What movtivates us to buy a book? And what kinds of books are we falling for?
Hello! I don’t know about you, but every time I turned on my computer this week, I saw something about a post on Substack that went viral titled, “No One Buys Books.” It currently has 1044 likes and 292 restacks (the Substack Notes equivalent of the retweet). Those are incredible numbers for Substack. I’ve seen people praising this post and despairing over it—you love it or hate it, depending on how you feel about the publishing industry, I suppose. And there have been rebuttals by people like Jane Friedman and Kathleen Schmidt and lots of love for a piece explaining “Yes, People Do Buy Books.”
I’m not going to weigh in on the kerfuffle. What I’m wondering is, why and how do we buy books (particularly those by and about women)? What makes us fall in love with a book enough to commit with our hard-earned cash? What matters to us when buying a book? Consider the books you have purchased recently. What kinds of books are you buying? What tips you over from interest into commitment? And do you find yourself considering the gender of the author? Does that matter to you?
What a great discussion to come to a few days after the start, so I get to read so many different answers. I've tended to buy books mostly to reread and mark them up. The very new titles I tend to borrow (or get as exam copies if they relate to a class). If I like them enough to reread them, I'll buy them. I don't think about gender when I buy books for myself but about the likelihood of frequent reference.
Children's and YA books need a separate paragraph. Most of my new, full-price book purchases have been in this category, which helps me understand why it has always been important to publishers. Gender is important in this category. I make sure a book represents females well before I buy it. Often, these books are by women. I also try to support woman-owned, small, and regional presses that publish children's and YA books. My #1 criterion for purchase is that I think a young person will love the book and want to reread it.
Such an interesting question, and such wonderful responses so far.
It's made me realize that the last two books I bought in hard copy were actually finds via Substack: Emma Darwin's This is Not a Book About Charles Darwin and Samatha Clark's The Clearing. (Both of these writers have substacks here.)
Both are excellent books, and very different from each other: Emma Darwin's an account of the Darwin family and of the writing process, and overall a really enjoyable book about writing; Samantha Clark's an exceptionally beautiful meditation on the sorrow of having parents who need more help than one can give. Two of my neighbors, neither of whom usually reads in English, have already asked to borrow The Clearing.
The other books that I've read or been reading in hard copy lately are by Scandinavian writers, whether in English or Swedish -- just now it's a 2015 novel called A Change in Time, by the Danish writer Ida Jessen. I must be reading them in hard copy because that's how I encountered them, in physical bookstores.
Partly that's guided by what's available for free via Kindle Unlimited. Just reread Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle, precisely because of an exchange here on your Substack, that way. (Talk about Art Monsters! I had forgotten how much of it centers on one of those.) Also an enjoyable late novel by Elisabeth Cadell. And then purchased electronically any number of lightweight, well-written feel-good novels that are old enough to be quite cheap as ebooks.
But as for what makes me buy a book at all? Honestly, just that I want to read it now, or think that I'll likely want to read it sometime within the next 10 years. The Ida Jessen book has been on the shelf here for at least 2 or 3 years without my even noticing it, and now it's the perfect novel for this week.
Aside from the cover, the writer’s style is the first thing I look at. I like poetry with its own conversational voice (just finished ‘Modern Poetry’ by Diane Seuss), and funny or surreal gothic novels, e.g. the next books on my reading pile are ‘Cursed Bread’ by Sophie MacIntosh and ‘Children of Paradise’ by Camilla Grudova. In both cases I had read other pieces by the authors - Camilla Grudova’s substack is really characterful and fun to read and led me to her fiction. I also like a good story about love or friendship or contemporary life, and anything funny and frank. Fern Brady’s memoir is the book I’ve read fastest so far this year, in one day flat, and I knew her through her work in comedy. So while I sometimes find books by browsing, I often buy a book because I’ve liked something else by the author. Alternatively, the title/cover makes me open it and a striking truth or turn of phrase makes me commit to it. I look for truth in writing. Probably 70% of what I read at the moment is by women, to the extent that I sometimes think I should seek out more contemporary books by men, but my university degree was so male-dominated that it mostly just feels like redressing the balance.
This is such a fascinating question for me. As far as I can remember, I've always loved books, reading them, of course, but also having them as an object that I could touch and hold on to. My parents weren't readers nor was anyone in my family, but since a young age I was given books as a gift and for me they've been an essential part of my life ever since. I've lived in several countries and my suitcases always came back heavier as a result of the books I couldn't resist to buy. Truth be told, anything is of interest and I'm glad to be able to read in four languages as that's quadruple joy :) Currently I shop mostly at second-hand bookshops in my area in London, where I've found some great gems, whether in the poetry, fiction, history or science category. Nothing is off limits, which is a gift and a curse. In fact, perhaps for me the question is not why I buy books, but why shouldn't I? Limited space and time to read are eventually the two reasons that lead me to put a book down with a heavy heart and a big sigh as I stroke its spine in a dramatic "goodbye, my love, I'll never forget you" kind of way.
