My first response would be,"from my youngest son" though he's not once uttered,"You should read this book." He tends towards fantasy reads and they tend to be made into films and invariably, we go see the film and he expresses his opinion based on both and I've only seen the film and I think I must be able to have an intelligent discussion with him about this which is why I'm currently reading Harry Potter and The Order of Phoenix. *exhale*
On this Harry Potter thing, he decided to reread the whole series from the beginning before reading the last installment, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. In contrast, I've now read "Deathly Hallows" and am working my way back-- as stated, now reading The Order of The Phoenix...after reading book 6, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Years ago, when he first started reading the series I tried to read Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone but I couldn't get through it...not sure if I will try again.
I did beat him to the punch with the Lord of the Rings books. Again after viewing the first film, I read the books--though in this case, in order--each a couple of times.
Otherwise, I skim book reviews just about anywhere--in a local paper--The Chicago Tribune and The New York Times Book Review online are two. If I see a new book review on an author I like I'll consider reading it.
Another criteria that I use to use was if the book had the Oprah stamp of approval I would not read it. However, now it's my understanding that she includes nonfiction in her picks--and classics at that. I can't very well avoid them all. And the one time I read some of her nonfiction books list I realized that I'd read many in high school or college.
I'm sure true book people would object strongly to my reading habits--especially fiction. I just almost read Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by the guy that wrote Everything Is Illuminated. I read the whole thing except the last twenty pages because I wasn't getting anything out of it--meaning I wasn't enjoying it but for a few utterances by it's main character, a nine year old boy. I had been determined to just finish it but then finally decided I couldn't be arsed.
In general, I steer clear of fiction though since so much science fiction was lying around the house whilst I was growing up I have read a chunk of of the science fiction classics--but I'm totally not up on the current stuff. We also read a lot of superhero comic books for many years.
The most recent books that I've read that I related too or just plain liked a lot were Joan Didion's heartbreaking, "The Year of Magical Thinking" and the highly amusing "I Feel Bad About My Neck" by Nora Ephron. Oh, also in the "liked a lot category" the aforementioned "Half Blood Prince.' I'm a big Snape fan.
*I'm answering this as "new to me" books.
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