What makes you choose the books you read? For me, it depends on the book and the day. Sometimes I choose a book because I like the cover, title, or author, or because of a good review or enthusiastic recommendation. Sometimes it's because of the setting (a haunted house, a bookstore, Paris, Scotland, coastal Maine, the Amazon Jungle), or the time period (the Gilded Age, the 1920s, a dystopian future). Sometimes it's because of who the main character is: suffragette, college student, ballerina, archaeologist. And sometimes it's just because I'm in the mood for a particular kind of book: psychological thriller, ghost story, romance, survival/disaster, mystery. I'm not fussy. I don't even care if a book is a classic, best-seller, young adult or middle grade fiction; to me, a good book is a good book. (Although there are some books I automatically avoid--like erotica, or anything to do with Napolean or ancient Rome.) I guess that makes me an eclectic reader. Are you an eclectic reader, too? What puts you in the mood to read?
Sometimes it's how tired I am. YA or shallow(ish) adventure novels are perfect for those few pages at night before I fall asleep. Deeper stuff needs to be read at lunchtime.
ReplyDeleteI hear you on that one. Late at night I'm too tired to face anything too "brain-draining".
DeleteI think it's all the things you just mentioned. Some settings always draw me in (ballet setting, world war setting, etc) and others I just like the cover or a friend has told me I HAVE to read it. I always have a huge tbr pile and I just leave my eye wander around all my titles until I hit the one that sounds right for the way I feel just then.
ReplyDeleteWhat I hate is when I can't find a book to fit my particular mood ...then I bounce from book to book, not finishing any of them. It's the worst.
DeleteI am an eclectic reader, too. Sometimes I want the mental stimulation of non-fiction, other times I want escapist fiction. What matters is a good story! I read some mainstream fiction, some sci-fi, some mysteries, some classics, some YA. I'm a sucker for books set in colonial America or during World War 2, and I read international politics as well.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny how everyone is drawn to a certain time period, isn't it?
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