I don’t know about you, but I love browsing a good bookshop and choosing a new book. And there are so many to choose from. So how do you pick a new book from the plethora out there? Are you drawn to the cover? Or do you always go for a particular author/genre? Perhaps you’ve had a recommendation? I’d love to know.
Some of it is by author, for example if I found a book by Jack Vance I hadn’t got I’d walk barefoot to the shop so I could spend my bus fare on it 🙂
A lot of it is by recommendation. Often the recommendation of an individual I’ve come to respect (This individual could be a blogger 🙂 )
So many things cause me to choose a book… From cover, to author, to genre or recommendation!
If I am just browsing then it would initially be the look of the cover and title but then I would read the blurb on the back and any information about the author and the date of the publication is always useful too. Recommendations from folk often help. Sometimes I may have a lead for a particular author or topic or genre I want to follow and then I look at the books around it and may be persuaded to buy a book completely different from what I set out to buy! It all depends really.
Call me shallow jackdaw, but the cover is so important. Recent impulse purchases include Ali Smith’s wonderful ‘Autumn’ for its warm oranges and umbers, and Bret Easton Elis’ repellent ‘American Psycho’ (and having now read it I really wish I hadn’t) for it’s stark whiteness with the single bloodied finger print. I’ve since seen the original cover with the macabre head and would not have bought it. Oh, and Radio 4’s ‘A Good Read’ is good for a mix of curious suggestions and tomes to avoid.
I was supposed to be given a copy of American Psycho as a prize for winning a short story. The organisers didn’t ever send it to me and I didn’t chase it up; I’m quite relieved I didn’t now!
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Usually author and genre are my first choices. A good cover if I am browsing might cause me to read the blurb about the book. I don’t usually use recommendations because I have had so many recommended and then found I hated the book. My tastes are different than others more often than not.
Genre and author, either or both. However Eva Jordan’s “All the colours in Between” was a brilliant read for me and not a genre I would usually pick. She asked me to read it and review it in exchange for reviewing a book our writing group had published. Rarely has a book moved me in the way this one did.
My favourite Genres are Crime fiction, Espionage, Spy Thrillers, some Science Fiction and comedy.
Authors include Ian Rankin, Peter Lovesy, John LeCarre, Len Deighton, Douglas Adams, Raymond Chandler Alison Bruce and John Wyndham.
How strange is that – I met Eva Jordan for the first time today at a literary festival! She’s a lovely lady and her books sound very interesting. Must read one soon. Thank you for your comment.
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Like the label on a bottle of wine, I’m always drawn to the cover first. After all, we’d never read the blurb if we were not attracted to the cover first, would we?
Esther Chilton 
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