I, too, saw the edges of the kerfuffle and left it at the edges.
Instinctively I’m on the side of using my cash to buy books because I love the feel of them, the look of them, the fonts the paper, the capacity to make notes in them, to hold them while their authors take me into other world. The magic of knowing that whole lives are contained within a closed book, just there for me to become part of when I open it and read its pages, has never left me since reading The Horse and His Boy aged about seven.
Which is one reason I made a pact with myself not to pay to subscribe to any Stack here unless I too set up an option to pay. I get absolutely that I will miss out reading some cool work…but, I post my story The Tarnished Gloriole for free - in weekly instalments…have a look…if you like it, please subscribe and please comment. I say this all the time, everywhere, as here we are each our own publicists and book tour organisers so I figure there is no point in worrying about what may seem self promotional chutzpah, but really isn’t: as a writer I care about my work and would like it to be read, don’t we all?
So…what do books need to do to make me part with my cash (I’m good with money…)? Above all I seek an author I want to read (so I was very happy to pay for Shirley Hazzard’s The Transit of Venus, as one stunningly brilliant example), books by writers I already admire…so Hanya Yanagihara’s To Paradise, for example, was a must buy after A Little Life. I could name and name and name.
Sometimes a recommendation or a review from a trusted newspaper (although I might use the library for that…I believe strongly in doing all one can to keep public libraries vibrant).
I’m quite into charity shops for certain writers…so, for example, I’ve built up a lot of Wharton that way. And, charity shops have led me into some marvellous finds, for example a signed How It All Began by Penelope Lively. And also offer up intriguing glimpses into past owners’ lived that I will never know any more about, for example in my copy of Edmund White’s The Burning Library a previous owner has written ‘Bought with tokens given to me on my 22nd birthday by Dominic, Louise and Matthew December 2000’: I have no idea who the owner was, nor who Dominic, Louise and Matthew were…but, somehow, as I read White’s writings on queer art, politics, and identity they are all sort of there on the very periphery of my reading. Interestingly, in the context of your piece, White’s title is derived from the saying that when someone dies, a library burns. Surely it is better for us all, readers and writers, to believe and ensure books will continue to be published, to form part of people’s libraries, and while some may indeed burn, others will live on giving thought and interest and joy to readers through time.
Sometimes, a beautiful cover may attract me…I’ll have a look, see what the voice is telling me (like other replies here…voice is fundamental) and I may take a punt. Often, my gut instinct has been rewarded.
I’m cool re genre flexibility…I guess more than cool: I think reading across is incredibly useful as a reader and as a writer, so I wouldn’t be hidebound re only buying a certain genre.
To learn something and write in the columns, underline, and re-read... very hard to do on a library app. Sometimes I go back and reread them to see how I've grown and how my perspective has changed.
To escape in a wonderful story, and then I give the "wonder" away, lovingly passing it on to a friend or my mom (usually mom is giving me the lovely stories, let's be real here).
I buy books because I like the cover, I like the author, it's a subject that interests me, it's part of a series I'm hooked on, it's going to teach me something, it's about history, it's about murder, it's biography, I think it should've won a prize but it didn't, it's a cosy crime, it's 'Golden Age' crime, it's by a mid 20th century female author, it's about books or libraries, it's about writing or reading, it's recommended by someone I know shares my tastes, if it's a new take on an old story..
I don't buy them if it looks like 'chick-lit', if it's written by a celebrity that I've usually never heard of or never engaged with on any other media, if it's hyped beyond hype, if it's by someone I read once before and thought it was crap, if it's a 'bandwagon' book (so many)...
No end of reasons really for buying or not buying, some rational some less so. I don't read on screens, but I will listen to audio. I like to own books, to look at them and choose something to reread that I know will be perfect. I keep books I really enjoy. OK but not great get passed on or go to the charity shop. I NEVER put a book in the bin. If I am loving a book, I turn down corners, left or right, to mark place. I don't write in them but I have a book journal starting each January where I write summary and give stars. I read about ten books a month. I binge buy when I visit favourite bookstores/websites. In the UK Little Toller, Persephone, our local independent. I haunt charity shops for old Virago Modern Classics and always snap them up, no matter what they are - I know they'll probably be my kind of book.
I've been thinking about this question since you posted it. I buy books for myself that I can't wait to read when it comes to new releases. FOMO on the public library's waiting list. Word of mouth recommendations matter most to me. When several people suggest the same book to me I buy it. I buy two or three books a week, new and used. And I don't keep them anymore. I pass them on. To friends, family, and my neighborhood Little Free Library (and to a friend in a nearby community at her LFL). I buy books as gifts. (Everyone knows what they are getting for Xmas except the title and author.) I buy books because I want to hold it in my hands when I read. I buy books because I like to write in them and mark my reading spot by folding over the top right corner of the page which I learned at my first visit to the public library was not allowed. I read book reviews but ignore customer satisfaction ratings on Amazon/Goodreads. I am more likely to buy a book of an author whose work I have previously read. Books are bibliotherapy; and therapy worth paying for.
