How to Choose a Book

This post follows the thoughts of the previous one.  We talked about writing titles and ones that catch our attention, and it made me think about how I choose books to read.  I’m a bookworm, and I always have been.  But I honestly can’t think of a set patter that I have when it comes to choosing a book.

I was one of those kids who loved to go to the library and choose random books off the shelf.  Okay, not just as a kid.  I still do it.  Though I haven’t gotten a library card since I moved here a year ago, which is quite a shame.  And something I need to rectify.  There’s nothing like the thrill of taking home a pile of books (for free!) and delving into them for hours.  I’m also the kind of person who doesn’t like to buy a book until after I’ve read it.  I’ve had buyer’s remorse once or twice, which has made me a bit hesitant to buy a book without knowing whether I like it or not.

When it comes to choosing a book, it’s hard to say what really attracts me.  Is it the cover?  The title?  Usually it’s a combination of them along with the blurb on the back of the book. 

But all of that’s about to chance.  I just got my first e-reader for Christmas.  I was one of those resistant to the e-reader and e-book because I loved the feeling of holding a book in my hands, smelling the pages, and the finality of closing the book when it finished. 

Of course, I still love the idea of holding books while I read, but more and more of my friends are publishing e-books and I want to support them.  And with the price of e-books it may be just between checking books out at the library and buying them in paperback. 

Of course, this means that I have to develop a whole new way of finding books.  Though they’re all laid out, it doesn’t quite look like a bookshelf to me. 

So how do all of you find e-books?  What’s a good process?  What about a book most attracts you?  The title?  The cover?