Sunday, May 6, 2012

grammajudyb asked: All the titles look (sound) interesting. Do you pick up used books based on author, cover, or by reading the blurb on the back?


It's a combination of all those things. When I go into one of those big fundraiser book sales at a church or a school I know books get snapped up quickly so I scan for titles first because there are usually some that have been on my immediate radar for a while thanks to other bloggers' recommendations. And then I look for authors because there are some that I like so much (Barbara Kingsolver, Alberto Manguel, Annie Dillard, etc) that I will sample anything they write. And then, lastly, I scan covers and blurbs because you never know . . . sometimes you really CAN tell a book by it's cover (at least I like to think so). And for a dollar a book how can you go wrong? If it turns out to be an *ehn* kind of book then out it goes. I either donate it to the thrift shop or hand it in for a credit at the used-book store.

2 comments:

Heidi’sbooks said...

Wow! What a coincidence! I just wrote an article on used books! I'm with you--I judge a book by it's cover, it's author, and by hearsay in the book blog world.

Trish said...

Yes, a lot can be gathered from all the research and book conversations I have both online and off, so that by the time I get to a book sale I'm pretty sure of knowing what I want. Although I sometimes still get it wrong as I noted in my last post.