I love to buy books, but space and budget limitations also get me to borrow many from the library. I'll buy if it's something I am hopeful that I'll enjoy enough to want to loan to friends or reread. I'm fortunate to receive many advanced review copies of both fiction and NF for the reviews I write for the Jewish Journal, so my bookshelves still runneth over. I'm a fan of historical non-fiction, literary fiction, short stories, and NF about current events. I am leaning heavily toward Jewish authors and themes (regardless of gender), not only for professional reasons but because many Jewish authors (not even Israeli) are being cancelled, review-bombed, etc. due to the current hysterical antisemitism running rampant. In solidarity and support I am reading and recommending as many of these authors as possible.
And I am fortunate enough to have some of your castoffs from New Orleans now on my book shelf. I'm keeping them to read and also in escrow should you want them back at some point! Ha.
So many great points here. I too look at the quality of the writing, and like you I’m often disappointed. I love historical fiction as well, but I find that a lot of it is written in a style that doesn’t appeal to me. I’ve been trying to name it. I think it has something to do with something Courtney Maum write a while back about a narrator being too explicit, explaining everything to the reader, which you see more in genre fiction. I’ll dig it up and share it. I’d be curious to hear your thoughts on how popular historical fiction is written.
I have so many books on my shelves waiting for me to read that during COVID, I declared a hiatus on buying any more unless I absolutely can't find my desired one at my library or through ILL. Oh, the money I save! When I buy, it's usually for one of four book clubs I attend, especially for the one at the New Orleans Museum of Art. The library doesn't carry as many art books as I'd like.
I used to run across a review of a book, think I'd like to read it, order it, and by the time it came, I had forgotten why I ordered it. Now I keep a list of want-to-reads and go there when I'm ready for the next one. Especially with novels.
I absolutely look for women authors and books about women before any others. I read both fiction and nonfiction and appreciate them equally. I like to hold a book in my hand. I read on my phone or using the library's audio ICloud only if the book is not available.
While on my way to the grocery store this morning I was listening to Weekend Edition on NPR. Ruth Reichl was interviewed about her forthcoming book The Paris Novel. I was captivated by the discussion. The book is fiction, a departure from Reichl's usual food and memoir writing. The female protagonist takes an unexpected trip to Paris, where her world and life expand exponentially. It sounds like there is still plenty of Reichl's signature food writing in it. Because, as she says, "Food is a way of coming into the world." There is even a discovery of an unknown female artist, Victorine Meurent, who was known as Manet's model, but was a talented artist in her own right. She was also a professional cancan dancer! I think the book is due to launch sometime this coming week. I will definitely be reading it!
I've read the article, and it made me sad. I try not to think about it. Personally, I have a thing about buying books. I must. I selfishly want what I read to be mine and to hang on to it forever. When my husband and I retired and downsized houses, I gave 750 out of about 3,000 books to Goodwill. Never again. I miss those titles. Every once in awhile I want to peruse a certain book again to see how an author handled a plot point, to revisit a character, or see how the author described a setting. I rarely read an entire book again, but this peering back satifies a curiosity and, oftentimes, a point of learning about the craft of writing. Like Rona in the post prior to this, I am running out of room. But now I keep my overflow in plastic crates in a rented storage space beliving (perhaps foolishly) that I will move to a house one day that has enough room for books like my previous house did.
I buy historical fiction, because that's what I like to read, biofiction, in particular. I have my favorite authors. All of them happen to be women, but gender doesn't matter to me. As of late I am buying and reading the books of author friends whom I've met, in part to support them, but also to expand who and what I read. It gets me beyond the big names publishing houses push on readers. Am I mean to say lesser known authors' writing is as good as, sometimes better, than the same names that get all the publishing attention?
Which leads me to my big gripe about publishing. A small number of well-known people get published again and again because they are a sure bet for a publisher. Which Elle Griffin reminded us of in her article that you reference at the start of this discussion. I have another gripe as well. What I find when I peruse the standard bookshelf in a bookstore is a lot of substandard writing. I'm amazed sometimes at what the Big Five are publishing. Perhaps that's why 96% of titles sell less than 1,000 copies.
What I find most interesting about people's personal preferences is how a single title can seem evenly split between loving and hating it. I don't think an author can win. I'm in a half dozen or so book groups on Facebook with thousands of readers, and the difference in opinions is staggering. For example, The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (which won the Pulitzer) and A Gentleman in Moscow, two books I absolutely loved, are books that people either love or hate.
