What should I read next?

Even I, a librarian, sometimes feel lost as to what book I should read next. I know the things I like in a book. But you know what they say, “you can’t always tell a book from its cover.” Now, as a librarian I know that the library offers resources to help you find the book you might like. There are always subject searches on the catalog. You can search by a subject and find books that match your subject interest. There is Novelist, which is a database with an incredible amount of information about authors, series, and fiction books in general. Then there are public access computers on which patrons can use the Internet to search for books that may interest them. Finally, there are the helpful staff who read frequently on their own. Ask us! We love talking about books and we want to encourage your reading habits.

But even with all that to help find the right book, it can be overwhelming. After going through all the resources, you have a long list of recommendations covering many different genres: some are science fiction, memoirs, mysteries, romance, real crime…The problem is you don’t know exactly what you feel like reading, but what you do know is that the messy list you’ve complied is not hitting the spot. Sometimes more information is not always better.

For this very reason, the library has developed these book lists of recommendations for you to read and we are always working towards developing more. The reading lists target genres of books and recommend authors, titles, and series. There are top 10 lists, non-fiction topic lists, Young Adult lists, Read Alike lists, Mystery, Romance, Christian, Horror, Fantasy and the list of lists is always growing! We also like to create lists of our own interests and our own favorite books.

This way when you are looking for something to read, you just have to pick up a list and see if something interests you. Or because the lists are published online, you can browse them at home from our website, http://www.warrenpl.org. If you can’t find the list you are interested in ask at the reference or circulation desk or you can request that one be made for your specific interests.

It is part of our job as librarians to help patrons look for their educational, recreational, and informational needs. And honestly, I love my job because I get to play with books all day long!