Thoughts About Books

[caramelsilver]

The greatest thing I've ever learned is how to read. I love it. I'm a reader at heart. I have no idea how many hours of my life I'm going to spend reading, but it will probably be a lot. On top of that I'm a book buyer. I love owning them, and putting them in my book shelf and re-read them later, and thus spend a lot of money on buying new books.  Therefore I've started thinking of what makes me want to buy a book? Because I can spend hours, and I mean this, HOURS! in a bookshop. Either I'll end up with a stack of books or none at all. What makes a book desirable to buy? Since I won't be able to know if the story itself if good, I have to go by other factors:

1) The font has to be pretty.  ~Since it's the first thing I see. I don't see the title first, but the font, on the spine of the book. Personally, I'm very fond of the swirly kind.

2) The title has to be good. It's need to be catchy and get my imagination going. ~ It has to be nice, make you imagine a wonderful tale (even if it doesn't fulfill its promise.) And written in a pretty font it definitively makes me want to pick it up.

3) The cover has to be beautiful ~You want to know why Twilight is so popular? The cover is beautiful! It makes people want to know what's inside. You have no idea how important this is to me. I can't make myself buy a dull and boring looking book unless it has been recced by someone I trust have a good taste in books. Take "Catcher in the Rye". I have heard what a wonderful modern classic it is, but I haven't read it yet, because every time I'm at the bookshop another book over-shines it. It has the dullest cover I've ever seen and it just doesn't compel me to pick it up and buy it.  So: The cover has to dazzle me.

4) The blurb on the back has to explain the book in a great way ~ I know that you can't buy a book because it's pretty. The story has to be good. So the explanation on the back has to summarize the story in a quick, compelling and non-lengthy manner. What I hate the most is when there is no blurb but only reviews and praise. I want to know what the book's about NOT what some celebrity thought about it.

So to summarize: The font has to be eye-catching, the title has to be snazzy, the cover has to be pretty and the blurb needs to explain the book in a nice and quick way.  Off course, not everything always match. The title might be awesome while the font/cover/blurb [Rotate] might suck.

What about you? What do you look for when buying a new book?

Comments

[sofisticat.livejournal.com]

I agree with you about reading. And I partially agree with you regarding the other things. I will choose a good blurb over a pretty cover anytime. If th story seems interesting, I'll pick the dull cover over the pretty cover.

[caramelsilver.livejournal.com]

Yes, the blurb do rule them all. But I guess my point is that for me to even get to the blurb, the title has to catch my eye, or else I won't even pull the book off the shelf.

[sofisticat.livejournal.com]

Yes, the title matter a lot.

[turkeyish.livejournal.com]

My things are...a good first paragraph, and a good last paragraph. If they move me the right way, I buy the book. :P

And I do agree that the cover for "Catcher in the Rye" is so boring...but oh, it's such a fantastic book! I read it once years ago, and that's all I've needed - I haven't been able to get it out of my head since. All of Salinger has been like that for me.

[caramelsilver.livejournal.com]

When you say the last paragraph, what do you mean? Surely you don't read the last page of the book?

So I should read it then? Catcher in the Rye?

[turkeyish.livejournal.com]

It's just one of those things I've been doing forever...when I'm in a bookstore, I'll pick up a book and read the first paragraph or so, and then I'll flip to the back and read the last bits...and if I'm intrigued enough, I'll flip backwards to random places to see how the style/plot/etc is. And then I'll buy the book if it all works for me. I never mind about things like spoilers, and it doesn't ruin the experience for me in any way. I tend to do the same thing with films - I'll usually look up the plot and stuff beforehand. And even when I know the gist of what's going to happen, I'll still be surprised or whatever at the way things lead up to it. I'm weird, I know. :P

And yes, you should definitely read Catcher in the Rye. <333.

[caramelsilver.livejournal.com]

Wow! That's something I would never even consider doing... I'm also very fuzzy on my spoilers, (you can imagine my rage when I got spoiled for OotP) and it's not often I read a book that I have already seen the movie of.

Then I'll pick up Catcher in the Rye next time I'm at the book store=)

[lizzie-marie-23.livejournal.com]

The first paragraph is important to me, though I don't skip to the end until I'm past the middle. I also look at the table of contents to see how the chapters are set up. i tend not to like it if the chapters aren't titled, though there are exceptions. I totally agree about the blurb