But to the question of what tips me from interest to commitment is the quality of writing, the voice and tone of the piece, and the topic. I'm not an eclectic reader. I only have so much time to dedicate to reading, so I am pretty selective. For me, the topic typcially has to be historical, set in a place and time that interests me.
I read this article and can only say that as someone trying to sell my novels, I found it very depressing. I fear my small independent publisher will kick me off his list because I don't sell enough books. I'm a terrible marketer.
The independents are all struggling and nowhere does the quality of the writing seem to matter in the publishing world. That said, I'm reading a lot of the books my publisher is putting out and some that my book club is reading. Beyond that, I've been returning to the classics. Gender doesn't matter to me. I just want a good book. The last one I bought is called Honey by Victor Lodato. He's a wonderful writer. I haven't started it yet but the POV is an 80 year old woman.
"And do you find yourself considering the gender of the author?" No. And in fiction I am always looking for voice. Emily Henry and Liane Moriarty and the rest all sound the same. There's nothing distinctive, it's like reading the newspaper.
I check out the big new releases, always looking for voice-driven fiction. Without tricks. Screwball punctuation does not make a writer different. Attitude does. I'd be very open to suggestions.
I am running out of space for books and must be extremely selective. I will sometimes buy a book because the library’s copy thwarted my urge to write in it. Other times book lust comes over me, especially if the cover illustration strikes the chord of longing. Only an illustration has this effect, and the book doesn’t always deliver. The last book I had to possess, after reading about it on Substack and being seduced by the illustrated cover, was THE ORANGE by the (mostly) comic English poet Wendy Cope. My bookseller ordered it for me, a much smaller and lighter book than I’d been expecting. Yet the size of this tart, juicy and beautiful book is part of its appeal. It lifted my spirits without any bromides. Every insight and feeling it delivered was as real as an orange in season.
Gender matters. Women's art differ from men's in content and structures. There are also preferences depending on the writer's imagined audience. I like subjective and realistic narrative. I admit the covers and titles matter (though I know publishers and editors have a final say there). Like others I follow threads of my projects so now I'm exploring Dorothy Sayers as I study the woman detective and writer of detectve and/or spy stories. I like fine writing. Book are my friends so I seek a congenial spirit. I love to own beautifully made books. Have I said enough?
My thoughts are much like Anna Troburg’s. I tend to buy when the topic is relevant to a current project. For example, last year I quickly bought a copy of the new biography of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, because of the connection of genre and subject to my work. I have also bought craft books on writing, which I want at hand. For fiction I often rely on library copies.
I find this very interesting. I think nostalgia and recommendations are key for me. If I like an author's books, I will always buy the new one. If a friend recommends a book, I will get it. With that said, I think there is a third thing at play here. Some years ago, I realised there was a lot of books (and films, music, etc) that I just skipped without even considering them. I never gave them a chance. The reasons for this were - when examined a bit closer - just bias and stubbornness. I had to be shocked out of that one. Then I asked around, and realised that my friends did the same. I just wrote about this over on my stack. Here's a little snippet. I hope you don't mind. :-)
"When I came home, I asked friends what books, films, or music they habitually avoided like the plague. Then I asked them why. Every time, it went something like this:
Friend: “I really can’t stand anything by Madonna.”
Me: “Why?”
Friend: “Stacy liked her.”
Me: “Who the hell is Stacy?”
Friend: “A mean girl who joined my class when we were nine.”
I’m not saying that everyone must love or even recognise the cultural importance of Madonna. We all resonate with different things. It just doesn’t make sense to me that the word of a mean nine-year-old thirty years ago should impact your view on Madonna’s work more than the actual work The Queen of Pop has produced over the last three decades. She’s been a very busy bee, you know. If you peel off your bias, surely there must be something you like, even just a little, even if heavy metal or jazz fusion is normally your jam, right? And, even if there isn’t, why is Stacy still running your life? Be your own boss over whatever tickles your cultural fancy. Fire Stacy, already!"
I must confess that I usually invest in books by women, although I have bought a couple of Julian Barnes’s books in recent months. Lately I have bought books by Muriel Spark, Simone de Beauvoir, Melissa Febos, and Evie Wyld. These were books I couldn’t get through Everand (formerly Scribd) or Libby, which I usually check first. These felt like important books I want to sit with for a while and absorb, not just dabble in. I wanted to be able to make notes and highlight passages. I suppose I commit to buying a book that I want to have a more intimate relationship with. It feels like a friend I’d like to have, not just a passing acquaintance. But why these? I felt they had something to teach me about how women experience the world, and how I might be experiencing it but not aware of. Or they simply might be telling a story I wanted to sink into and were set in a place and time that intrigued me.
What a great discussion to come to a few days after the start, so I get to read so many different answers. I've tended to buy books mostly to reread and mark them up. The very new titles I tend to borrow (or get as exam copies if they relate to a class). If I like them enough to reread them, I'll buy them. I don't think about gender when I buy books for myself but about the likelihood of frequent reference.
