I'm looking for a really great read.

How many of us have come into our libraries and asked,"Can you tell me how to find a book that was recommended to me and I heard everyone is reading.".  Subsequently you are disappointed when told there are 50+ people already waiting for one of the copies available in the network.  

Perhaps you are about to embark on that long awaited and much needed vacation and want to take a great read. You come into the library and can't think of anything based on author or title and don't know what to pick.

The library is a great place to just browse and choose one or multiple books off the shelves, take them home, and not worry if they grab our interest because we can just put it down and read the next one. However, in our hurried world, we often have little patience to spend reading the first 50 pages of a book to see if we like it. Also, our free time is so valuable we are hesitant to make a selection other than based on recommendations. 

"Please, just tell me what to read."

Those of us in circulation find our tastes as eclectic and amorphous as anyone else.  Your previously read book, time for a short or long read, current happenings in your life, often affect what you are in the mood to read.  Recommendations are usually a result of only having time to ask a question or two. "What type (genre) of book you enjoy?" "What did you enjoy reading recently?" Sometimes we are lucky and a "hot read" has recently been returned making us feel like "fairy godmothers" granting wishes. Most of the time we will provide ideas from previous recommendations and favorites from  the past that we know are more available. 

Where to search for books that will be more likely available on the shelves?

Best sellers are not always a good “go to” for books that are readily available. If you enjoy browsing the bestsellers, look up last year's. (One source is Publisher's weekly). We also often forget to look for more books by authors we previously enjoyed. Even though a book is noted as one of our favorites, they next books do not appear on our radar. This will be a quick browse as Fiction books are on the same floor as our circulation desk and shelved by author. 

Here are some other hints to help you find a book the next time you come in.

Goodreads Choice Awards - Goodreads is a website that allows users to log their reads as well as "to read". Readers rate their completed books and I've found the rating system and comments to be very helpful in refining my selections. The Choice Awards are a compilation of yearly favorites by the readers. They also have a number of lists by genre and read-a-likes. Listopia.

 Need Recommendations  link - on the Duxbury Free Library Website. Details a number of sources for book ideas.

Novelist - Available from Duxbury Free Library website page "Need Recommendations": Enter a title of a favorite book and press Search. Most books will have a like "Title Read a-Likes" and "Author Read-a-Likes" to help you search for similar books.

We also have a Patron Pick display and Staff Pick display that changes periodically based on suggestions placed in the Awesome box or offered by our staff.

Always, please ask us at the circulation desk or upstairs in reference for recommendations.