My parents have a huge library at home they both read and when i was little I used to read a lot, now I am trying to do the same and I am also required to do that at school, teachers have a list and you can choose one or read another thing as long as it is not for children and not something with adult content and you do your hw and summaried etc...
Now I was wondering what to read cause I read the titles and found nothing interesting...
My mom always says the typical phrase "dont judge a book by looking at the cover" i know she is right but...none seems to catch my attention ...idk why...
so what makes you want to read a book?
is it the cover? or the back ?
the fact that someone famous wrote it?
fact that they made or are making the movie?
do you buy books?
do you read books from your family library? Have ever done that?
ok so Im here to chat = )

We don't have a library. :[ But I love reading. I usually
just buy books, or sometimes I go to the library. And
I do judge a book by the cover. If it has a stupid
cover, I'm not going to read it. [Unless someone tells
me it's incredibly good]. xD I read the back of
it or the inside cover if the description is there. And
if I like an author, I'll try to find more books by them.

The title normally graps my attention. It also helps if I've heard about it. And nice art is always a plus.
:3
I also won't read a book if I don't like what it says on the back.
XD
Yes, I buy books all the time. o3o

I don't have a family library. I have been making my own library since my parents don't read much.

Sometimes I'll pick up a book without caring about the title or art and so far they've either been great or horrid. If the latter I'll just set it down and start on anew. There is no sense in making yourself read something you don't wish to.

I suggest you aleast try afew XD

When browsing I tend to look for something flashy. Something that sets it out from the rest. I can't pull out every book in the store and read the synopsis, we'd be there forever. So I look for something catchy, then read the synopsis, then read the first page before deciding.

Well....

That's a lie. If I hate it I never finish the 1st page, if I want to buy it, I tend to be like 10 pages in before someone notices that I'm stood reading the book instead of looking and shepards me to the till >_>

thank you n_n and btw super nice avie!!!

I usually research a book before I buy it, actually. Occasionally I'll pick up some romance novels without "research" haha, but even then I always read the back-cover and if I think it sounds idiotic then I won't bother. Also, I normally flip through a few chapters and take note of the style, format, and level of writing. Reading something that's not really "challenging" (I can't think of a better word for it, but yes, I like to give my brain a workout) isn't as satisfying for me.

In the case of Shakespeare, I read everything by him simply because I know it'll be (at the very least) good. From sonnets to plays, that man knew his stuff. XD

I love shopping for books! ^_^ On a more random note, the smell of a new book is something absolutely wonderful, hehe.

I read the summary; if it isn't something that sounds at least somewhat appealing, I glance through the pages and then decide if I want to bother with it or not.

But I like to search for books I already know I like on Amazon and then go through the "customers who bought this also bought..." list. If I just go to the library and try to find something that looks interesting I usually don't end up with much.

I don't really like buying books unless they're something I KNOW I'll read again, otherwise I pick them up at the library since I'm up there for other stuff alot anyway. The only books I've really bought in the last few years have been Harry Potter and a few by Stephen King. :)

Well first off, recommendations by friends and seeing what they finding interesting. After that, I just go to say borders or library and look around for something that interests me. I also often go to sections that tend to have soemthing I enjoy.

Why, are you looking for recommendations?

What makes me read a book is how good the cover looks and how good the title of the book sounds. Sometimes I look at a brief summary/overview of what the book is before reading it. In some cases, I read at the end of other books about other books by the same artist and if they sound interesting, I may read it.

Just noting that I moved this conversation to the "Books" forum as it's more appropriate there. :)

On-topic:
I read a book based on many factors. Generally a combination of the genre (fantasy = win), the cover-blurb (so I know basically what the story is about), and whether or not I recognize the author (for good or bad).

Normally I'm reccomended books. If someone says "Read this, it's awesome!" I'll pick it up. Otherwise if it does catch my eye when I'm browsing I'll pick it up. But I am a real picky girl who finds time too short to pick up every book she sees and test it out.

I guess for me it's the title of the book, what it says on the back (of on the flippy thing once you open up the book - the sleeve or whatever) and the cover ~ sometimes. For some books, like "Who Killed King Tut" the cover is awsome, but the book itself is not.

The first thing that catches my attention is the title, or maybe the color of the spine. Since the spine is usually all you can see in a library or a bookstore. If the title is interesting, or I've heard people complimenting it, I'll usually take it out. Then I read the back, or the inside flap if its hardcover. Then I flip to the middle and scan. If it passes all these tests, I want to read it.

I normally pick up books and read the summary and a few pages of it to see if I like it. If I like it, I read it. However, I haven't been doing that very often lately. I've been catching up on my book recommendations. There are a kajillion books that people have told me I should read, and I've heard good things about a lot of them. And then there are authors that I like and come out with new books. I tend to follow the authors I like.