Children's and YA books need a separate paragraph. Most of my new, full-price book purchases have been in this category, which helps me understand why it has always been important to publishers. Gender is important in this category. I make sure a book represents females well before I buy it. Often, these books are by women. I also try to support woman-owned, small, and regional presses that publish children's and YA books. My #1 criterion for purchase is that I think a young person will love the book and want to reread it.
I love all of these recommendations! Recently discovered Emma Darwin and her newsletter. I’ll have to check out her book.
Such an interesting question, and such wonderful responses so far.
It's made me realize that the last two books I bought in hard copy were actually finds via Substack: Emma Darwin's This is Not a Book About Charles Darwin and Samatha Clark's The Clearing. (Both of these writers have substacks here.)
Both are excellent books, and very different from each other: Emma Darwin's an account of the Darwin family and of the writing process, and overall a really enjoyable book about writing; Samantha Clark's an exceptionally beautiful meditation on the sorrow of having parents who need more help than one can give. Two of my neighbors, neither of whom usually reads in English, have already asked to borrow The Clearing.
The other books that I've read or been reading in hard copy lately are by Scandinavian writers, whether in English or Swedish -- just now it's a 2015 novel called A Change in Time, by the Danish writer Ida Jessen. I must be reading them in hard copy because that's how I encountered them, in physical bookstores.
Almost everything else lately has been in electronic form. A while back I wrote a little about the choice to read/buy a book in hard copy vs as an ebook (here, if it's ok to stick in a link: https://open.substack.com/pub/notesfromlinnesby/p/time-shelter-by-geordi-gospodinov?r=2u2cxe&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web).
Partly that's guided by what's available for free via Kindle Unlimited. Just reread Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle, precisely because of an exchange here on your Substack, that way. (Talk about Art Monsters! I had forgotten how much of it centers on one of those.) Also an enjoyable late novel by Elisabeth Cadell. And then purchased electronically any number of lightweight, well-written feel-good novels that are old enough to be quite cheap as ebooks.
But as for what makes me buy a book at all? Honestly, just that I want to read it now, or think that I'll likely want to read it sometime within the next 10 years. The Ida Jessen book has been on the shelf here for at least 2 or 3 years without my even noticing it, and now it's the perfect novel for this week.
I usually take my time before committing to a purchase.
First, I head over to the essay or artistic sections, which account for about 90% of my browsing time.
Second, the cover is a make-or-break factor for me. It needs to be curated to resemble a visually appealing book and decor object.
Third, I like to read the first few pages to gauge if I'm vibing with the content.
If I find that I can't put the book down once I've picked it up, that's a good sign.
If I keep thinking about it consistently until the next day, that's another good sign.
If not, I'll usually head to the library or venture into Perlego (I'm loving this platform) to read it.
Aside from the cover, the writer’s style is the first thing I look at. I like poetry with its own conversational voice (just finished ‘Modern Poetry’ by Diane Seuss), and funny or surreal gothic novels, e.g. the next books on my reading pile are ‘Cursed Bread’ by Sophie MacIntosh and ‘Children of Paradise’ by Camilla Grudova. In both cases I had read other pieces by the authors - Camilla Grudova’s substack is really characterful and fun to read and led me to her fiction. I also like a good story about love or friendship or contemporary life, and anything funny and frank. Fern Brady’s memoir is the book I’ve read fastest so far this year, in one day flat, and I knew her through her work in comedy. So while I sometimes find books by browsing, I often buy a book because I’ve liked something else by the author. Alternatively, the title/cover makes me open it and a striking truth or turn of phrase makes me commit to it. I look for truth in writing. Probably 70% of what I read at the moment is by women, to the extent that I sometimes think I should seek out more contemporary books by men, but my university degree was so male-dominated that it mostly just feels like redressing the balance.
This is such a fascinating question for me. As far as I can remember, I've always loved books, reading them, of course, but also having them as an object that I could touch and hold on to. My parents weren't readers nor was anyone in my family, but since a young age I was given books as a gift and for me they've been an essential part of my life ever since. I've lived in several countries and my suitcases always came back heavier as a result of the books I couldn't resist to buy. Truth be told, anything is of interest and I'm glad to be able to read in four languages as that's quadruple joy :) Currently I shop mostly at second-hand bookshops in my area in London, where I've found some great gems, whether in the poetry, fiction, history or science category. Nothing is off limits, which is a gift and a curse. In fact, perhaps for me the question is not why I buy books, but why shouldn't I? Limited space and time to read are eventually the two reasons that lead me to put a book down with a heavy heart and a big sigh as I stroke its spine in a dramatic "goodbye, my love, I'll never forget you" kind of way.
I, too, saw the edges of the kerfuffle and left it at the edges.
