Every bookshop is a maze; thousands of books are separated into various sections. So, where do you go first and what makes you pick up those specific books?
It just so happened that I entered Waterstones last week without the intention of actually buying a book. I had yet to open birthday presents from people I knew had bought me books so I didn't want to accidentally get duplicates. This allowed me freedom. Usually, I enter a bookshop with pre-exisiting notions of what books I want, from Twitter, publishers or word of mouth. This time, I was actively seeking new books and authors and avoiding what I knew (or trying to at least). Basically, I was putting 'judge a book by its cover' to the test.
So, get ready to follow my path through Waterstones. Think of it as my guide.
1. Pass the cook book section on your way inside.
2. Get excited because there's one that focuses on easily cooking things in a single pan.
3. Put it back down because you realise you'll probably only use 2 recipes.
4. Head straight for the Young Adult section aka. home.
5. Marvel at some of the gorgeous covers and realise you have a soft spot for foiling.
6. Try to show your boyfriend the pretty covers but realise he has wondered off to the Sci-Fi section.
7. Hear your name called and a very excited boyfriend show you a book he likes.
8. See a book right next to the one he likes that has an even cooler title. (I seriously love this title - I think I love it when books make fun of their own cliches).
9. Return to your comfy YA corner to see what other titles spring to your attention,
deciding to not focus on the covers facing you but get attracted by more covers anyway.
12. Before leaving the YA section, look at the feature wall and find some amazing ass poetry.
13. Get upset that you promised you wouldn't buy anything because you now want this poetry.
15. Head upstairs and Go against my own rules by picking up titles that I knew about before (in my defence, they were on the feature tables).
16. Realise there was another entrance and see what is by the door.
17. Get attracted by the word bookshop, and realise it is one of my mum's favourite authors.
18. Go to leave but get distracted by more books. In this case, a great title.
19. Finally leave but spend all day telling your boyfriend which books you'd found that you want to go back and buy.
The last step is the most important. Seven days later my mind still can't stop thinking about the poetry re-tellings of fairy-tales.
So, what did I learn?
I am way more attracted and influenced by covers than I thought. It is the first thing you know about the book (when ignoring the books you already know about, anyway). Some I did not pick up for long because the blurb didn't intrigue me but I found most covers I liked had a great description as well.
What sparks you to pick up a book?
Happy Reading :)