Quite often, I do judge a book by its cover. I usually buy books in a shop and I'm normally drawn by a front cover or a title. I might have a look at the reviews on the back page and I'll read a random page or two. Finally, is it on special offer? Buy one get one free is always going to help.
The book I have just started is a rarity. It's actually one I got from a recommendation on TV. So if I don't like it, I'm blaming Stephen Mangan.
I have a number of books out of curiosity, either because they’ve been around a long time or got really really popular and the subject matter didn’t put me off. If I like one book by an author I’ll automatically check out their other ones so I have lots of books by a single author. But that random book? The art of the cover, the title, the blurb, and about a quarter of an hour carrying it around the shop while the back of my mind chews it over. At that point I don’t really know why some come home and others get put back. 🤷♀
I was pleasantly surprised when i judged a book by its cover. The list of suspicious things Had a crow on the front..and was drawn in Bought it, read it, cried lol was a top book based around yorkshire when jack the ripper was in the height of murdering
The only book I remember buying by it's cover was A Fan's Notes, by Frederick Exley. It was a Friday afternoon in about 1970, I was in college, and I wanted something trashy and fun to read over the weekend, like a murder mystery. It wasn't trashy or fun, it was about a schizophrenic football fan and I couldn't have cared less about football. It had won the William Faulkner Award for best first novel in 1968, so it was serious literature. I just liked the the cover! An incredible novel/memoir!
I buy a book by it's cover as well. Trashy novels usually have a distinctive cover. I usually look for an interesting title or cover as well if I'm not looking for a specific author.
