I'm a new member and I'm reading to search for a book, but there are so many options it is overwhelming to me.

What / how do you recommend searching for a book?  Do you have more luck by author, genre?  I read lots of different types of things, but then there a few types of things that never interest me. Such as mysteries, formula romance, and sci-fi.  So to some of you more seasoned PBSers - what's you fave method for finding a read you will enjoy?

I started out with a few authors I knew and liked.  Then I started looking at some friends bookshelves that I met here in the book bazaar.  It sort of snowballed from there and now I have over 150 books on my TBR pile.

I also started with favorite authors in mind and searched from there. I also liked reading the forum boards and have found several new authors from the posts.

I also like wading through the deals in the bazaar. I took advantage of several deals by getting a book I knew I wanted and then something that caught my eye on the shelf. Right now, I am working on my TBR and trying to stay out of the bazaar.

Welcome! I will warn you that this place can be addicting.

I started out with a list of books I knew I wanted, so I just searched by title.  I, too, learned about a lot of books/authors by browsing the bookshelves of my forum friends. :-)

The main thing, though, was I started with a book I wanted and branched out from there.  If you aren't familiar with it, you might like www.fantasticfiction.com  You can type in an author you know you like and at the bottom of that author's page is a list of "similar" authors.  I have gotten a *lot* of books by looking up one author and them browsing the ones I learned of at FF. 

Honestly, I just searched for books that I had already knew I wanted to read.

One day while searching the "books posted today" section I actually found a book that I had waited a few years to read.  Now once I have read all the books, I have found a few series that I now want to read, for example, Stephen King's Dark Tower series, the Lonesome Dove series.

if you're not particular about an author, you can always do the advanced search, and search by genre.

also, the books posted today link is fun.

i love browsing deals in the bazaar as well.  and i always end up looking on my friend's wish lists, and add some of those to mine!  lol

I just started browsing through the different forums that interest me...love&romance first..read the threads and got way too many ideas! then hit the mystery forum..the the paranormal..christian reading forum...hidden gems has lots of different topics...classics..some dont' get as many posts or they're filled with 'deals' that aren't supposed to be there but if you dig around some or start a topic and wait you can find some good ideas!

I find people in the forums who enjoy the same types of books I like and then I look at their shelves, profiles (to see if they have recommended reads) and also their wishlists.

For me, there are certain genres that interest me, so I just search all books by that, then just the ones that are posted.

Also, if you click on a book you had read and enjoyed, there is a listing of other books gotten by the same members who got that book, as well as some recommendations for if you enjoyed it :)

But I have enough credits to gamble a little on books I am not sure if I'd like.

In addition to all the good suggestions above, I use Under The Hood, it is at the bottom of the page, second line, near the middle. That list all the activity, real time, on the site, books posted, received, mailed and new members who are joining. It up-dates itself every 15 seconds if there has been any activity. I have found some very interesting books there.

I have found a lot of new authors by reading the Hidden Gems forum.

There are so many different ideas in there.

I also  look up the genre of an author I am familiar with and then go into the specific forum for that genre. I have found new ones to read that way as well.

If I'm at Barnes and Noble or another book store, I take mental notes of the books that interest me, and then find them on here to get for free.

I also take advantage of the deals in the Book Bazaar. I get whatever catches my eye. 

I started by taking a look at the bookshelves when I would read someone's posts.  And then when you do look at a book, at the bottom of the page comes up pics of other books in the same vein that you could start looking at.  Truly, it just snowballs from there!!!!  So, welcome, good luck and have fun hunting!

I prefer the book searching format (and the extra reviews, typically) on Amazon, so I do most of my searching for new things to read there. If you have an Amazon wishlist, they can give you recommendations based on what is on there. Then, I copy and paste the ISBN here to order the book or add it to my wishlist.

I have also had several instances where I am reading posts on here and I really agree with someone on something, or they just seem interesting. So, I check out their Bookshelf and Wishlist for more ideas on what to read.

Welcome to PBS! I hope you love it as much as we all do!

Oh, and there is also stopyourekillingme.com

I would do a search like this.

If i am searching for say, the book i am reading right this minute, which is Wicked, by Gregory Maguire, i put my search in like...

Gregory Maguire - Wicked

Yea, i even include the dash, and i always get what i am searching for.

If you don't KNOW what you are searching for, or are just looking for 'a good book', you can always check out the Hidden Gems forum, and see what people are raving (or ranting) over!

Oh, and don't forget to check the Book Bazaar!

I've found some good books by looking at "books posted today". In fact, I just found one that was posted without an ISBN --- a copy of a book I on a long wish list for!

If there are certain authors you like of a certain genre... you can post in that forum saying... who writes like Author A, B, and C.  You can get a lot of good author recommendations that way.

I think I started with a list of what I wanted but then just started searching by genre. Id search the first few pages and then skip ahead to the next few.  If you let it PBS will broaden your horizens though. Ive read a ton of stuff I would have never read before because I found it here either through a deal in the bazaar or when I had a bob sub Id pick things that sounded ok to fill in an order. I also would find people that had similar tastes to me in the forums and browse their shelves. Ive picked up a few good ones from reading peoples signature lines too. Like I would have never started reading what is commonly called a cozy mystery had I not seen one on someones sig line. Now I read them  (cozies and sigs) pretty often.