What Makes Me Pick Up a Book? – Blogtober

There are a ton of reasons to instantly pick up a book or things that attract you to one over another. It might be broad things like genre or particular authors but there are also little things that are ridiculously specific and niche! I think we all have these instant attractions to a certain type of book and I thought I’d go through some of mine in this post.

So, here’s a little list of my top few reasons for picking up a book – be that to buy it or just to read it from a library/off my own shelves.

Favourite authors
I mean…this is an obvious one! It’s also one I think everybody does. We all have those instant pick up authors. As soon as they’ve written a book, we are right there in the shop/library/online ready to grab it and go. My own favourites and instant pick ups are Angie Thomas, Akemi Dawn Bowman, Nina LaCour, Markus Zusak, J. K. Rowling, Stephen Chbosky, Rick Riordan, