Musing Mondays : June 2

The Resurgent Bookworm

Musing Mondays is a meme hosted by Should be Reading and it asks you to muse about something bookish each week. Join in the fun with all fellow bookworms ! 

You walk into a bookshop ……..

Lets assume for the sake of this post that you have no specific book in mind when you go into the bookstore. Actually, that is always the case with me. On the vary rare occasion that I drop by a bookstore I try to buy something that is not on my online TBR just to mix it up a little. Thats how I ended up buying Nazis and the Occult (Goodreads link) purely based on the blurb. My parents thought (or still think) I am a bit off.

But I digress…..

So you are in the bookstore and my question is this – what helps you decide which book to buy ?

Is the blurb alone enough to make you pick up a book that is quite under the radar ? Or does the book have to hold a formidable reputation of awards and critical praise ?Or do you take time to read a few pages before taking the call ?

Please leave your answer in the comments and also the link to your own musing ! 🙂

You can view all of my Musing Mondays posts here. 

13 thoughts on “Musing Mondays : June 2”

  1. I start with the cover and then base my choices on the synopsis. I’m not big on choosing award winning books but I do gravitate to the book charts/newly published shelves then move on to the offer tables.

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  3. Great question! I usually wander around to my favorite sections (fiction, history, biography, education) and look for new titles on display first. I’ll pick up a book and look through it if it’s unfamiliar to me or if it has an eye-catching cover. Sometimes I go with a list in mind, but generally I just am on the lookout for something that seems interesting. Awards usually don’t attract me too much because they’re so subjective–I don’t buy a book just because it’s won something. Some of the best books I’ve read are books that I picked up just because they looked intriguing on the shelf!

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    1. Awards being subjective is so true. In recent times, a lot of “literary critics” bashed Enid Blyton for lack of literary finesse and I was left thinking that its so unfair since her writing means so much to so many kids.
      So the consensus so far is that the blurb does it 🙂

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  5. The cover begins the visual narrative of the book and so that certainly has an impact of whether or not I choose to pick it up. The title, as part of the cover also must pique my interest. Then, I pick up the book to read the back cover and decide whether I’m persuaded to read it or not (it usually doesn’t take much). I have no preference over award winning books to the abstract or lesser known. As long as it engages my interest in one way or another, I’m probably shoving it in my elbow somewhere and balancing it around the other books in my already full arm.

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  6. If I’m browsing a bookstore it’s probably 90% cover and 10% blurb that makes me buy a book. I tend not to buy books I haven’t read about online, but in the YA section I’ve generally read about most of them. The only place I go without a list would be the specialty fantasy/sci-fi/mystery/thriller bookstore where the guys have an encyclopedic knowledge of their books and always give great recommendations.

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