Five Ways We Choose Books. And Five We Are Reading Now.

By Erica and Karen

So many books to read, and so little time to read them. How to find the the best ones for us?

Here are five ways we look for a great read.

1. We love it when friends—like Joan Pagano—recommend books. We go right out and get them. In different forms. Erica gets real ones. Karen likes electronic.

2. We also love roaming around bookstores. (Karen does buy actual books in bookstores.) Favorites include Barnes and Noble at Union Square; McNally Jackson, at the South Street Seaport; Posman (the Grand Central shop was amazing but has closed); Rizzoli, in Chelsea; The Chatham Bookstore, in Chatham, NY; and The Mysterious Bookshop, in Lower Manhattan. We read staff recommendations, and page through new books, and are tempted by many more books than we can possibly read.

3. We find reviews in all kinds of places—the New York Times, the London Review of Books, The Week, Vogue, Wired—anyplace we regularly read other things. One of the more unlikely sources are emails from NYT Cooking. The books they suggest usually have nothing to do with food but are often excellent.

4. Of course if we like a particular book we want to read others by the same author. Usually that works, though on occasion authors disappoint when they start writing for the page count.

5. Sometimes we read what book sellers recommend—by virtue of what they display, but sometimes via their subscriptions. We have given several to friends and family members that have been extremely well received—and of course once the gift recipient is done we can read the books ourselves. One of the most successful is from Heywood Hill, a lovely bookstore in London. The recipient fills out a questionnaire about her or his preferences, and gets a new book each month—beautifully wrapped in brown paper—often a book that might not be on the top of a U.S. bookseller’s list. U.S. bookstores also have excellent options. Check out those offered by the Strand and RIzzoli.

What are we reading now? It’s late summer so we keep it light.

• The Maidens. One of those English secret academic societies, with a murderer, of course.

• Erotic Stories For Punjabi Widows. Funny, heartwarming, unexpected.

• The Great Circle. An adventurous woman flying through the sweep of a century.

• Raft of Stars. Surely written in hopes it would become a movie, but an involving if unlikely tale.

• Agent Sonya. A real spy who lived a tense but interesting life and made choices most of us would not.

How do you find your books? Tell us about your favorite bookstores, too. And what you’re reading now.