Today I'm participating in a really fun feature hosted by Karen at
KissinBlueKaren called Beyond the Books. Every week we answer a non-reading related question and then all link up so we can get a little peek at the blogger behind the books. This week's question is - What's the worst reason you've ever bought/read a book?
I have bought and picked up books for so many reasons through the years. Recommendations, covers, favorite authors, sheer randomness, general theme (ghosts, old houses, best friends turned more, etc) so this one took some thinking. I'm dividing it up into 2 categories - worst reason I bought a book and worst reason I READ a book.
The worst reason I've bought books is probably the cover. Occasionally taking a risk on a book you know very little about but the cover catches your eye is not a bad thing but there was this one time I took it to the extreme and bought a whole series. I was in college and my stress relief was cruising this great used bookstore off campus. Well at some point during that time I discovered the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series by Anne Perry. I loved that they were all named after locations, I loved the covers, and I liked mysteries so I spent months carefully collecting the entire series and spending my hard earned credit on them - this was one of those used bookstores where you trade books in. I had stacks of the books. And then I read one. And I didn't like it. So I read another one. And I didn't like it either. Eventually I ended up trading them all back in mostly unread and have been a bit more careful on stockpiling a series without reading it.
So now we're onto the worst reason I've ever read a book and I can't really believe I'm going to share this one. Back in college my love life was somewhat dramatic and I had just started reading romance novels. I think it started as a fluke. I was looking through the romance author section at the used bookstore and trying to decide which Nora Roberts book to try first and one of the main characters had the name of a guy I was kind of dating at the time and I thought that was a fun coincidence and got that one. The book is still one of my favorites but it started a whole trend where I went looking for books that had a character of the same name of whichever guy I was dating. I found some great authors this way but I also read a lot of really really awful books. And that is your peek into my bit of insanity for today.
So what are your worst reasons for reading or buying a book?
I am a big cover person so I totally understand. That is hysterical about the romance novels and names. A least you got some good reads and a fun little story out of it!!
ReplyDeleteI did read some great books but also some really bad ones!
DeleteThat is too funny! I think my worst reason is that I THOUGHT I was an intellectual and should read seriously intellectual books. I have a lot of books unread on the shelves for that reason.
ReplyDeleteI think I have a few books on my shelf for that reason as well. I'm much happier now that I just read!
DeleteThis just cracks me up... thanks for the laugh this morning. I totally get the cover thing though.
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome! And those covers - oh they still get me!
DeleteLaughing here too! I will admit that I've never read or bought a book based on the name of the main character. That being said, covers and me. Totally. I love covers. And I do like the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt books. Have not read them all - kind of fell off the train of them in past years, but I've read a bunch of them. That period - Victorian - is one of my favorites.
ReplyDeleteIt's not one of my better moments but it did keep me entertained for awhile. I know lots of people like the Pitt books but they didn't work for me then. I'd love to try them again though.
DeleteI have to chuckle at buying books because a character's name was the same. It sounds like it worked out somewhat though. I am all about the covers so I can totally relate to that.
ReplyDeleteI did find some pretty good authors and it was pretty fun to look for them!
DeleteFunny stories! We all have our little quirks, don't we!
ReplyDeleteI would say, if I was participating in this today, that my worst reason for buying a book (and then subsequently trying to read it) would be by just the cover alone. I have cover-love to the extreme, and a beautiful or intriguing cover can make or break a deal when shopping in a bookstore. Online it doesn't matter as much, but in person... I'm a sucker for an eye-catching cover!
I hadn't thought about but online does save me a bit. I tend to be specific about what I'm looking for but in stores I just wander and I'm a sucker for a pretty cover!
DeleteFunny!!! I don't think I've ever picked a book based on someone's name...and I don't find the name Scott terribly romantic anyway. LOL!
ReplyDeleteThough, I've done the same with series...and even authors. I tend to collect books without having read one first...and then what happens when I don't like the first one I read?!
Not liking the first one is never good. I've been burned a few times!
DeleteI do like my husband's name but I'm not sure if any name is romantic. It was fun to look for them.
LMAO The name of the guy were dating as criteria for a book? That's awesome, and most unusual. :D :D
ReplyDeleteCovers, yeah, you can get burned picking books only for their cover. The cover might grab my attention but I also need to read the blurb, maybe flip through the book to get a feel for the writing.
Yeah that's your peek at my crazy for today!
DeleteI don't do the flip through but I probably should. That would've saved me some bad reads!
