well, it depends on what you like to read.
if you like a certain genre, look there first.
and it really doesn't matter who the author is, unless you really dislike said author.
and if you reall cannot find ANYTHING good?
just pick one up at random, look on the back, read the summary, and keep doing that until you find a good book. :)

For me, it depends on any number of factors... sometimes cover (which I know isn't the best way to go about it, but shiny covers are just... so shiny!), sometimes the blurb on the back, and sometimes the opinions of others.

Sometimes it's even genre-based. I'll read almost anything with vampires in it, though I can't guarantee I'll be compelled to finish it.

What makes me read a book is normally the title or cover of the book. If its a really intricate cover I'll probably pick it up and look at it since I love art.Also if the book is really thick I'll pick it up. Ever since I read the Harry Potter books I sorta think every thick book will be really good ^^;

I pick a book out by its title, if I can't see the cover, or based on if I've heard of it or not. If it's by a favorite author of mine, I will nearly always read it. :).
If the book's title interests me, I'll pick up the book, and read the summary. The same goes for the cover.

The title or the cover catches my attention, and then I continue onto reading the back to see what it's about.I also use reviews from friends on what they said about the book.Friends can usually be the biggest help in helping you pick out something.

Funny titles.

I'm more likely to read The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things than I am Life in the Fat Lane (though both were very good books).

I'm also attracted to bright or sparkly covers.

I read the summaries on the back and if it sounds boring I won't read it (unless it's part of series).

Originally Posted by Rainbow Energy

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 = )

i read more than my whole class put together per annum. I don't have a family library but i have a guest room with lots of books....
*late so runs out the door*
i'll be back! :o

20minutes later

i am back. To answer the questions above.
I read books because i love to, i get lost in the book like a traveller in a wonderful land (nice metaphor don't you think :wink: ).
The cover does attract the back makes it linger and the story comes home with me, but i have read books with fairly boring covers and they were wonderful (some weren't though) some had very cool covers and extremely boring stories, so you can't really judge.
I don't care if the person who wrote them was famous unless there's a frenzy i read to find out what all the fuss is about. I pick my favourite authors whom i found on neighboring shelves in my local bookshops, some are famous but if they're good they deserve it :D
If someone's making a movie about a book and i haven't read it (which is rare) i'll read through curiousity, then the book is usually much better than the movie anyway.
Yes i absolutly buy books sometimes 3 or 4 a month :oops: but they are worth it and yes i read books from the family "library" but now i have gone through the interesting ones and wait for new ones to come in.

To gather knowledge of course! I'm currently reading about PHP and MySQL. It's all part of my master plan to help Menewsha if they have any technical problems. :P

i read a book by how the cover looks and my favorite authors. I don't buy books i just get them in the library. But the favorite books i love to read is manga :)

I like books that have a catchy title and a pretty front cover, it also has to make sense and be organized.

I usually read the summary if the book has it. If it doesn't sound good or interesting, I don't read it.

My teacher does. I hate reading books, but my teacher counts reading books as a grade, and we have to do book reviews and book talks on it, it gives me an even more disinterest in reading.

It's definitely the summary for me. Of course, the title needs to be remotely interesting for me to even consider the summary... However, that usually isn't a very difficult task xD

I love reading.
It all started about three years ago,
and I the thought of reading novels just popped into my mind.
So, I started reading.
You could often see me now reading something.

I don't know.
But the reason I guess is..
I read books depending on reviews.
If I've heard that this book is nice, a bestseller or something, then I read it.
Yes, the author is another reason too.
I often read other books of authors who've had good reviews.
I've been reading books by Sidney Sheldon, Jeffrey Archer, J.K. Rowling, Mitch Albom, Michael Crichton, etc.
And sometimes, I guess I read books just because I'm bored. I read whatever I see is available.
Isn't it weird that others get bored because they read?
I sometimes read because I'm bored. It's become some sort of pastime for me.
I love reading.
I'm a qualified bookworm.
A lot of things has happened to me because of reading. A lot of advantages.
My vocabulary has broadened.
My comprehension improved, too.
And a whole lot more.

I really need gold. Who wants to chat?

