What Makes Me Pick Up A Book: Let’s Talk Bookish

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books and Dani @ Literary Lion where we discuss certain topics based on prompts allocated for each Friday of the week. You basically share your opinions and get into the conversation by visiting each other’s posts. You can find the April schedule here or here.

Today’s Let’s Talk Bookish topic is What makes you pick up a book, which was suggested by Rafaela @ The Portuguese Bibliophile.

I haven’t really gone book shopping in a loooong time. I’ve been in a self-imposed book buying ban since last year because my physical TBR is at an overwhelming 100 plus books! But I have been window-shopping at bookstores whenever I walk by and I’ll walk out every time with a aching heart. Dramatic, much? HA HA!

Without any further ado, let’s get on with today’s Let’s Talk Bookish topic!

WHAT MAKES YOU PICK UP CERTAIN BOOKS? IS A PRETTY COVER ENOUGH? DO YOU CHECK FOR GOOD REVIEWS? IS THE SYNOPSIS IMPORTANT? DO YOU LOOKS FOR ANY CHECKBOXES?

Since a couple of years back, I have had a good system for my book buying criteria. I could literally write down step-by-step the process I follow each time I come across a new book.

My brain when adding books to my Goodreads TBR:

1. Read a fellow blogger’s review or spotlight on why they loved it or are excited about it.
2. Check Goodreads for star ratings.
3. Chuck anything that is rated less than 4 stars.

My brain when I buy a book:

1. Is it an autobuy author? (AKA the single most important question in this whole process!!!)
2. What’s the genre/synopsis? (Romance? Fantasy? Stabby heroines?)
3. What’s their Goodreads rating? (Anything above 4 stars, please!)
4. Is it a series or a standalone? (Got to plan ahead and buy the series before I start reading, right?)
5. Is this the cover I want? (Um, hellooo, covers are a still important!)

And BAM! My home library just expanded! HA HA!

Okay, so buying books based on Goodreads rating can be a controversial topic based on who you’re talking to, so let me explain my view on this. Buying a book that is rated above 4 stars means:

• Higher chance of loving the story
• Higher chance of not regretting buying it
• Probably a book hangover
• Honestly, I have no space for the books I don’t end up liking and I’m not a fan of giving away books I’ve bought, so I just need assurance, okay?

My ARC selecting process is a bit different though. The stuff that catches my eye when I’m on NetGalley are:

1. How pretty the book cover is
2. The synopsis
3. If it’s got reviews on Goodreads yet (But this doesn’t really dictate much since I like to give all ARCs that catch my eye a chance)

Is this weird? Honestly I haven’t heard anyone get this detailed about their book buying process, so I’m pretty excited to shar this and read everyone else’s posts on this topic!

DO YOU LOOKS FOR DIVERSITY OR #OWNVOICES?

I didn’t really understand diversity until I started book blogging on a more serious note. I didn’t really care about whether I was reading about diverse characters when I was younger, so I ended up reading mostly about white main characters. The book community introduced me to the idea of diversity and I guess I grew up and realised its importance?

This feels weird when I say it out aloud especially since I identify as a Sri Lankan, my skin is brown, I’ve lived in my country for the majority of my life, and all my friends are Sri Lankan, Malaysian, Indian or whatever. In retrospect, I guess I was familiar with being “not-white” and I was super curious about Western life. And that translated as “white people” in my childhood brain?

Also, note that I am not intending to offend anyone but this me looking back at my childhood self and my immature thoughts then.

Now #ownvoices is something I learnt properly for the first time I think last month. I thought it was “oh, another term for diversity” and I left it at that. But seeing everyone label books as #ownvoices on their blog posts got me reading article after article on the topic. And I finally understood!

After that revelation, #ownvoices books always get priority in my books since I see it such an authentic way to learn about other cultures and understand. There’s just something extra special about an #ownvoices book, in my opinion.

DO YOU HAVE AUTOBUY AUTHORS?

At this point, who doesn’t? Lemme break it down for you: here are my top 5 autobuy authors AKA I will stop at nothing to buy more of their books!

• Jennifer L. Armentrout
• Sarah J. Maas
• Stephen King
• Jennifer Gruenke
• Christina Lauren

What’s the last book you bought? Why did you buy it? Also, feel free to leave your Let’s Talk Bookish links below! I would love to read them!

My previous Let’s Talk Bookish posts:

• April 2: Putting off books you actually want to read
• March 12: Why I don’t run a BookTube