How do you chose what fiction book to read?

[ItsaCATnotalabrador]

I buy most of my fiction from a charity shop that sells books for 10p-50p so I go in every so often and stock up on ones with covers I like and titles that appeal. Sometimes I'll recognise the name of the book or the author. I dont put much thought into it because at 10p it doesnt matter if I give up after the first few chapters.

My friend however enjoys the process of picking a book almost as much as reading it. She puts a lot of thought and even research into each book she reads.

How do you select a book?

YANBU - Just pick one that appeals
YABU - I enjoy my reading time so want to get the most out of it as I can so no crappy books please.

I mean, there are options available that sit somewhere between those two extremes, but I can't fault you for knowing what you like!

I actually find it easier to be clear on what I won't read than what I will read. For example, I know a book definitely will not be for me if:

• It's got a title that goes 'The [twee business/hobby] In [idyllic location]', eg 'The Little Yellow Cake Shop By The Sea' or 'The Cornish Ladies' Sock Knitting Society' or something.
• It has a cover with a helicopter on it and is called something like OPERATION BULLET or NIGHT COMBAT and is probably about the SAS
• It's a crime novel about East End gangster families
• It's got a picture of a slightly impoverished but spirited girl in a Victorian mill town on the cover and is called something like 'Tuppence For Luck' or 'The Weaver's Girl'
• It has the USP of being set in Auschwitz
• It's a romance where one of them has a terminal illness
• The blurb describes it as 'A lyrical meditation on' something
• The blurb describes it as 'An unflinching account of' something
• The blurb describes it as 'A searing indictment of' something
• The blurb describes it as 'A modern fable of' something
• It's a romance where the characters are a couple of teenagers
• It's about a dysfunctional extended family of upper middle class Americans who all resent each other and are about to implode on a weekend in the Hamptons

Different ways of choosing.

Sometimes just walking around in a bookshop and seeing what attracts me.

Sometimes I use websites that can suggest what I might like from a short questionnaire.

Quite often I come on here and see what gets mentioned. If it sounds interesting I might have a quick look on amazon or similar to see the general idea of the book, if it looks a good one, I stick it on my amazon wish list. So now I have a very long list. Then, when I'm in the market for a new book, I look through my wish list and see what still looks good, suits my mood.

If they're not available on amazon I look at good reads or eBay or somewhere else and make a list in my phone's notes app.

Great way of weeding out books @BauhausOfEliott! 👍😄

It's amazing how I'm swayed to either buy or not buy by the cover. Which might mean I'm missing out on great reads. And vice versa.

I read the blurb on the back and decide if I'm interested or not. Though to get to the blurb I have to first decide to pick up a book and that tends to be based on either being a familiar author that I like, an interesting title, or an interesting cover. Or if I'm in a second hand shop then there's usually very few books in English so I just take them all and hope they're good.

Honestly, in most cases, a cover is a reliable indicator of what a book will be like. Publishers aren't daft. They know how to create cover art that will signal the right things to readers in terms of the genre/tone of the novel.

For example, if a book has a moody, grainy black and white photo of a house in a middle-class suburban street, lit to look slightly eerie, maybe with a single window slightly illuminated and has a title like 'THE OTHER FAMILY' or 'WATCHING YOU' in yellow block capitals, all of those things are signalling to the reader that it's a domestic noir psychological thriller in the Lisa Jewell / Louise Candlish / Paula Hawkins style. And if that's not the kind of thing you like, you can tell from the cover that it's not going to be a winner for you.

Close my eyes and pick from the bookshelf.

Publishers aren't daft. They know how to create cover art that will signal the right things to readers in terms of the genre/tone of the novel.

Have you seen the covers of modern romance novels? They look like cartoons drawn by 6 or 7 year olds. They are completely off-putting.

May I introduce to you the Japanese word tsundoku... It was invented for people like us 😄

I agree with most of your "not for me" descriptions. Except "a dysfunctional extended family of upper middle class Americans who all resent each other and are about to implode on a weekend in the Hamptons" - sounds like my ideal read!

I have a Pinterest board of interesting looking books. I only read Kindle books on my iPad mini so if I see one that looks interesting I look at the Amazon synopsis to see if I might be interested. Then I read the reviews. Finally then I request a free sample and if after I read that and like it, I actually buy the book.

As with everything else in the arts, what's had good reviews is quite a big factor for new stuff.

It's a three stage process.

1. Cover. I know what styles to look for in the genres I like.

1. Blurb. Am I still interested?

1. Flip to a random page and read small section to see if I like the writing style.

Buy!

To be fair i do have a repetoire that does extend beyond space opera but its what I've been finding myself enjoying most recently, beyond that, some examples of my most recently read include:

• A bunch of books in the DUNE series by Frank Herbert and sone of the prequels by his son
• Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein
• I have no mouth and i must scream - Harlan Ellison
• Flowers for algernon - Daniel keyes
• The Flashman papers - George McDonald Fraser
• Planet of the apes - Pierre Boulle
• Interview with the Vampire - Anne Rice
• The Phantom of the opera - Gàston LeRoux
• The living dead - George Romero (This one was way more disappointing than Expected)
• Monster core - Dante King

I tried The Lord of the Rings but it really didn't do much for me.

They might be off-putting to you, but it’s likely that you aren’t their target audience and regardless of whether you like those covers, they are still signalling something to a readership.

They are aiming them at a specific demographic, which I suspect is 17-21-year-olds who follow BookTok accounts on TikTok.

Yes, like that vogue for Jane Austen covers made to look like the fluffier end of women's commercial romance novels -- pink, with cartoony, loopy fonts and images of stiletto heels and glasses of Prosecco.

They're signalling approachability to a certain type of young female Booktok follower who would be far less likely to pick up Persuasion if it had the black Penguin Classics cover with an early 19thc portrait of a woman.

(And I am on board with many of your outright nos, though I don't mind a bit of lyrical meditation._)

I’m an American Lit lecturer so have hundreds of books, never get rid of them, occasionally will donate one to a colleague if we’re discussing it and I own a copy and vice versa but that’s it. I generally only buy ones by writers I already know I like, or writers who are similar or if someone has mentioned a book that sounds interesting e.g a colleague/friend or on a podcast. Sometimes students mention books too and I buy those.

I’d never just pick a book up and buy it without at least reading the blurb.

I've read 123 books this year and I looked in to each one before I buy or download it to my kindle. I hate DNFing books though so I really try to gets ones I know I think I will enjoy.

This must be the feeblist AIBU ever. There is a book section on here you know.

Book reviews, library, kindle deal of the day, booker prize list, book club!

This might be the feeblist comment ever. Some of us have enjoyed the discussion.

Does it have a spaceship on the cover? Yes

No spaceship? Not a chance.

I know what I likes.

Waaaaaaaahhhhh

Does it specifically have to be a spaceship, or are other space accoutrements acceptable? Would you settle, if pushed, for a cover image in which a spaceship could conceivably be present and not look out of place?

Your user name leads me to believe you have veered away from spaceships occasionally in the past? :)

I read a lot of book reviews, and get suggestions from my reading track apps. So I always have a list of books I’d like to read. If I come across them in a charity shop I’ll buy them.
I tend to think about whether a book is for me or not, before starting to read it. After putting down 2 books which made me very miserable I decided life is too short to read bad books, so I am careful with which books I pick up to read.