Since I bought my Kindle the amount of books I’ve read has
shot up. I’ve enjoyed books from authors I’d previously never heard of - and genres
I’d never heard of either!
It has led to some interesting choices and a few mistakes.
Last week I downloaded what I thought was going to be a sweet Christmas story
about a girl and her dog - it turned out to be something much steamier involving
shape shifters! Note to self: read blurbs!
So how do I choose a book?
1. It has a pretty
cover.
They say you should never judge a book by its cover. The Night Before Christmas (Scarlett
Bailey) has a beautiful cover and a great title. I’ve since bought all her other
books.
Then there was the had-better-remain-nameless book about the
woman hunting down a long lost artefact, that had so many descriptions about her
clothes I started thinking things like, ‘She so wouldn’t wear that outfit to go down a mine shaft’.
2. It’s seasonal.
I want to read summer stories during summer (especially if it’s raining), ghost
stories at Halloween and Christmas stories at - yes, I think you’ve worked it
out.
I Love Capri (Belinda
Jones)
The Woman in Black
(Susan Hill)
Skipping Christmas
(John Grisham)
3. I've enjoyed the author's other books.
Authors writing in different genres used to have pennames - not anymore, which is how I ended up reading my first and last steampunk
novel. The hero was half-robot and I kept getting an image of Arnold Schwarzenegger
in my head at crucial moments - and not in a good way.
4. The author has the
same name as me.
I thought my name was unusual but apparently not. Fortunately
only one of the dozen or so other Louise Marleys writes books.
Mozart’s Blood by Louise Marley (not me!)
5. The author has
written a book with the same title as one of mine.
I really need to try harder with my titles because there are
several books with the same as mine. I enjoyed Breathless by Anne Stuart (part of her House of Rohan series) but I really love her contemporary romantic
suspense novels.
6. I loved the movie.
Seeing the words ‘based on the bestselling novel by … ’ is a
positive incitement for me. It also explains how I ended up reading (and enjoying!) Three-Ten to Yuma (The Complete Western Stories by Elmore Leonard) even though I hate
westerns.
7. It was free.
The trick to downloading free books is to Not Go Mad. Pace
yourself! I know it’s tempting, but only download books you know you’re actually going to read. I’ve discovered several great new authors this way,
including Danelle Harmon.
The Wild
One by Danelle Harmon.
8. My friend loved
it.
My friend and I have a lot in common (otherwise we’d never
be friends) but we do occasionally disagree on books. She turned up on my
doorstep waving Bridget Jones's Diary (Helen
Fielding) at me and saying, “You’ve got
to read this, it’s brilliant, it’s
like she knows me!”
(I did enjoy the
movie though.)
9. Everyone is
talking about it.
This is possibly the worst
reason to choose a book. Your expectations go sky high and if those
expectations aren’t met you’ll feel cheated.
10. It’s a classic.
I loved Jane Eyre
(Charlotte Bronte) but have yet to get beyond chapter three of Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen), and
when I meet the person who put Lord of
the Flies (William Golding) on my GCSE reading list, I shall tell them it
nearly put me off reading for life.
So there you have it, ten random (but mostly
successful) ways to choose a book.
Which method do you use?
Related Posts:
No comments:
Post a Comment