Instinctively I’m on the side of using my cash to buy books because I love the feel of them, the look of them, the fonts the paper, the capacity to make notes in them, to hold them while their authors take me into other world. The magic of knowing that whole lives are contained within a closed book, just there for me to become part of when I open it and read its pages, has never left me since reading The Horse and His Boy aged about seven.
Which is one reason I made a pact with myself not to pay to subscribe to any Stack here unless I too set up an option to pay. I get absolutely that I will miss out reading some cool work…but, I post my story The Tarnished Gloriole for free - in weekly instalments…have a look…if you like it, please subscribe and please comment. I say this all the time, everywhere, as here we are each our own publicists and book tour organisers so I figure there is no point in worrying about what may seem self promotional chutzpah, but really isn’t: as a writer I care about my work and would like it to be read, don’t we all?
So…what do books need to do to make me part with my cash (I’m good with money…)? Above all I seek an author I want to read (so I was very happy to pay for Shirley Hazzard’s The Transit of Venus, as one stunningly brilliant example), books by writers I already admire…so Hanya Yanagihara’s To Paradise, for example, was a must buy after A Little Life. I could name and name and name.
Sometimes a recommendation or a review from a trusted newspaper (although I might use the library for that…I believe strongly in doing all one can to keep public libraries vibrant).
I’m quite into charity shops for certain writers…so, for example, I’ve built up a lot of Wharton that way. And, charity shops have led me into some marvellous finds, for example a signed How It All Began by Penelope Lively. And also offer up intriguing glimpses into past owners’ lived that I will never know any more about, for example in my copy of Edmund White’s The Burning Library a previous owner has written ‘Bought with tokens given to me on my 22nd birthday by Dominic, Louise and Matthew December 2000’: I have no idea who the owner was, nor who Dominic, Louise and Matthew were…but, somehow, as I read White’s writings on queer art, politics, and identity they are all sort of there on the very periphery of my reading. Interestingly, in the context of your piece, White’s title is derived from the saying that when someone dies, a library burns. Surely it is better for us all, readers and writers, to believe and ensure books will continue to be published, to form part of people’s libraries, and while some may indeed burn, others will live on giving thought and interest and joy to readers through time.
Sometimes, a beautiful cover may attract me…I’ll have a look, see what the voice is telling me (like other replies here…voice is fundamental) and I may take a punt. Often, my gut instinct has been rewarded.
I’m cool re genre flexibility…I guess more than cool: I think reading across is incredibly useful as a reader and as a writer, so I wouldn’t be hidebound re only buying a certain genre.
I buy physical books for different reasons:
To learn something and write in the columns, underline, and re-read... very hard to do on a library app. Sometimes I go back and reread them to see how I've grown and how my perspective has changed.
To escape in a wonderful story, and then I give the "wonder" away, lovingly passing it on to a friend or my mom (usually mom is giving me the lovely stories, let's be real here).
I buy books because I like the cover, I like the author, it's a subject that interests me, it's part of a series I'm hooked on, it's going to teach me something, it's about history, it's about murder, it's biography, I think it should've won a prize but it didn't, it's a cosy crime, it's 'Golden Age' crime, it's by a mid 20th century female author, it's about books or libraries, it's about writing or reading, it's recommended by someone I know shares my tastes, if it's a new take on an old story..
I don't buy them if it looks like 'chick-lit', if it's written by a celebrity that I've usually never heard of or never engaged with on any other media, if it's hyped beyond hype, if it's by someone I read once before and thought it was crap, if it's a 'bandwagon' book (so many)...
No end of reasons really for buying or not buying, some rational some less so. I don't read on screens, but I will listen to audio. I like to own books, to look at them and choose something to reread that I know will be perfect. I keep books I really enjoy. OK but not great get passed on or go to the charity shop. I NEVER put a book in the bin. If I am loving a book, I turn down corners, left or right, to mark place. I don't write in them but I have a book journal starting each January where I write summary and give stars. I read about ten books a month. I binge buy when I visit favourite bookstores/websites. In the UK Little Toller, Persephone, our local independent. I haunt charity shops for old Virago Modern Classics and always snap them up, no matter what they are - I know they'll probably be my kind of book.
I've been thinking about this question since you posted it. I buy books for myself that I can't wait to read when it comes to new releases. FOMO on the public library's waiting list. Word of mouth recommendations matter most to me. When several people suggest the same book to me I buy it. I buy two or three books a week, new and used. And I don't keep them anymore. I pass them on. To friends, family, and my neighborhood Little Free Library (and to a friend in a nearby community at her LFL). I buy books as gifts. (Everyone knows what they are getting for Xmas except the title and author.) I buy books because I want to hold it in my hands when I read. I buy books because I like to write in them and mark my reading spot by folding over the top right corner of the page which I learned at my first visit to the public library was not allowed. I read book reviews but ignore customer satisfaction ratings on Amazon/Goodreads. I am more likely to buy a book of an author whose work I have previously read. Books are bibliotherapy; and therapy worth paying for.
