Do you judge a book by it's cover (when choosing a book)?

Question

What makes you buy a book?

Does the cover have any influence?

Have you ever discovered a great book.. just because of what you read on the cover..

When I was younger.. I discovered Primo Levi, and Platinov.. just because.. I liked the front cover..
What are your favourite 'finds'.. that you discovered in this way??

I should have mentioned..that I meant the synopis on the back cover too :P

Answer 1

I mostly only judge a book by the synopsis on the cover, if that gets my attention and is something I'm interested in then yes I'd get the book.

I mostly read by word of mouth or reputation. There are exceptions though, I recall reading War & Peace aged 12 because a character in a film I loved (My Girl) claimed she had read it "for fun" (it wasn't fun and I now can't recall much about it at all except it was a huge chore *lol*).
I got into the Harry Potter series because some children I babysat had a huge poster of the Goblet Of Fire UK kids cover in their bedroom and I was intrigued. I asked what it was for and they promptly handed me all four books (at that point GOF had only just been released). I'd finished them in a matter of weeks and have been hooked ever since, so I spose that was purely by the cover.

Answer 2

I tend to be attracted by the title, and then I have a look at the back cover to see if any serious reviewers have given it a good review. If that is satisfactory I then go to the first page - if the first few sentences grip my interest then I will be interested in the book. I never read the end first. If the book is expensive I will firstly go home and check out any reader reviews on Amazon, but generally the first few lines of the book will make my mind up for me. For example, I also first read Primo Levi after being curious about the title 'If this is a man' as I didn't know what that would mean.

Answer 3

If I am completely honest, then yes, when I was younger, the cover had a big influence on picking a book. I found however pretty fast, that the cover can have absolutely no bearing on the book. Sometimes ones with amazing covers have turned out to be the most boring, never ending books I've ever read.

I've also found that the boring looking ones are usually quite interesting.

So, no, I dont believe the books cover has any major bearing on the quality of the book anymore. I use reviews and the short bit on the back, or inside flap to help me decide nowadays, usually with good results!

The only books i can say grabbed my attention because of their covers and were good were literally kids books, and they still do grab my attention, which usually works out in favour of my nephew... Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider series are a prime example.

Answer 4

I think the cover does make a big difference. I don't like covers that refer to a movie that was made because of the book. For instance, I wouldn't want to buy 'Gone With the Wind' if Vivian Leigh was on the cover.

I think what really makes me buy a book is if I've read it before, and knew that I would just have to read it again. I don't ever buy books unless I can't find them at a library. I try to read, or at least read reviews, of books before I buy them. This way, I know that all the books in my collection are really books that I cherish.

Also, I cannot STAND the thought of reading the last page first! That's crazy to me. I hate to even glimpse what might happen.

My favorite find that I discovered because of a book cover was "She's Come Undone". I bought the book after I had read it, and it just made perfect sense to me.

Answer 5

Whether in the Library or a book store, the first thing that makes me want to read any particular book is the author. However creative and prolific those authors may be there are times when you are stuck and have to look elsewhere. That is when I start reading the back cover, or in some cases the inside leaf. if I still can't decide if I want to read it by that, I read the first paragraph of the first chapter. If I can't stop at that, well it's a keeper! A number of times I have been in the library looking for something to read and someone will recommend a book or two that they enjoyed. I have found some great reads through their input.

Answer 6

Yeah, especially if a book is by an author I haven't read before. Then, I start with the title, move to cover illustration, then blurb and read the first page. If all of these appeal to me, I buy it. It has some influence, but I wouldn't buy a book just on the strength of its' cover.

You really have to let the cover guide you to some extent as to genre, what to expect from it, etc, such as don't expect a deep insightful book or a thriller if it has shopping bags, heels and makeup on the cover, if you're looking for chick-lit or comedy, don't go for anything with blood or dark, deserted places on the cover, that kind of thing. There's a reason covers are designed with specific books in mind after all, you want the cover to attract the type of person who would read the book.

Answer 7

Sad as it may be but often the cover of a book will make me pick it up. Two of the best discoveries were The Time Travellers Wife which I picked up at Singapore airport because the cover intrigued me and once I read the back of the cover I knew I had to read it. The other was The Rice Mother and again I was at an airport and the cover intrigued me. I find that purples and pinks in the cover attract me for some strange reason!!

Answer 8

i have read the back covers and discovered many many great finds. the best was a book "house of many shadows" it was an older book ( from the 1970's or 1960's) and it actually turned out to be very good.

If I am looking for a book that I don't know the author's work, it usually gooey historical romance, and yes, I do judge by the covers. If there are boats, pirates, or images of Ireland, England, and water I will buy it and devour it.

The best of those has been "Skye O'Malley" by Bertice Small. She wrote three of them, in a series. Very graphic, but good.

Answer 9

Rather than choosing by covers, I am occasionally repelled by a cover - I may have missed some good books because of the covers but I doubt it! I usually select books by flicking through the pages and reading selectively. If I don't like the writer's style I won't buy it even if it appears to have what I want in it. I've read enough rubbish not to want to waste any more of my life wading through badly structured and lazy writing. Can't say a cover ever introduced me to someone's writing although lyrics from popular music has - I read about Steve Biko and South Africa as a result of a Peter Gabriel song.

Answer 10

Sometimes the cover tells all. Like a novel with a topless guy and bare shouldered woman wrapping her legs around him. Right off the bat, I know that the book is a romance novel with some sort of steamy sex scene which I really have no interest in reading. Really, though, unless the cover has something like that, I don't judge it that way. I read the synopsis so that I can get a feel of what's inside. If the synopsis sucks, the book loses my full attention.