Whenever I read books, I always like to get them from the library. I absolutely hate buying books. Sure, bookstores smell cool and all, and I feel eccentric and adventurous whenever I am in one, but I am super cheap. I like to conserve money where and whenever I can.
Also, when I was really little, my mother would take us to the library once or twice a month and we would get French Fries from the little fast food joint across the street. And from time to time, I would find nice little inspirational notes written from other readers in my library books which would make me so happy. These two occurrences have always helped me associate reading in a positive manner.
So I like libraries. And if there is one thing you should know about me, it is that I head to the Teen Section the minute I get in there. I like reading YA books. Since I grew up in an ultra-conservative household, I have always been graphic language, violence, gore, and sexual content adverse. Even though I am now into my twenties, I still read the books with the neon green TEEN sticker on the binding. And if I ever decide to become an author, or attempt to, I will probably stick to that genre.
After I am in the teen section, I pick a part of the wall to look at for the day. It might be authors with the name Da- Gr. Some days I pick bindings that look really awesome. Other days when I am feeling more adventurous, I pick books with ugly bindings, with the ugliest of covers. And I don't read what it is about. That is one of my biggest rules.
When I pick up a book that looks interesting or boring, depending on my mood, I will flip a couple of pages in and look for the page that says Text copyright with a date and the author's name. Most of the time, there will be a summary of the book followed by the categories that it would be put in. I've found that most of my favorite books are in the Interpersonal Relationship category.
But I don't stick to just one category! Most of the time, I like to read romantic books, but I am not afraid of other genres. I have found that I like First Person or Third Person Omniscient books over all of the other kinds. And in my Professional Writing class, I learned that most people dislike those the most (so strange)!
If the summary or the categories sound interesting, I get the book. If not, I keep looking. But I never read the book jacket. I'm one of those people that if I know the general plot, I can predict the ending. So I really love the whole "going-in-blind" thing. It makes the book so much more enjoyable to me. There are very few times that I will stop reading a book that I have found with this method.
Usually it is because the character is too crass, mouthy, or unintelligent for me to keep reading about their life. If they are unlikable, I will stop reading too. Most of the time, I power through and hope that I will be a better reader and writer at the end of the book.
And that's the method to my madness of how I pick the books I read.
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