FORMING A READING LIST

Culled from  http://lifehacker.com/5807774/how-to-create-an-awesome-summer-reading-list

Before you jump straight into building your list, a few quick tips and considerations.

• First, tackle your reading backlog: If you have books you've been meaning to read for ages but haven't gotten around to them, sift through your pile to make sure you still want to read each of them; purge the ones you honestly will never read but which may have been weighing heavily on you or preventing you from finding new books. If you still want to read the books in your pile someday, you may just need a broader mix of book genres—keep this in mind when building this year's reading list.
• Look for the right types of books based on your available time: If you don't have a lot of time to read, consider looking for novellas, graphic novels, or collections of short stories, essays, or poetry. When searching for new books, you can filter for these book types. On the other hand, if you have a long summer vacation week coming up, add more engrossing or longer books to your list.
• Tap your friends: When it comes to book recommendations, your friends are a great bet. After all, they know you and share common interests.

If your friends aren't readers, or you'd like to branch out, you can find other like-minded readers via book recommendation engines and book trading sites, as well as online social networks and blogs (e.g., Lifehacker). Here's a look at your many options. Now on to the less obvious stuff that—hopefully—will yield you some great results.

Take advantage of social book sites

Sites suchas https://www.librarything.com/, https://www.goodreads.com/etc

Build your book list on the shoulders of giants

Speaking of book lists, another way to build your reading list—for this summer or for a lifetime—is by going through lists of great books that critics, authors, or scholars have curated. Robert Teeter's Great Books Lists is a master list of book lists. You'll find Harold Bloom's list of books for the Western Canon, Anthony Burgess' selection of the best 99 novels since 1939, the New York Public Library's Books of the Century, and many other book lists.

In hardcopy, check out For the Love of Books, edited by Ronald Shwartz, which features the most-loved books of 115 famous writers.

Find book recommendations from social networks and blogs

Social sites like Facebook or LinkedIn or sites with an active community of like-minded people (like Lifehacker) can also help you build a better reading list. A Mensa networking group on LinkedIn, for example, compiled this list of books members would recommend to anyone. And over 250 Lifehacker readers helped with the curating of this list of life-changing books.

Use your local library

Your local library is another excellent and often under-used resource. Specifically, take advantage of your local librarian—someone whose job is to recommend and help you find the right book(s). Help your librarian help you by coming in knowing your favorite authors, subjects, genres, or what your want to get out of your book selection. Some libraries' online sites also provide reading list recommendations and advanced services like Fiction Connection.

Explore, and be open to serendipity

Finally, don't discount pure luck. There's nothing like browsing a bookstore's shelves (or, better yet, bargain bin) and coming away with a new favorite author or book or two. (I discovered two of my favorite writers, Margaret Atwood and Mark Strand, at library book sales, taking a chance simply after reading a few passages).