When book browsing,what words catch your attention?

Horror. And it better deliver. And be 225 pages or less. Gee, as you can see, I'm not spoiled for choice.

I've never looked at books like this before. I am often drawn to the look of a book or the complete title, but not to particular words in a title. I'm a sucker for a pretty book, though. I can't leave them on the shelf.

white books suck

I look for my name.

*blank stare*

Okay, okay... the title has to be interesting, becaue that's what will get me to the point of reading the back cover. A new author will bring me to look at it quicker too. And if later I find out the covet art was misleading I get very, very pissed. It's like Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey. For me, the title was intriguing--what in the hell was a Kushiel? And what does a dart have to do with it. New author--good; female, even better. And the cover art was lovely, simple, and in the end encapsulated the protgonist so perfectly that I adored it. A perfect package for a damn good book.

I checked my TBR bookshelf, and have to say that the words Road, Bar, and Home are slightly ahead of anything to do with Sex and Freaks.

But of all the TBR pile, Road has a solid standing in first place, with prominence in three titles.

I refuse to read books with "heartwarming" in the back cover blurb.

Other than that, I like witty titles, especially for mysteries. When I'm reading science fiction, I don't like space-words in the title--The Fourteenth Qzlp of Omega-Nine is an automatic pass for me.

References to Shakespeare and the King James Bible also always intrigue me.

I won't buy books that have a recurring character mentioned by name on the cover. The characters tend to be a cliche'

I tend to judge more by font face than by the actual words.

Yeah, I'm a little weird.

"Obsession" is a big one for me.

Also: "genre-bending."

I like strange, unusual, cutting edge novels that lean into the thriller genre. Sadly, you don't see too many of them.

Really, though, I rarely browse.

Usually I know exactly what I want when I go in the bookstore.

I read a lot of reviews. If a book is reviewed well, it can have a pitiful cover and a bizarre title an I'll still read it. My feeling is if a critic liked it, then chances are I will as well.

Dead, death, secret or any word that is obviously made up.

Will Lavender said:

Really, though, I rarely browse.

Usually I know exactly what I want when I go in the bookstore.

I read a lot of reviews. If a book is reviewed well, it can have a pitiful cover and a bizarre title an I'll still read it. My feeling is if a critic liked it, then chances are I will as well.

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Same here (though it depends on the reviewer). I don't have time to read all the books I know I want to read, or think I should read, or should have read already. Browsing's pretty much out of the question.

I order everything online. Browsing isn't as easy, since I have a strategy for systematically choosing what I read.

bluntforcetrauma said:

Horror. And it better deliver. And be 225 pages or less. Gee, as you can see, I'm not spoiled for choice.

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Some of the most fantastic books I've ever read have been 400+ pages. One of the best books I've ever read was right around 900 pages.

You're missing out on some good stuff by not reading lengthier books man.

mscelina said:

It's like Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey. For me, the title was intriguing--what in the hell was a Kushiel?

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LOL! Whereas I knew who Kushiel was since I'd just used him as a minor character in a MIP, which is why I picked up the book. No one's ever heard of this demon and suddenly someone else is using him--what's going on here?

Honestly, I don't know what Carey did with the name or if it was the same demon because I found the first page impossible to get into or through and a spot-check deeper into the book wasn't any better, so put the book back on the shelf.

Back to the OP--I'm not really sure if there's any set of words in a title that will guarantee a look-see from me. Most of the things that interest me don't usually make it into titles directly (serial killers, psychics, certain historical eras, etc) so there's a variety of things that might trigger a pick-up and look-see.

However, I can tell you something in a title that is an absolute turn-off for me: Anything that announces the book as part of a series, even a first book. I've been burned by series dying off, wilting or otherwise being frustrating that I'm not willing to commit to them cold anymore.

JBI said:

I order everything online. Browsing isn't as easy, since I have a strategy for systematically choosing what I read.

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And what is this strategy?

I'm a "beginning writer" and feel as if I'm drowned in books I feel I should read.

DeleyanLee said:

However, I can tell you something in a title that is an absolute turn-off for me: Anything that announces the book as part of a series, even a first book.

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Though I largely agree, there's a caveat there for me: if I can buy the whole series at once, I'm okay with it, or if the series is simply ongoing connected stories rather than one long epic story. Like Xanth, or Discworld, or the MYTH series - stories which stand on their own and are enjoyable, even if you've read none of the others.

I don't know about you, but these words/phrases anywhere in the summary immediately raise the bar for me, and not in a good way:

1. Evil

2. *Insert superlative here* Blood

3. Destiny

4. Prophecy

5. Dragon rider

6. Betrothed to a man she does not truly love

7. The fate of *insert fantasy world* lies in the hands of *insert character here*

8. Talented/Gifted/Any other synonym for having gotten a Cool Ability without earning it

9. Dark Lord/Lady/any other noun

10. *Insert random motley crew here* must band together to *insert action here*

Stickers with "3 for 2" or "Buy One Get One Half Price" get my attention.

Lccorp2 said:

6. Betrothed to a man she does not truly love

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Bugger. Actually no, half bugger. Well kinda.

Stickers with "3 for 2" or "Buy One Get One Half Price" get my attention.

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Yup. Or the old stand by 'whatever has been donated to the Oxfam shop this week'

Although I have a big thing for titles that sound portentious.

Martin Smith said:

And what is this strategy?

I'm a "beginning writer" and feel as if I'm drowned in books I feel I should read.

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Generally, if you are reading, you have a specific interest in the difficulty/target audience of what you read. Mine is literary works, and I prefer stories with as little plot as possible, and more on the challenging side. To obtain this result, I flip through online catalogs and read literary reviews online, in addition to criticism provided by certain academic institutions. That way, I have accumulated a large list of what I feel necessary to read, and will conquer that before actually leafing through book stores.

Personal recommendations seem to be the best form of determining what to read, yet even then you need to trust who is giving them (something I find hard to do with most readers). Instead I try to see which authors the author of books like, and that way branching off.

Of course, that method works best for novels, but poetry is a whole other beast that requires a good detective eye, since most book stores don't carry what I am looking for. I guess for that I am lucky I know the right people. This list however is probably the best foundational list for all genres ever constructed (though still imperfect)
http://www.interleaves.org/~rteeter/grtbloom.html

Though for book covers, generally a impressionist or post-impressionist painting on the cover seems great (renaissance paintings on the cover usually allude to some historical romance). A real photograph as well makes a great cover, but a painting, especially an elaborate one, or a cover containing clusters of symbols and wheels and whatnot, as are made popular in the fantasy and thriller genres, seems to be a turnoff.

Lccorp2 said:

I don't know about you, but these words/phrases anywhere in the summary immediately raise the bar for me, and not in a good way

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I'm trying to put together the Compleat Anti-Lccorp2 Book Jacket and amusing myself mightily by doing so:

Noble Blood, Dark Prophecy

Betrothed to an man she does not truly love, the beautiful Lady Alstromeria searches for a new destiny. A wandering mage reveals to her that she has been touched by the Dark Lord with the gift of dragon riding; no sooner has she recovered from that shock than she learns that the fate of Irrelevantia is in her hands. Alstromeria and her fellow dragon riders must band together to seek out the Dark Lord in his mountain fastness, vanquish his terrifying army of were-otters, and restore the rightful heir to the Irrelevantian throne.



I'm seeing a hot chick in a bodice, a dragon, a castle, and some swirly red-tinged clouds on the front. Maybe some of the cool glittery raised letters or a hologram?