What to read next?

Having just finished The Piano Teacher by Janice Y.K Lee, ( review to follow) I am struggling with what to read next.
My TBR pile grows larger on a daily basis but I can still look at all of the books and think I have nothing to read!
Choosing my next book is a very important decision to make. As my blog header says " So Many Books, So Little Time" and because of this, I don't want to waste time on starting anything that I won't finish.

How do you choose your next book? Do you have a system or do you pick one randomly?
I would love to hear your selection processes and also how much of a chance do you give a book? I find that if the story doesn't grab me within the first chapter then it is cast aside in the search for something better.

I used to feel some guilt about this as I am known as being someone who has a habit of starting things and not finishing them. However, in my blogging experience, I have come to realise that I am not alone.
Steph Su Reads is one such like minded soul. Check out her blog as it makes interesting reading.

OK so I have just taken a brief break from writing this and  have finally chosen my next book " The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo". I am probably one of the only people on the planet not to have read this. I usually avoid books where there has been so much hype surrounding them but for some reason I have been drawn to this on my bookshelf. I will let you know how I get on.


Hope you all have a relaxing weekend with plenty of time to read.

Review- Fall of Giants by Ken Follett

Sorry I haven't posted for a while but have had  "life" stuff going on which has been taking up most of my spare time. It has also impacted on my reading time and so it feels like I have been trying forever to finish Ken Follett's latest offering.

"Fall of Giants" is the first in Follett's Century Trilogy and at over 800 pages long, isn't for the faint hearted but in my opinion is well worth the effort. I am a huge fan of Ken Follett as he has written two of my favourite novels- The Pillars of The Earth and World Without End and was excited to read his latest saga.

The story takes place before, during and after the First World War and follows the lives of a group of multi-national characters who are all connected in some way. It looks at the conflict from their differing perspectives and the difficult choices they have to make.

 The story is well researched and moves along at a good pace. The characters are interesting, diverse and believable and I found myself caring about what happened to them. 

As always, Follett's pace of writing suits my reading style.In Follett's own words

"My aim in constructing sentences is to make the sentence utterly easy to understand, writing what I call transparent prose. I've failed dreadfully if you have to read a sentence twice to figure out what I meant."

I found this to be true for the majority of the book and if I have one criticism it is that there was perhaps too much focus on the battles and behind the scenes politics and not enough on the lives of those who were left behind.

Having said that, it is only a minor fault and didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of the book. I wouldn't say that I was as captivated by the story as in "Pillars" or "World Without End" but still rank it as an excellent book and would give it 8 out of 10. I look forward to reading the rest of the trilogy when it is completed.