How to Break the “Best-Of” List Trap

Five Rules for Finding Your Next Read

At the start of every year, we see a lot of “best of” lists recapping the previous year, and start a new cycle of “most anticipated books”, “best books of the year so far,” “books you must read”, etc. Even as someone who works in book publishing, I find myself frequently lost in the recommendation mill. Usually the same few “big books” dominate these lists as well as all of the review coverage. What ends up happening is that these “best books” become more like “most visible books” and are often the life rafts we cling to as readers in the otherwise unknowable sea of new releases. In that spirit I thought I’d work up a few rules to follow in order to pick your next read, and maybe give a great book that falls outside the “top 10” or “top 100” or “top 1000” of the year a chance.

1. Defy the Three Impression Rule

The marketing rule of thumb in publishing is that a consumer typically has to have three points of contact with a book in different places to cross the threshold and actually buy it. Defy this rule. If you stick to it, you’re likely going to skim the very top of the bestseller list. Not that there aren’t some good big bestsellers, but you’ll never escape the increasingly top-heavy way books are marketed and find those hidden gems if you wait until a book is ubiquitous to take the leap of faith and buy it.

2. Visit an Independent Bookstore

Don’t just visit your local bookstore but go in and ask someone working there for a recommendation. People who work in independent bookstores are usually hugely knowledgeable readers and writers. This works best if you give them a little direction. All people in publishing, booksellers included, are trained to understand what readers might like without having read every single book. If you say you like legal thrillers or narrative history, they’ll know the best ones for you.

3. Learn Your Own Taste

The single reason most people buy books, more than reviews, more than advertising, is because a book is recommended by a friend. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t take recommendations into consideration, but I am saying that you should first learn your own taste as a reader and know what recommendations to take, be they from friends, booksellers, or newsletter writers.

You might have a friend who is into depressing books, or extremely ornate language, or novels that are pure popcorn. I’m here to say: it’s okay to ignore any of them in favor of your own taste. Better yet you can apply the Richard Brody Rule. Richard Brody is the New Yorker film critic that I often joke about because he has a preternatural ability to have the exact opposite feeling I do about films. Therefore, it’s pretty easy to tell if I will like a film by reading his reviews. If he loves it I probably won’t (or at least not for the same reasons); if he hates it, I’ll give it a try. This doesn’t make Brody wrong and me right, it just means that I know my taste and listen to critics, friends, and colleagues with that in mind.

4. Follow Specific Authors

Keep a list of authors you love, check in on them, and even preorder their books. When you find a groove with an author, treating their new release like appointment viewing is a lot of fun. My list is quite long these days, but includes writers like Jess Walter, Miranda July, David Mitchell, Colson Whitehead, Brit Bennett and many others.

It usually starts with a book you absolutely love, but even if the subsequent books don’t live up to that standard, reading an author’s body of work gives you something to think about. The same way you’d follow an actor or a musician, either way you’re gaining a deeper appreciation and understanding of something you already liked.

5. Don’t Commit to Finishing

The most life-changing switch to recommend is to rid yourself of the idea that published books are sacrosanct. I, like most people, was a “must finish” kind of person for most of my life. If I started a book, I’d finish it no matter how slow or painful the process. But training yourself to put down a book after 60 (my recommended “give it a try” mark) or even 200 pages is a skill that will benefit your reading life tremendously. Toughing it out is important—I’ve been fighting through a thorny classic for months now—but not more so than enjoying reading and coming back to it. Remember that all books you love, no matter their reading level, become page turners. There are thousands of new books published a year and thousands upon thousands of modern and classic books to read. In a lifetime you’ll never get to the end of your “to-read” or “want-to-read” pile. So put down those books you’re fighting so you can find the next one to fly through.