**Pages of ink discussion

Would you give a piece of advice on how you choose a book?

The cover has to catch my attention and then the back blurb. I sooooo judge a book by its cover! :)

Haha!! me too!!! The cover is a deal breaker for me!! it has to be simple and cryptic!! And the back text must be short!!! AND THE TITLE!! I love titles that make me ask so manyyy questions!!!

Yes!! The title has to catch my attention otherwise I'm done! :)

Totally!! And the first chapters are important as well! A lot of books start with slow events with a lot of descriptions and long dull passages. I hate it when they do this!! Like slow motion in the beginning!

exactly! Nancy Drew was killer in the beginning!

I'm also in the judge a book by its cover camp.

Also, the synposis has to be clear but simple. Don't fling all the names of your invented places at me in one go. I'll put me off buying the book.

Same here. When I see a long synopsis I just return the book to its shelf. So the blabber about places and names in it really turns me off!

It's all about the synopsis, and epilogue/ 1st chapter. If the book is not presented well, then I won't read it.

Do you read the epilogue before buying? Don't you worry that you'll spoil the plot by doing so?

There is something called the 'page 86' rule. If you're unsure about buying the book, you should open it to page 86 and read it. If it isn't interesting then don't bother.

I never do this, though, as I'm always worried I'll learn something that could potentially ruin the first part of the book for me.

Hahaha, wow! I totally meant prologue, so sorry! It would ruin it!

Nice info!!! never heard of it!! I'll attempt to try it once because same as you rea I'm always worried I'll learn something that could potentially ruin the first part of the book for me.

I should have realised that, d'oh! It makes far more sense if you read it as prologue / first chapter!

As I usually order my books online I don't often get the chance to use the rule, but sometimes the font used in a book, or the spacing between the lines, will influence my purchase as well. I like it to be neat and when the type is so close that it looks like a block of text, well, sometimes it puts me off.

I agree, if it look like a mess, it probably is. But, I have been fooled before by some great Indie authors, who just aren't very artistic, or didn't have the money for a great cover artist. So, it's really important for a writer to present their work the best they can in a synopsis, and in the beginning. Because if you can't capture an audience with the first few sentences, then you already lost them.

Totally true!

Ok, i pick a book by first looking at the cover then reading the blurb, and if it suits my interest then i would have to take it lol

It's pretty much like Deena with me

huh??^^^

The cover is the first thing to grab your eye so the cover has to stand out ... Then the blurb has to entice you to want to read the story,

I have down several books because the blurb is just doesn't give me the pull to read it

I normally arrive to the bookstore with a list of books I already know about (I go book shopping like only twice a year so..) but once or twice I always grab a book based on cover, genre and the back of the book synopsis

Here's a post on my blog on how to choose books: http://yabookaddict.blogspot.com/2011...

Well, these days I have a bit of a search through Amazon amongst genres I quite like and then download a sample for my Kindle. If the sample comes to an end and I really wish I knew what was going to happen next, then I get the book.

I almost always choose a book by its cover, at least at first. If I'm looking through a bookstore, I'll ony look at what immediately grabs my attention and then I'll read the back of the book to see if it sounds interesting. Of course, there have been times where I think that I like a book just for it's cover- not because it's actually a good book.

Me too but what I do (it's wrong I know) I look first at the cover and title if I like them I turn to the back cover and if the synopsis is long I just return it to the bookshelf. I hate long texts on the back cover!!!!

I used to judge a book by its cover now i don't anymore since most of the books i read are e-books , i find a title randomly in goodreads if i like the title and some reviews i search for it if i find it i start reading it right away

I really don't like e-books!! I can't concentrate when reading a book on pc!!!

well you are not obligated to do so :p but i am since there is no books in english in my city and even if they were i can't actually afford them so i'm forced to read e-books

Ow!!! That sucks! You have e-books at least!! :P

yes fortunately there are e-books !

Aaah, that does suck! I prefer proper books, but I can understand the appeal of ebooks if material copies are so expensive. Do you have an e-reader or do you read them in PDF format on your PC?

pdf format in my pc..And i wish they were at least available , it is not only the price problem

Oh, PDF format kills my eyes after a while. Whereabouts in Morocco do you live? I know a lot of people from Agadir and they can't speak English at all and they speak some weird variation of French that's hard to follow. Is that why English books aren't made widely available there? Too small an audience? Or is it part of the idea of reclaiming an Arabic identity after colonisation? (That might just be Algeria with Arabic identity. I'm afraid it's a long, long time since I studied Morocco!)

true pdf formats are really exhausting, and i am from Tetouan a small city in the north of morocco it is near Spain so i can find books in Spanish easily, And i do speak Spanish but i rather English books because i adore the language. And you are right about the reason why there is no books in English , in fact books in general have a small audience in here (they even refused me the right to form a book club in my university because there won't be more then 20 members or so ) and books in English are only taught in universities for those who major in English-unfortunately i've chosen science math a choice i deeply regret) And only classics like Jane Austen and Oscar Wilde are available so there isn't much choice

Aaah, I understand. That is unfortunate. Is your city more Spanish-oriented than French-oriented then? Or do you speak English, French, Spanish and Arabic? English is indeed a good language! Though I may be somewhat biased.

I'm sorry to hear about the trials you have to go through just to be able to read, no one should have to do so as reading is one of the biggest joys in life (for me at least.) I can't even begin to imagine the frustration that would come with living somewhere where books are not widely distributed. Oh the classics... what fun. True bedtime reading because you open them and immediately fall asleep! There are no online sellers that can get you English language books for a small fee?

I totally agree with Rea!! I can't imagine the frustration you must face everyday just to read! Btw curious question why did you chose math if you don't like it as much as literature?

It kinda sucks to read from the pc, that's why I convert the books from pdf/epub/mobi...etc to a format that I can read on my phone =P

Back in the days when I actually bought physical editions of the books, I used to refer to the title of the book (reading the spines @ bookstores) before checking out the cover and then reading the summary. It was only if the book passed my 3 assessment, that I would begin reading it.

Nowadays however, I use goodreads to check out interesting books, summaries and reviews before trying to find the ebooks. There are quite a lot of blogs out there that offer the service and it's a lot faster than waiting for the local bookstores to stock them.

Rea wrote: "Aaah, I understand. That is unfortunate. Is your city more Spanish-oriented than French-oriented then? Or do you speak English, French, Spanish and Arabic? English is indeed a good language! Though..."
You are right my city is more Spanish-oriented than French -oriented but i speak the four languages , french is a basic language in the whole country it is the second language ,as for Spanish and English , i only studied English for 2 hours a week during 3 years , it might sound enough but my love and passion for learning new languages are the reasons why i can still speak it after there is no classes for English now that i'm in college. and well as for Spanish i've learned it from TV , my parents , and my two brothers. but i can read it and speak it kind of perfectly since i use it a lot ^^ . I am a book addict too ^^ that is why i have to go through all this trouble just to read :p

Chris wrote: "I totally agree with Rea!! I can't imagine the frustration you must face everyday just to read! Btw curious question why did you chose math if you don't like it as much as literature?"
well you could call it a bad choice who had lead to many other bad choices , but as soon as i'll get a degree i'm going for literature^^

Hehe!!! Good for you Safaeita for the litterature thing. And as for Nouda I still prefer buying a book at the bookstore!!!