Buying books would be my financial downfall! Covers grab me, but ultimately I choose it on the author/genre/synopsis. Love the story of choosing books based on the character names. That might be a fun reading challenge. "Books With Character Names From Your Real Life". Think about it, or I may steal the idea. HAHA
ReplyDeleteOh I like it! Go right ahead and I'll be signing up for it! I do look at all that stuff but what tends to make me pick the book up to look at the blurb is the cover.
DeleteI saw those are perfectly logical reasons for you to buy books. ;)
ReplyDeleteThanks! Now that I think about it is there really a bad reason to buy a book? :)
DeleteWow! I could never buy a whole series without knowing if I'll like it first. I actually read one of the books from that Anne Perry series -- it came out a few years ago -- because it was nominated for an award and I was on the judging panel. It was pretty gritty. I had a hard time with it. I'm still intrigued by Anne Perry, though -- she was an accomplice to a murder or something??
ReplyDeleteThey were used and mostly bought with credit so it didn't feel like I was spending money. Still not my smartest move! I think I had heard that about Anne Perry but my memory is sketchy. I'll have to go check that out.
DeleteI bet covers are the reason the majority of book buyers buy. At least that's how I was before I started blogging about books. I'd meander through B&N and pick up books based on the cover and only then read the blurbs. The cover was the reason I picked a book up. There, I said it :) Love the boyfriend's name choosing method, LOL.
ReplyDeleteIt's kind of a fun method though probably not the sanest! The covers definitely are what I look for. It might not be the final say but it's what makes me look at the book in the first place.
DeleteSometimes it's easier to enjoy the covers more than the books!
ReplyDeleteOh definitely!
DeleteI am guilty of buying because I liked the cover and your story made me laugh. Do you follow this for mysteries too? Because I would find it interesting to read a murder mystery with the name of someone I didn't like lol.
ReplyDeleteNo but I should! Particularly if the victim is the name of someone I don't like! It could be therapeutic!
DeleteI pick books based on the cover almost all the time, or at least it makes me stop and read the blurb. Bland covers normally get looked over even though there might be a great story underneath.
ReplyDeleteI definitely am much more likely to get a book where the cover catches my eye. Unless it's an author I know or one of you guys recommended it I probably won't pick it up.
DeleteLike you I have been caught with a series where I bought quite a few of them and then found I didn't like them. Ouch. Love your method for picking up the romance books by name.
ReplyDeleteCovers are my book buying bait, too! Funny with the Romance thing... when I was in my early twenties I read a series of paperbacks about naughty stewardesses (that title tells you how long ago this was, hehe) my reasoning was because they were easy mindless reading after a difficult day. I am still loving this feature. I hope you keep doing it. :)
ReplyDeleteLOL at reading the one with the guy's name. Heh.
ReplyDeleteI buy 99% of my books based on cover so that one make sense to me. I haven't read a blurb in years.
Hehehe..I love the getting books because the main character is the same name as your current boyfriend..you romantic soul!!
ReplyDeleteOh that is so sweet, to be honest when I see the name of my ex in any book it put's me off!!! Covers totally get me! I have read a lot of lemons that had pretty covers!!
ReplyDeleteHeather | Random Redheaded Ramblings
Haha! I love your reason for purchasing those romance novels. Hell, if I could find guys with the same names of my favourite book boyfriends of right now I'd probably go insane with trying to make them into that book character.
ReplyDeleteCover buying is perhaps a crime we're all guilty of. I know there's a plenty of times I've covered bought. And yes, disliking the book tends to happen more often than not as well.
Happy reading!
Brittany @ This is the Story of My(Reading) Life
This is a great and fun topic! Can I tell you that I so adore that you picked up books based on some of the guys you were hanging out with at the time. Ahh...to be a fly on the wall during that part of your life! (lol) Probably the worst reason I ever picked up a book would have to be a recommendation from a person who was actually a non-reader. This person wasn't really a true book nerd like you and most of my other blogger friends, but in support because at least she was reading, right? I picked up what she had been reading. Uh...hated it!!!! (lol) Super Sunday to you! Hugs...
ReplyDeleteIt is rare that I buy a book based on the cover alone, but if I were to, it'd be likely a book from a genre I love--like a mystery. So, I could see something similar happening to me too. :-)
ReplyDeleteYour reading a book because of a name made me chuckle. I may occasionally buy a book because the main character's daughter is my own daughter's name . . . I should take a hint from you and stop that. ;-)
I think the worst reason I ever read a book was because it was a book by a friend's husband. Add to that it was a book not of a genre I normally gravitate towards. In fact, I knew from the synopsis I'd probably not like it. And I didn't. I couldn't tell her that! Luckily she wasn't expecting a review.