Books

I realize you are asking books and not necessarily audiobooks but for audiobooks I follow a few good narrators that I know only do books I will like. This way I am almost always guaranteed a good book, and as a bonus I already know the narration quality will be perfect.

generally from friends recs, goodreads, but lately I've been having fun just checking the "tiny free library" in my neighborhood and taking whatever interests me. Read a few books that I never would've picked up otherwise that way.

Searching around book stores (e.g. National Book Store, Booksale, Fully Booked, and other physical book outlets), Goodreads (including lists, and even checking reviews by S. Craig Zahler and Cardinal West), YouTube channels like Cardinal West, Jesse the Reader, etc., TV Tropes, and the occasional Reddit post and Telegram chat. I once even searched around my school's library.

I also ask people at work what they're reading and then they usually follow up with what they actually would recommend reading

Usually advice from people that know me or similar books suggestions through online forums. When I try and pick award winning novels, even for genres I usually like, I usually end up disappointed.

Along with what others have said, I consult the list of Noble and Pulitzer prize winners. Not all of them are great, as to be expected, but many of the best books I've ever read are on them.

I used to lurk /r/printsf and /r/weirdlit, and note down anything that sounded interesting. I also sometimes look at award winners + nominations. I guess I'll have to make more of an effort now.

• r/suggestmeabook and r/TrueLit (I usually search old posts);
• unread books from authors I already enjoy;
• references in books, annotations and reviews;
• some authors that, when you focus on them (which is the hard part, as the mind learns to ignore things it has no time for at the moment, and there's never enough time for everything), have actually been mentioned quite a bit alongside those that you like;
• recommendation engines: https://www.literature-map.com/, https://www.gnooks.com/, https://thestorygraph.com/;
• direct recommendations from people I know;
• for reviewers whose taste and opinion I trust, I sometimes look up what else they'd reviewed.

if you can remember, how did you find books you really enjoyed?

In my schooltime, in some museum, an old lady I'd never seen again had a small rant on what modern people read instead of good literature; she also named some authors she considered good. I memorised one of them.

I joined a book club that meets once a month. We pick one or two books to read for upcoming meetings. A lot of times we just brainstorm during the meeting to pick upcoming books.

For enjoyment, I'll get recommendations from my hairstylist, believe it or not! Or I let Goodreads think for me sometimes. Other times, for work, it just depends on where my academic research leads - in the former case, kind of hit or miss, but of course for my job, whatever I end up reading is obviously going to be in my wheelhouse/relevant to my interests, anyway, so those are rarely intolerable!

Mostly my kids, although one of them is super into furry fan-fic and keeps sending me ridiculous things to read so I don't listen to him anymore. But the other three all tend to send good series to read, and we often will read them together and discuss the books in the family Discord server.

I now almost exclusively read books online. Check out Hoopla or ICloud. There are various ways to search fiction/nonfiction new/old releases read or audiobooks. I get free access via my local library.

Recommendations, either from Reddit or from family/friends etc.

Recommendations from people I know. Depending on who recommends them, I'll pick them up. I also search for lists on google or "favorite book" polls/list on reddit. As long as I like the premise I'll try it. If the first book in a series is a good read, I'll continue the series, if not then I won't. And of course books from authors I already knew when I liked their books.