Ser Not Appearing Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 Does anyone else ever go to a bookstore to buy a book and maybe you don't have anything specific in mind? We started a New Year's tradition this year, where we all went to the bookstore and bought a new book and then spent the evening of New Year's Eve reading our new books. I have, almost exclusively, "read" audiobooks for a number of years now and I didn't have any given book burning a hole in my mind where I was dying to read it, so I went in blind. First of all, I just want you say that bookstores and libraries are amazing bits of civilization and I'm thankful for them and we (collectively) probably don't appreciate them enough. More on point, however, I found myself at a total loss in the bookstore when trying to pick out a new book. They had (highly appreciated) blurb reviews by employees in front of the various series and I liked that but nothing felt persuasive enough. This left me pulling books off shelves and looking at the cover art and then sometimes reading the back-of-book blurb. In the end, I found myself more persuaded by cover art than anything. Even knowing that this was silly, I still wanted to buy a book that had art which somehow conveyed a vibe to jive with my emotional desire of the moment. In considering it, I don't know what else someone is supposed to do without infinite time, specific recommendation or a website like Good Reads (the like of which is threatened by the rising spectre of review bombing). I simply don't have / am unwilling to spend the time to read all the back-of-book blurbs, much less the first and last page (or whatever trick others have suggested in the past) of every book I want to consider. Given that, I must now state that judging books by their covers is fair and appropriate and damn it all. Long story long - How do you buy books, assuming no specific ideas in mind when you go a-searching? --- For those curious: I ended up not liking any cover art (maybe I'm just too old at 40 or not the target market anymore?) and almost decided not to buy anything until I saw Naomi Novick's name, remembered having read a book by that author, looked it up and confirmed that I liked it ... then bought the first book of a new series by them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Not Appearing Posted January 16 Author Share Posted January 16 I lied. I'm 41. ... but I don't look a day over 40.5. JGP 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaxom 1974 Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 Covers absolutely draw me towards things. I'm literally walking around B&N right now, browsing, and the cover of Gourav Mohanty's Sons of Darkness has caught my eye and I really think I want to reading now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Not Appearing Posted January 16 Author Share Posted January 16 (edited) 1 hour ago, Jaxom 1974 said: Covers absolutely draw me towards things. I'm literally walking around B&N right now, browsing, and the cover of Gourav Mohanty's Sons of Darkness has caught my eye and I really think I want to reading now... If it's the same as what I just googled, I do like the artistry of the K swoosh looking like it maybe tracks motion of the sword and it's effective at drawing your eye to the figure. Edited January 16 by Ser Not Appearing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IlyaP Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 4 hours ago, Ser Not Appearing said: Long story long - How do you buy books, assuming no specific ideas in mind when you go a-searching? This precludes not knowing what I'm seeking. Which I usually do. Probably doesn't help that even the biggest bookstores here in Australia are tiny and narrower in their selections/offerings than the bookstores I'd haunt back in Russia and North America, which makes it harder to really "discover" new books. (Even the biggest store here, Kinokuniya, ultimately, pales in comparison to the books on offer in The Strand in New York City, which is the closest I've ever come to reaching Elysium. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TormundsWoman Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 6 hours ago, Ser Not Appearing said: In considering it, I don't know what else someone is supposed to do without infinite time, specific recommendation or a website like Good Reads (the like of which is threatened by the rising spectre of review bombing). I simply don't have / am unwilling to spend the time to read all the back-of-book blurbs, much less the first and last page (or whatever trick others have suggested in the past) of every book I want to consider. Given that, I must now state that judging books by their covers is fair and appropriate and damn it all. Long story long - How do you buy books, assuming no specific ideas in mind when you go a-searching? I used to read jacket blurbs like you but yes, takes way too long and am always undecided anyway. About 10 years ago I've realized I'm a creature of habit and once I start a genre, I keep going for a while. So I ended up making or searching lists of books that I save on my phone and then I go book hunting. That's how I find myself half a year in, reading selected books from "Best 15 classical Russian novels" or "30 Funniest books ever written" etc. In the end I realize I'm doing rereads since for example the best 15 classical Russian novels in any ranking tend to have almost the same books & authors, if not exactly in the same order, so when that happens, I just pick up any random book. That ends up being a hit or miss. Not an efficient way to pick books but it's the best I came up with so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derfel Cadarn Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 It was the cover of Ratmond E Feist’s Shards of a Broken Crown that drew me to fantasy in 1998. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Not Appearing Posted January 17 Author Share Posted January 17 8 hours ago, Derfel Cadarn said: It was the cover of Ratmond E Feist’s Shards of a Broken Crown that drew me to fantasy in 1998. Angel wings guy or the one with two hands holding a crown? