Book Browsing in the Digital Age

When I was in school, there were a few tried and true ways to find a book that I wanted to read. I could go to the library and wander through the shelves. I could go to a bookstore and do the same thing. My friends could tell me about a book they liked. Or I could actually listen in class when someone gave a book review. But that was mostly it. I knew that big city newspapers published professional book reviews, but I didn't figure that we liked the same kind of books.

Things are a little different now.

Here's just one example. I get an email from Amazon with the "Best Books of..." lists. Usually, they send one every month, then one for the year. The monthly list has about 10 adult books, plus a Young Adult book, a picture book, and a middle grade book.

Here is information that I received in the August list:

The Young Adult literature pick for August is Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25. Here is their summary.

When Michael Vey finds Taylor, a cheerleader with special powers just like him, they embark on an investigation to determine why they're so different--but time is running out. There are others who want to control these special teens in Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25, a rollicking new thriller by bestselling author Richard Paul Evans.

If you click on the link to the Amazon page for this book, you can get all kinds of information - how long it is, professional reviews, customer reviews, and even take a look inside and read a short sample. But the thing that I've started really enjoying are the book trailers. They are like movie trailers (previews), short videos to build interest in the book. This is a newish thing, so they aren't all as good as movie trailers yet. And it doesn't mean that this book is being made into a movie, or that these are the actors. It's just a book trailer.



This is exactly how I discovered Beautiful Creatures, which was the highest ranked YA book on the Best 100 Books of 2009. I saw the list, I clicked the link, checked out descriptions, and watched the trailer.

It's a little different than browsing the shelves in the library. For one thing, I can do it in the middle of the night. Barefoot.