Well, I don't have a library at home, but I would love
to have one. I only have a small collection of books,
since I don't buy books often. I usually just get my
novels from the public library.

I love reading novels, because it's like my little
escape from the real world. The books that catch my
attention is usually either the title or the front
cover. Sometimes, I ignore the front cover and go
straight to the back cover to read the summary.

There are times when I just start reading the first line
of the first chapter, and if I cannot stop reading the
first paragraph, it's a book that I would like to read.

If there's a movie or a show that is based on a novel,
I don't usually read the book. Actually, I don't read
the book, because I would already know what happens,
since I've seen the movie/show. xD

Well due to lack of siblings, books became my friends real quickly when I was younger. That and a lot of the time it the cover then what's on the back is what grabs me. Also what I take as a review from my school's librarian. Throughout my school experience one of the librarians would due a short review on a few books she chose to get people in the right track if they were told by their English teacher they had to read a certain genre. Also as I was growing up had access to a public library a lot and got real acquainted with being public library user.

xD Usually if Ive heard about the
author, either from someone saying how
good he or she's books are, as well as if
Ive read a book that was written by some
author that I like ; then I try to read
more of the same authors' books.

I also read the back of the book
to see if the author gave any details
about the book; to see if I might find
it interesting.

When I was little I just went by the cover ;DDD

~ can't judge a book by it's cover xDDDDD

Ever since i was little, my parents and aunts gave me books such as Dr. Seuss, Barbie stories (the pink books which were published by Grolier) and other beginner books. There were lots of them and I was fascinated on what was on the books.

When I was in fifth grade, i saw a Book Sale and bought some books i find interesting. Since that time, i was addicted to it and i decided to make a mini library of my own.

My aunts were also bibliophiles. I saw their collection and found them interesting and that was the first time I read novels. They're in the other countries now so I keep and take good care of their books.

I also read books by famous authors like Sidney Sheldon, J.K. Rowling, Carolyn Keene, Danielle Steel and Nicholas Sparks.

Sometimes I do judge the book by its cover but i still see to it that i read the summary at the back to know what it is really about.

Originally Posted by Akstar

Well due to lack of siblings, books became my friends real quickly when I was younger. That and a lot of the time it the cover then what's on the back is what grabs me. Also what I take as a review from my school's librarian. Throughout my school experience one of the librarians would due a short review on a few books she chose to get people in the right track if they were told by their English teacher they had to read a certain genre. Also as I was growing up had access to a public library a lot and got real acquainted with being public library user.

i don't have siblings too.. and i do agree with you that books keep company. :]

I usually read the title - if it sounds interesting I'll pick it up, look at the front, then read the back. If the back isn't interesting then I'll try reading the first page - but if that's not interesting then I just won't read it. It has to sound interesting to me.

Heh hard to say. I would go for title, author, than backside description and if im really not sure i start reading it on the spot. Tho i have a bad habit of going in the library and picking up to 12 books at time just randomly choose them and than after bringing them home deciding which of those i will read. Pretty annoying habit if you ask me =/ but i can help it i love picking up books at the library.

what makes me...well.. a few reasons behind it..
er, because im bored mostly XD when there's no electricity that i cant do anything else but to grab something and read just waste some time..or sometimes its because of curiosity...i sort of have this habit..when i saw some words, i wanted to know what word is next...its troubling when i dont really wanted to read it..like..news.. XD

I'm so horrible, but I really do judge a book by its cover. I won't start reading the book if it has an ugly cover and I'm definitely motivated to read books if they're pretty. I think I'm superficial like this for a good reason though. I mean, I'm a huge manga fan and an important part of any manga is it's artwork. After all, it's essentially a comic book, despite the protests of anime fans who claim that they're nothing alike.

If a manga has bad art, or rushed artwork, it will really impact your enjoyment of the series. That's why I tend to stay away from manga that have ugly art unless reviewers can vouch for a good storyline (i.e. Bokurano). This shouldn't really have anything to do with novels however, since you're only reading the words of the story and not looking at artwork as you read. But I guess this artwork nitpicking that I got from reading manga just transfers to books as well.

Sometimes certain weather conditons will cause me to get into a book, I used to read a lot of books..