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baxus Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 20 hours ago, Ser Not Appearing said: Long story long - How do you buy books, assuming no specific ideas in mind when you go a-searching? I usually either go for new books by familiar authors or off a recommendation of someone I trust. Other than that, I look into blurbs on the cover. Can't remember of a single instance of buying a book based on the cover. On the other hand, I remember buying Game of Thrones despite not liking the cover. Also, I got Anne McCaffrey's Dragonflight for my eleventh birthday and had it sitting on the shelf for years because I hated the cover. Finally picked it up when I was 16 because I ran out of things to read and loved it. That's one of my favourite books, and probably the book I've read most times in my life since I was reading it every single time I had nothing else to read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derfel Cadarn Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 19 minutes ago, Ser Not Appearing said: Angel wings guy or the one with two hands holding a crown? UK cover with some warriors sitting around a campfire Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 I remember buying a book I hadn't heard about called A Game of Thrones partly because it had a cool looking map at the start of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 I don't buy books only based on covers, but I do go to bookshops to note covers that catch my eye, then look up the book when I get home and buy it for my e-reader if it seems good/has solid reviews. So I have come across a few books I'd probably not normally have read by first being drawn to the cover. 6 hours ago, Derfel Cadarn said: UK cover with some warriors sitting around a campfire Geoff Taylor- I'm assuming I'm thinking of the same cover- absolutely rocked back in the day. His covers for both Feist and Eddings were all-timers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AncalagonTheBlack Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 6 hours ago, Derfel Cadarn said: UK cover with some warriors sitting around a campfire Here are all the different edition covers- https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/titlecovers.cgi?11666 The best one for me is the French cover! Ser Not Appearing 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HexMachina Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 (edited) 1 hour ago, williamjm said: I remember buying a book I hadn't heard about called A Game of Thrones partly because it had a cool looking map at the start of it. One of my favourite things to do as a child was going into town with my mam and grandparents, going to the bookshop and flicking looking at all the maps in the sci-fi and fantasy books. I had a collection if the Narnia stories in hardback where the cover was a map of Narnia and the surrounding lands and seas and there were times when I would just sit studying it and taking delight in the things I'd not previously noticed. It was this one: https://www.awesomebooks.com/book/9780007640218/the-chronicles-of-narnia/used?gclid=CjwKCAiAkp6tBhB5EiwANTCx1O0W471mq3Xr05-_Qo1cbZYgrm008C538-cyk4qLEMo90Vm06Ui-aBoCqA4QAvD_BwE Point is, a map was a huge draw for me in any book I was reading Edited January 17 by HexMachina williamjm 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 6 hours ago, AncalagonTheBlack said: Here are all the different edition covers- https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/titlecovers.cgi?11666 The best one for me is the French cover! That goatse crown cover is a weeeeeeird design. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IlyaP Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 36 minutes ago, polishgenius said: That goatse crown cover is a weeeeeeird design. ...I hate you. Now I can't unsee that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argonath Diver Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 Easily my strongest memory of choosing a book by its cover was Dinotopia, when I was 11. I was reading much more complex books by then, but I was still absolutely obsessed with dinos (this was before I took Science in Junior High and realized how much I loathed molecular bio stuff. I saw the book at a beloved huge bookstore in St Louis called Library Limited - at the time my favorite place in the world. Marched right up to Mom and we didn't even bother making it a Christmas present, etc. We grew up rather tight on money so I recall it was $30, a significant sum compared to my usual request for a single mass market paperback (I think I was reading Raymond Feist and Shannara back then). I can still sit down with that kid's book and have a great time looking over the gorgeous sketches. I was an avid drawer back then and boldly attempted some renditions of the artwork, albeit to mixed results. Heck I should try that as a grown man who's hardly touched his supplies in twenty years. Zorral and Calibandar 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 Dinotopia is awesome and I need a copy now tbqh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teng Ai Hui Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 On 1/18/2024 at 12:39 AM, baxus said: On the other hand, I remember buying Game of Thrones despite not liking the cover. I personally grew to enjoy those cheesy murals on the first three paperbacks. I remember being extremely disappointed at the bookstore when I bought AFfC. The bird drawing on a red background looked so bland. Why not stay with the original cover artist, Stephen Youll? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IlyaP Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 9 hours ago, Teng Ai Hui said: I personally grew to enjoy those cheesy murals on the first three paperbacks. I remember being extremely disappointed at the bookstore when I bought AFfC. The bird drawing on a red background looked so bland. Why not stay with the original cover artist, Stephen Youll? I still have multiple copies of the Stephen Youll covers for a reason - I greatly prefer them to the later covers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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