Questions to Ask Readers
Questions for book clubs, author events, and conversations with people who read: what they are reading, how they choose, what they abandon, and which books have stayed with them.
The questions
Open any question for the note
What are you reading right now, and how did you pick it?
Why ask it
Current reading is the easiest question anyone can answer, and the second half is where the information is: a friend, a review, an algorithm, a shelf at the library.
Physical, ebook, or audio, and does it depend on the book?
Why ask it
Format preference nearly always comes with a reason attached: a commute, eyesight, sleep. It also tells you when in the day they read, and audiobook listeners often get through far more than they claim to.
How do you decide what to read next?
Why ask it
Some people keep a list years deep and others read whatever is in the house. The answer predicts whether a recommendation from you would ever actually be picked up.
What is a book you wish more people knew about?
Why ask it
This invites advocacy rather than performance, so the answer tends to be a book they love rather than one they admire. Watch whether they can say why in a single sentence.
Do you have a spot or a time of day that is just for reading?
Why ask it
Reading habits are physical: a chair, a train, twenty minutes before sleep. The specifics make far better conversation than abstract enthusiasm about books.
How many books do you have going at once?
Why ask it
One-book readers and six-book readers manage attention very differently. Several at once usually means one of them has stalled, which is the more interesting thread to pull.
What is a popular book you could not finish?
Why ask it
Naming a book everyone else loved takes a little nerve, and the reason they give, whether the prose, the pacing, or a character, is a precise statement of their taste.
How do you feel about giving up on a book halfway?
Why ask it
Attitudes to quitting split people sharply, and the reasoning exposes whether they read out of duty or appetite. Recent converts to quitting usually have a specific book behind the change.
How much do reviews and ratings affect what you pick up?
Why ask it
Some readers check an average score before every purchase and some avoid them on principle. Either answer explains why their recommendations do or do not line up with yours.
What do you do in a bookstore or library when you arrive with no plan?
Why ask it
Browsing behavior is concrete: covers, first pages, staff picks, one particular shelf. It also reveals whether they still buy books or mostly borrow them.
Which book have you reread the most?
Why ask it
Rereading is the strongest evidence of what a book is actually worth to someone. Ask what they notice now that they missed the first time.
What did you read as a teenager that you would still defend?
Why ask it
Teenage reading is formative and slightly embarrassing, which makes it good conversation. The defense they mount tells you more than the title does.
How has your taste changed in the last ten years?
Why ask it
A ten-year frame invites a story rather than a list, and most people can point to a life event behind the shift. If nothing has changed, that is worth asking about too.
What is the last book that got to you emotionally?
Why ask it
This works better than asking for favorites because it bypasses the urge to impress. Some readers name a children's book, and that answer usually leads somewhere good.
Which book do you end up recommending to almost everyone?
Why ask it
A default recommendation is a book they believe travels well, which is different from their favorite. Ask who they last gave it to and what happened.
What is the book you keep meaning to read and never start?
Why ask it
The unread intimidating book is close to universal, and the reason, whether length, reputation, or a failed first attempt, says what they think reading is supposed to cost.
Is there a genre you have written off that you suspect you are wrong about?
Why ask it
Written-off genres expose inherited snobbery, and the suspicion of being wrong is the interesting half. This is the one place where a specific suggestion from you might actually land.
What book stayed with you for weeks after you finished it?
Why ask it
Lingering is a different quality from enjoyment, and the answer often names an uncomfortable book rather than a beloved one. Ask what specifically kept surfacing.
Which book changed how you think about something that matters to you?
Why ask it
Save this until the conversation has warmed up, because cold it produces a performance. A vague answer usually means the change was gradual rather than caused by one book.
If you could talk to one author for an hour, who would it be and what would you ask?
Why ask it
The question they would ask matters more than the author they choose, because it points at what they want to know about how books get made.
Keeping a book conversation going
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
What to do with an answer
- Follow a title with a question about the reason. Why they picked it up, or put it down, is where the conversation actually lives.
- Ask what a book reminded them of. Comparisons come more easily than judgments and they hand you your next question.
- Say what you did not like about a book you otherwise admired. It gives the other person permission to be honest rather than diplomatic.
- Take notes on recommendations, visibly. People give much better ones when they can see you intend to act on them.
- If you have not read what they name, ask what it is like rather than steering back to a book you have read.
In a book club
Beyond whether they liked it
Ask which character they did not believe, which section they would cut, and whether they would have finished it if the group had not chosen it. All three produce disagreement, which is the point of a book club.
Bring in the people who did not finish
Ask where they stopped and what stopped them. It is the most useful data in the room and the person is usually sitting quietly, assuming they have nothing to contribute.
Keep the group from converging
Once two people agree, the rest tend to follow. Ask directly whether anyone read it differently before the consensus hardens.
At an author event
- Ask about decisions rather than meaning: why a chapter was cut, why the ending changed, how long the research took. Writers answer craft questions with more energy than interpretation questions.
- Avoid asking an author to explain what their book was about. It is the question they get everywhere and it produces the most rehearsed answer they have.
- Ask what they are reading now. It is a genuine recommendation from someone whose taste you already have a sample of.
- Keep the question to one sentence. Long preambles at a microphone eat the time of everyone else in the queue.
What tends to spoil it
- Spoilers, including for books you assume everyone has read. Ask how far along they are before you say anything about the plot.
- Ranking readers by number of books. It turns a conversation about pleasure into a comparison of output.
- Treating genre reading as lesser. It ends candor immediately, and the person simply stops telling you what they really read.
- Recommending your own favorite regardless of what they described wanting. Recommendations only work when they answer the person in front of you.