While browsing the science fiction/fantasy section after picking up the Thurman book, I remembered something I wanted to look for. I found it too. "Neverwhere" by Neil Gaiman. I got this because a friend of mine who lives across the pond told me about her enjoyment of the television series when she watched it. I Googled it of course to learn more about it and learned there were books. I finally remembered to look and found it. I thumbed through and it seemed interesting. Plus, if it sucks, it's only 6 bucks wasted.
The third one I got pretty much on a whim. "The Meaning Of Night. A Confession" by Michael Cox. I didn't know a thing about this one. I was walking by slowly, in the fiction and literature section, not really looking for anything at all. Just perusing to eat up time while I waited. I saw the cover of this one and it caught my attention.
I picked it up and read the description. "So begins the story of Edward Glyver, booklover, scholar and murderer." Of course, that line alone interested me enough to flip open the book and check it out. Though the way it was worded annoyed me a little but oh well. =) So I opened it up and the first line in the book is, "After killing the red-haired man, I took myself off to Quinn's for an oyster supper." I smiled and kept going. I read the first several pages then flipped ahead about a hundred pages and picked a random point to begin reading again. I read another couple pages and flipped ahead. I read a few paragraphs and decided that I wanted to get it. I'll probably read this one first. I have a book to finish but I should be done with that one rather quickly. =)
So, I'm curious. How do you pick out the books you buy to read for leisure? Do you have set authors you only stick to? Are you part of a book club? Do you have a book buddy who you take recommendations from? Do you spend long amounts of time browsing the aisles, skimming books until you find one that piques your interest? For me, it's a combination of things. I have the authors that I always love to read. Stephen King, Alex Kava, Laurell K. Hamilton, just to name a few off the decent sized list of my favorites. Then I have a few good friends who have similar tastes in books and we discuss new books we buy or new books recommended by others. I also just browse and pick books up at random, hoping they hold my interest. Usually, I pick pretty well too. I rarely make a book purchase I want to kick my ass for later. =)
Happy Friday!
Have a great weekend y'all!
psst, Saturday Survey will be up tomorrow. ;)
Have a great weekend y'all!
psst, Saturday Survey will be up tomorrow. ;)
12 comments:
I look at the covers and flip around. I also at the flaps on books from authors I like, if another author gave a little note about the book, I go and look at that author.
If it's not a book that I know I want to read I look at the inside flap and the cover, plus three random page openings.
If there are any spelling mistakes or typos on any of these pages I don't buy it, no matter how great my interest. I figure that they got it published and that must include a good proofreader. If I wanted to delve deep into banal and illiterate musings, I can read my own stuff and be less happy.
Neil Gaiman is a god! and speaking of which check out his novel American Gods
i cant get into fiction. i have tried many times. i get bored.
i am an autobio whore.
and i pick them by.. who i like and what interests me
I'm all about the memoirs! I think that's why I enjoy following blogs like your... true life accounts. Love to see that I'm not the only fucked-up one out there!
I walk around and look at everything and then something usually catches my eye and I buy it.
Sometimes it's great and others not so much but I love to read and have an open mind so I can pretty much deal with anything.
The cover usually grabs me, too. And that cover would have definitely got my attention, too. I usually do something similar, leafing through a book at random if I don't know the author.
I used to read much more fiction than I do now. But I've always loved crime, murder-mystery stuff.
Let us know how the book turns out (not the ending, just what you thought of it!).
Have a great weekend!
Thanks to this post, I have The Meaning of Night: A Confession on request at my local library. So that's one way I make my choices.
Other than that, I have my favorites and I also get suggestions from magazine articles or friends. Every once in a while, I'll just peruse the library shelves and go from there.
Enjoy your books and have a great day.
A series I've enjoyed is Jim Butcher's "The Dresden Files" series..
I also like R.A. Salvatore, Piers Anthony, Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan, and being posthumosly finished by Brandon Sanderson.
As you can tell, I'm a sci-fi fantasy reading freak, but heck, I love stretching the mental muscles!
I don't read..how sad am I?
I read blogs, I read the news, I read magazines. Sadly I don't have the attention span for books...I can barely sit thru a 90 minute movie.
i am attracted to books about history. any type of history really but latley i am reading up on the Tudors.
That's an interesting question. Got me thinking. For me it depends upon the genre. If I'm treading into unfamilar waters I might jump on the internet and search for some kind of award giving society and see who it is they've awarded as "best of" for the year or for the few years past, the Hugo for example.
I can spend hours on Amazon following their automated "recommended for you" links.
My latest toy...an Amazon Kindle. I can download for free the first 2-3 chapters of any book they've got...see if I like it.
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