How do you go about choosing a new book to read? Do you go to a bookstore? Borrow one from a friend? (And never give it back?) Check one out from the library? (And never return it?) Order one online? I must confess I’ve done all of those things except not returning a book I’ve checked out from a library. Yes, I do have a book I borrowed from a friend and never gave it back. And right now I have a book sitting on a chest of drawers that I borrowed from a friend I need to give back.
But in a more preliminary sense, how do you choose the book you want to read? What makes it stand out to the point you want to read it? To me, several options come into play. The cover plays a role, but a minor one. It used to be that a majority of science fiction novels had dark covers, as though to indicate a deep, dark, foreboding story line enclosed within. My impression now is that more sci-fi books are being published with somewhat more colorful covers. That being said, the latest book I purchased a couple of weeks ago had a coal black cover. Go figure. (I’ve tried to make the covers of my books relatively colorful.)
Other than the cover, what do I look at to decide if I want to read a particular book? I almost always go to a bookstore to make a selection largely because I want to be able to keep the book long-term. I start by scanning the science-fiction section, because that’s what I read most often. I don’t generally look at the back cover, nor do I read the flap of the front cover or back cover if the book is hardback with a paper cover. The only information those sections give me is the basic story line, which I can get from reading the book, or a little about the author which I tend to ignore if the author is new to me. I invariably start by opening the book and scanning the first page. From that, I get a sense of the author’s style, a short introduction to the characters and the setting, and some idea of where the story is going. Style is important here. I may put several books back on the shelf before I grab something else. I do look at awards the book has garnered, because they can be an indication of quality. I generally ignore blurbs by others, though.
Another important factor to me in choosing a new book is the author. I have read several books by the same author, sometimes of books in a series such as the first three Dune books by Frank Herbert. I doubt, however, I will read any more of that series since there are many more in the series and I’m more interested in reading a variety of authors rather than sticking to one person in particular simply because he/she wrote a long series of books. Other authors of whom I’ve read multiple books are (not comprehensive and in no particular order), Connie Willis, Andy Weir, Joe Haldeman, Ursula K. Le Guin, Gregory Benford, Octavia Butler, Jack Vance, and even such classic sci-fi authors as Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, and Robert Louis Stevenson. This gives the name of some, and doesn’t mention many, many single volumes by way too many authors to even try to list here.
That’s no to say that I’m stuck on certain authors. The black book I mentioned above is “A Canticle for Leibowitz” by Walter M. Miller, Jr., and I’ve never read anything else by him. That book is described on the cover as “The classic bestseller and a landmark of 20th-century literature.” It falls into the general category of post-apocalyptic science fiction, and though it was hailed as a “classic,” I found it in the science fiction section of the bookstore. So far, I’m enjoying it. It caught my attention because of the style of writing of which all I can say is that it doesn’t conform to the current straight-forward sci-fi style.
So, what do you look for in a new book? Anything in particular, or just intuition?