Also, I do just pick up whatever is lying around and start reading out of sheer boredom. You read strange things that way (...I believe that's actually how I started reading romance novels). xD

First, I don't buy books which I've never heard about or I don't know its author. I just don't want to waste my money. I always go to the bookshop with specific aim: 'I want to buy this book'. (Sometimes when this book isn't here I buy something else XD) When I want to read something I don't know I just go to the public library. It's hard to find something you want to read at the moment but if you wait a little bit...

So, I will write about searching books in the library, not in the bookshop.
Of course, very often I judge book by the cover. But I think there's nothing wrong in this, because it's hard to choose from the hundreds of book, yes? And cover says something about the plot, so it help a little (:
Very often I also judge the book by title (if it is interesting, I will take it), the publishing house (there are some I know and respect) or genre (I prefer fantasy). But I always read the description on the back to know if I will like it. I'm searching for the books of authors I like or which my friends recommended to me, or I just heard about them... somewhere.

But I always spend a lot of time in library. To choose 3-4 books I could spend about 40 minutes up to an hour XD

I always pick a book out by the title. If the title is catchie or seems like it might be something I want to read, I'll grab it and read over a few pages. If its any good I'll buy it. Most of the time I have to go through at least 6 books before I find anything that will fit my mood or I know I'll enjoy later when my mood passes.

The Title usually gets my attention, then I would read the description of the book and if that doesn't get my interest, I won't read it. But usually, good titled books have good descriptions, so I wind up reading the books. Gotta love the books! =^.^=

Edit: I forgot to mention that since I'm flat broke, I don't buy the books, I would usually go to a bookstore, my favorite is Barnes and Nobles since they have a great selection of new books... And a Starbucks. I love hot chocolate and white chocolate and macadamia nut cookies with a good book!

Edit.

I don't go by the titles, but by the summaries on the back. Finding a book by my favorite author is an instant urge to read. XD

I buy books, brand new or second hand. I rarely, if ever, borrow. I consider books as personal properties, kind of like underwear. :lol:

I'll read almost anything. Unless I'm looking for something specifically, I like to wander libraries aimlessly, just sort of browsing. If a cover or title catches my eye, I'll pick it up, read the back cover, read the inside cover, and then flip to somewhere in the middle of the book to check out the writing style/level or worevah.

I almost never buy books. xD I get SO many out of the library, though. The only time I really buy books is at used book stores, because it's really cheap. P: The only books I bought from an actual bookstore in the past year or so are The Tipping Point and The Zombie Survival Guide, because I knew I'd read them again and again.

I have to be honest when I say that I have a every bad habit that I do not recommend. I always read the ending before I read the book itself. Yes I know that I might be ridiculed, but I has saved me some money.

Sometime I find a name that jumps out at me so I will read the back. If it catches me there, I will scan through it, but then my hideous habit kicks in.

I won't necessarily read a book because someone famous wrote it. I never wanted to read Harry Potter, but then my dad bought them for me a little while before they became 'famous famous'.

I will never read a book after I have seen the movie, because the movies slaughter the books. So if I see the movie first, I like it and will thus not want to read the book. But if I know that the movie is based off a book, for example Eragon, I will read the book, then see the movie. Because I read the book before seeing the movie, I was able to make a valid assumption about the movie.

Yes! I always love to buy the books. I have never cared for e-books since I prefer to have the book in my hands.

Occasionally I will read books from my family library. Actually, it's more of my dad's library that I sneak into since my mom doesn't read books.

I think what originally catches my attention is the cover, even though I know that is not always a good thing. The binding is also important because that is what you first see at the book store. The back of the book is what gets me to start reading in the book. But the actual book itself is what makes me buy it and read the whole thing. I also do not like little font, because I like to relax when I read and reading small font is not relaxing. I also avoid books that are written by famous people, or they are made into movies. I do not like going with the majority of people. However if I see a movie and really like it and then find out that it was a book first. That makes me want to read it as a book to see how the author originally intended it to be. Also because the book version is normally better because they go into more detail. As for the family library, my family does not have one. Regardless I have multiple bookcases and my mom will borrow some of mine.

You know the phrase "Don't judge a book by it's cover"?

I do that anyway since it seems to work for me :P
I'm always sucked towards a book by the font of the title, or the picture on the cover. The font size also matter a little bit, I don't like it when the font is too big. Also, it depends on how the cover is designed, if it looks ugly, I'm not reading it, if it looks decent, or beautiful I'll take it. When I was little, I chose a book that I thought the cover was ugly, and I HATED it. Although for some reason, since many books have more than one version for the cover, I take the prettier one and i'll still read it. Or if the uglier cover is just so ugly, I won't read it...so yeah, I always judge a book by it's cover xP

Usually for me it's sort of a word of mouth thing. If someone tells me something is good, I take a look at it. Otherwise I might learn about authors from other sources, and become inclined to sample some of their work. But if I'm randomly wandering the bookstore, I find it's rather difficult to select a new book, because often the title and the cover tell you very little about what's actually going on inside the book. So, I just go with the one that has the prettiest artwork :P

most books i read i read beacause of the cover, the back, and those tabs on the insideish...of yeah and skiming