do it at the library, but very rarely.

Also when I am coming to the end of the current book, I start to think about what book I want to read next.

Mostly though, it's whatever I feel like reading that gets chosen.

Clear as mud? :-)