Hi Judy! So great to see you in the comments. Thank you for sharing what motivates your book buying and recommending right now.
I love to buy books, but space and budget limitations also get me to borrow many from the library. I'll buy if it's something I am hopeful that I'll enjoy enough to want to loan to friends or reread. I'm fortunate to receive many advanced review copies of both fiction and NF for the reviews I write for the Jewish Journal, so my bookshelves still runneth over. I'm a fan of historical non-fiction, literary fiction, short stories, and NF about current events. I am leaning heavily toward Jewish authors and themes (regardless of gender), not only for professional reasons but because many Jewish authors (not even Israeli) are being cancelled, review-bombed, etc. due to the current hysterical antisemitism running rampant. In solidarity and support I am reading and recommending as many of these authors as possible.
And I am fortunate enough to have some of your castoffs from New Orleans now on my book shelf. I'm keeping them to read and also in escrow should you want them back at some point! Ha.
So many great points here. I too look at the quality of the writing, and like you I’m often disappointed. I love historical fiction as well, but I find that a lot of it is written in a style that doesn’t appeal to me. I’ve been trying to name it. I think it has something to do with something Courtney Maum write a while back about a narrator being too explicit, explaining everything to the reader, which you see more in genre fiction. I’ll dig it up and share it. I’d be curious to hear your thoughts on how popular historical fiction is written.
Oh my, yes! This sounds like an amazing read!
I have so many books on my shelves waiting for me to read that during COVID, I declared a hiatus on buying any more unless I absolutely can't find my desired one at my library or through ILL. Oh, the money I save! When I buy, it's usually for one of four book clubs I attend, especially for the one at the New Orleans Museum of Art. The library doesn't carry as many art books as I'd like.
I used to run across a review of a book, think I'd like to read it, order it, and by the time it came, I had forgotten why I ordered it. Now I keep a list of want-to-reads and go there when I'm ready for the next one. Especially with novels.
I absolutely look for women authors and books about women before any others. I read both fiction and nonfiction and appreciate them equally. I like to hold a book in my hand. I read on my phone or using the library's audio ICloud only if the book is not available.
But, yay for books. Always!
While on my way to the grocery store this morning I was listening to Weekend Edition on NPR. Ruth Reichl was interviewed about her forthcoming book The Paris Novel. I was captivated by the discussion. The book is fiction, a departure from Reichl's usual food and memoir writing. The female protagonist takes an unexpected trip to Paris, where her world and life expand exponentially. It sounds like there is still plenty of Reichl's signature food writing in it. Because, as she says, "Food is a way of coming into the world." There is even a discovery of an unknown female artist, Victorine Meurent, who was known as Manet's model, but was a talented artist in her own right. She was also a professional cancan dancer! I think the book is due to launch sometime this coming week. I will definitely be reading it!
I've read the article, and it made me sad. I try not to think about it. Personally, I have a thing about buying books. I must. I selfishly want what I read to be mine and to hang on to it forever. When my husband and I retired and downsized houses, I gave 750 out of about 3,000 books to Goodwill. Never again. I miss those titles. Every once in awhile I want to peruse a certain book again to see how an author handled a plot point, to revisit a character, or see how the author described a setting. I rarely read an entire book again, but this peering back satifies a curiosity and, oftentimes, a point of learning about the craft of writing. Like Rona in the post prior to this, I am running out of room. But now I keep my overflow in plastic crates in a rented storage space beliving (perhaps foolishly) that I will move to a house one day that has enough room for books like my previous house did.
I buy historical fiction, because that's what I like to read, biofiction, in particular. I have my favorite authors. All of them happen to be women, but gender doesn't matter to me. As of late I am buying and reading the books of author friends whom I've met, in part to support them, but also to expand who and what I read. It gets me beyond the big names publishing houses push on readers. Am I mean to say lesser known authors' writing is as good as, sometimes better, than the same names that get all the publishing attention?
Which leads me to my big gripe about publishing. A small number of well-known people get published again and again because they are a sure bet for a publisher. Which Elle Griffin reminded us of in her article that you reference at the start of this discussion. I have another gripe as well. What I find when I peruse the standard bookshelf in a bookstore is a lot of substandard writing. I'm amazed sometimes at what the Big Five are publishing. Perhaps that's why 96% of titles sell less than 1,000 copies.
What I find most interesting about people's personal preferences is how a single title can seem evenly split between loving and hating it. I don't think an author can win. I'm in a half dozen or so book groups on Facebook with thousands of readers, and the difference in opinions is staggering. For example, The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (which won the Pulitzer) and A Gentleman in Moscow, two books I absolutely loved, are books that people either love or hate.
