What Do I Read Next?

As we approach the end of the year, we readers are bombarded with best-of and must-read lists. There are even “round-ups” of the best best-of lists. I enjoy them at first, but eventually find the deluge exhausting. I’m here to offer you alternatives when you are looking for your next book.

Librarians are trained in “readers’ advisory,” aka book recommendations, and it is one of my favorite things to do. If you ask a librarian for a book recommendation (please do!), we’ll ask you about what you’re looking for, your favorite authors, your dislikes, and maybe even what your favorite movies and TV shows are. Based on all that, we’ll do a little research and find books to suggest. Sometimes I might recommend a book that I loved, but only if it matches what a reader is looking for.

If you’d like to look for books yourself, I recommend two related resources that Mercer County Library System offers our patrons for free: NoveList Plus and NoveList K-8 Plus. You can access both from home by logging in with your library card and PIN – look for it under “Resources” in the “Literary Criticism and Reader’s Advisory” section. NoveList is a librarian-created engine for book recommendations. There is an overwhelming amount of information and options for searching, so I’ll share just a few to get you started (I also love to demo this at the reference desk, so feel free to stop by and ask!).

My favorite way to use NoveList is to search for a book or an author that the reader already likes. Let’s say I want to read more books like those written by 2024 Nobel Prize winner Han Kang. When I search for her name in NoveList, I get to her author’s page with information about Han and her books. To the right, you’ll see a section called “Read-alikes,” a list of nine authors that NoveList thinks are similar to Han’s writing. If I click on the first author on this list, Yiyun Li, I’ll find the page about her. Most author pages tell you which books to start with if you’re new to them, which I find helpful. If you search for a book title instead of an author, you’ll get a list of books, and if you search for a series, you’ll get a list of series.

A few other fun ways to discover books in NoveList: On the right of the home page, there are librarian-created lists of “Recommended Reads.” This is a great place to start browsing in different genres, and there is a separate tab for nonfiction. You can also play around with the section “I’m In The Mood For,” where you can select from lists of titles like “Thoughtful and Intricately plotted” or “Atmospheric and Creepy.” From there, try the “Appeal Mixer,” where you can mix up your own list by selecting qualities that appeal to you. When I select Introspective, Funny, and Lyrical, I get a list of recommendations that happens to include the book I am reading now!

There’s even more to explore in NoveList, but those are all great places to start. Novelist K-8 offers the same search capabilities but features books for young children through teens. Books in Novelist K-8 are labeled for recommended grades and ages, and you can search by Lexile Range and Accelerated Reader Interest Level. Do note that both of these databases include some books that are not in MCLS’ collection, but if you find a perfect book that we don’t have, you can talk to a librarian about requesting a purchase or an Interlibrary Loan. If we have a book, you’ll see a button below it that says “View Copies;” if not, it will say “Not owned.”

Goodreads is another fun place to poke around for reading recommendations: did you know that MCLS has a Goodreads account where we post staff favorites? We have lots of lists by genre, so stop by to see what we’ve been reading. NPR’s Books We Love rounds up NPR staff recommendations from that year. But unlike other year-end lists, Books We Love lets you sort for categories like “Rather Short,” “Culture & Identity,” “It’s All Geek To Me,” and “Book Club Ideas.” This is a great place to look for gift ideas, too.

Book Marks compiles book reviews from a wide array of literary outlets. Each review is assigned a rating of Rave, Positive, Mixed, or Pan, which are averaged to create a cumulative rating for the book. But the site isn’t all about grades and rating books: it’s a window into today’s literary conversation, and a great way to discover books. The site pulls quotes from each review to give you a taste of what’s said, and you can then click through to read the entire review. Sort by genre, “Best reviewed,” and “Coming Soon” to discover your next great read.

I hope you’ll have fun exploring these resources yourself, but remember that you can always ask a librarian for recommendations. We’re also available online through the “Personalized Picks” service. Just fill out the form telling us what you like and what you’re in the mood to read, and a librarian will respond with a list of recommended books in our collection.

 -Corina, West Windsor Branch