Never Judge A Book…… Or Do We??

I was at the library this evening with Christian, browsing the shelves as I do and it got me wondering - how do other people select what they read??? Do they rely on best-seller lists, reviews, friends recommendations? Do they stick to particular authors or categories? There’s probably some that just grab a book at random and give it a go!

Now, I know the saying “never judge a book by its cover”, but honestly the cover tells me a lot. There are a lot of authors that I love and just habitually get the next book they write, but I found them all originally the same way - by one of their covers.   There has to be something that initially draws me to the book - a quirky title, interesting image and sometimes the “blankness” of it.

I picked two books this evening written by authors I’ve never read before. The first was “The Life Room” by Jill Bialosky I was drawn to those eyes on the front cover. I wanted to know more. I wanted to know what the hell a “life room” was.

 

The second was “Leave it to Claire” by Tracey Bateman. The spine of this book was what grabbed me. It had a tiny replication of the front cover which made me look to see what it was. I even went ahead and grabbed the next book in the series, “Claire Knows Best”.

 

I also grabbed some Sophie Kinsella books “Remember Me” and a few in the “Shopaholic” series - “Shopaholic Abroad” (also known as "Shopaholic Takes Manhattan"), “Shopaholic and  Sister”, “Shopaholic Ties the Knot” and “Shopaholic and Baby”. 

 

My last pick was the Jackie Collins novel, “Poor Little Bitch Girl”. See, this is one of those authors whose books I read out of habit now. I know I can happily sit down and read and get drawn into a completely different world.

 

So, how do you pick your reading material? Have you ever thought about it? Have you ever started reading something and wondered just why on earth you picked it? I’ll let you know how I get on with my new finds.