But to the question of what tips me from interest to commitment is the quality of writing, the voice and tone of the piece, and the topic. I'm not an eclectic reader. I only have so much time to dedicate to reading, so I am pretty selective. For me, the topic typcially has to be historical, set in a place and time that interests me.
I read this article and can only say that as someone trying to sell my novels, I found it very depressing. I fear my small independent publisher will kick me off his list because I don't sell enough books. I'm a terrible marketer.
The independents are all struggling and nowhere does the quality of the writing seem to matter in the publishing world. That said, I'm reading a lot of the books my publisher is putting out and some that my book club is reading. Beyond that, I've been returning to the classics. Gender doesn't matter to me. I just want a good book. The last one I bought is called Honey by Victor Lodato. He's a wonderful writer. I haven't started it yet but the POV is an 80 year old woman.
"And do you find yourself considering the gender of the author?" No. And in fiction I am always looking for voice. Emily Henry and Liane Moriarty and the rest all sound the same. There's nothing distinctive, it's like reading the newspaper.
I check out the big new releases, always looking for voice-driven fiction. Without tricks. Screwball punctuation does not make a writer different. Attitude does. I'd be very open to suggestions.
I am running out of space for books and must be extremely selective. I will sometimes buy a book because the library’s copy thwarted my urge to write in it. Other times book lust comes over me, especially if the cover illustration strikes the chord of longing. Only an illustration has this effect, and the book doesn’t always deliver. The last book I had to possess, after reading about it on Substack and being seduced by the illustrated cover, was THE ORANGE by the (mostly) comic English poet Wendy Cope. My bookseller ordered it for me, a much smaller and lighter book than I’d been expecting. Yet the size of this tart, juicy and beautiful book is part of its appeal. It lifted my spirits without any bromides. Every insight and feeling it delivered was as real as an orange in season.
Gender matters. Women's art differ from men's in content and structures. There are also preferences depending on the writer's imagined audience. I like subjective and realistic narrative. I admit the covers and titles matter (though I know publishers and editors have a final say there). Like others I follow threads of my projects so now I'm exploring Dorothy Sayers as I study the woman detective and writer of detectve and/or spy stories. I like fine writing. Book are my friends so I seek a congenial spirit. I love to own beautifully made books. Have I said enough?
My thoughts are much like Anna Troburg’s. I tend to buy when the topic is relevant to a current project. For example, last year I quickly bought a copy of the new biography of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, because of the connection of genre and subject to my work. I have also bought craft books on writing, which I want at hand. For fiction I often rely on library copies.
I select books by an author I've read or by the topic I want to learn about.
I find this very interesting. I think nostalgia and recommendations are key for me. If I like an author's books, I will always buy the new one. If a friend recommends a book, I will get it. With that said, I think there is a third thing at play here. Some years ago, I realised there was a lot of books (and films, music, etc) that I just skipped without even considering them. I never gave them a chance. The reasons for this were - when examined a bit closer - just bias and stubbornness. I had to be shocked out of that one. Then I asked around, and realised that my friends did the same. I just wrote about this over on my stack. Here's a little snippet. I hope you don't mind. :-)
"When I came home, I asked friends what books, films, or music they habitually avoided like the plague. Then I asked them why. Every time, it went something like this:
Friend: “I really can’t stand anything by Madonna.”
Me: “Why?”
Friend: “Stacy liked her.”
Me: “Who the hell is Stacy?”
Friend: “A mean girl who joined my class when we were nine.”
I’m not saying that everyone must love or even recognise the cultural importance of Madonna. We all resonate with different things. It just doesn’t make sense to me that the word of a mean nine-year-old thirty years ago should impact your view on Madonna’s work more than the actual work The Queen of Pop has produced over the last three decades. She’s been a very busy bee, you know. If you peel off your bias, surely there must be something you like, even just a little, even if heavy metal or jazz fusion is normally your jam, right? And, even if there isn’t, why is Stacy still running your life? Be your own boss over whatever tickles your cultural fancy. Fire Stacy, already!"
The rest is here: https://www.culturaltendencies.com/p/elizabeth-gilbert-smashed-my-window
I must confess that I usually invest in books by women, although I have bought a couple of Julian Barnes’s books in recent months. Lately I have bought books by Muriel Spark, Simone de Beauvoir, Melissa Febos, and Evie Wyld. These were books I couldn’t get through Everand (formerly Scribd) or Libby, which I usually check first. These felt like important books I want to sit with for a while and absorb, not just dabble in. I wanted to be able to make notes and highlight passages. I suppose I commit to buying a book that I want to have a more intimate relationship with. It feels like a friend I’d like to have, not just a passing acquaintance. But why these? I felt they had something to teach me about how women experience the world, and how I might be experiencing it but not aware of. Or they simply might be telling a story I wanted to sink into and were set in a place and time that intrigued me.