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At the crossroads of the sociology of cultural consumption, intermediaries and reading, this article examines how readers of novels use the various forms of prescription to which they are exposed when choosing a book in an independent bookshop. Based on a survey and interviews with readers, the aim of this paper is to examine the influence of the prescription work done by booksellers, as well as the editorial work upstream done on the titles (which is materialized in the editorial peritext). While many studies have already demonstrated the unequal distribution of reading practices, as well as the classifying modalities of the practice, the contribution of this article is to show that the relationship readers have with intermediaries, and the way they use their prescription work to find their way through the wide range of choices offered to them, is an additional modality of reading practices that also reflects strong social disparities.