picky picky

i have a system when randomly bookshopping. normally i'll be in the fiction / literature section. i'll check out the spines of the books first. i look for interesting images or color and possibly publisher. if i find one i like then i check out the title. it has to be interesting too, either the title itself or the font. if i like that too then i'll take the book out and look at the cover. good cover art is a must! it is only after i've deemed the book aesthetically pleasing will i turn it around and read the summary. i don't usually read the praise quotes. bleh. altho if it says 'funny' i usually put the book right back down. i like humor, but i'd rather borrow a funny book than purchase it. eh. but i esp like how newer books (usually the upper right corner) list the genre. if i like the book summary then i'll flip to somewhere in the middle of the book and read a bit to see if i like the writing style. it's only if i like all this stuff will i actually purchase the book. i mean, cause seriously, how else do you know if a random book is good or not? and it's too hard to get recommendations from people. they might not have your same taste in books. better to have a system that you can fine tune yourself.

june 2006

sylvia plath - the bell jar (again)
charlotte perkins gilman - "the yellow wallpaper" and other short stories (dover thrift) (again)
willa cather - alexander's bridge
stephen crane - "the open boat" and other stories (dover thrift)
camus - the stranger (again)
how i became stupid - martin page
to live - yu hua
the angel with one hundred wings - daniel horch