Haha I think we are the opposite kinds of people then.
For a start I have never heard of any of those awards before and I have never once read a review for a book before. The only reason I jumped into this post is because I know the books so wanted to say "hey they are decent"
I will listen to recommendations from people replying to me on the "what are you reading" posts here and will also check out any other things that sound interesting from said threads but other than that I very rarely seek out or put much weight behind other peoples opinions. I will usually just search for books that are within genres I like or for authors that are similar to ones I know I already like.
If I am really struggling to find anything to read then I will usually just scroll through what is available for free leech on MaM and pick something that sounds interesting to me.
I like getting into massive sprawling, long winded series so will often give things more of a shake than maybe they deserve if I'm not initially enjoying them but for the most part I have dropped very few books.
At the end of the days though as long as we are all enjoying what we are reading then who cares :D
Have a great day :)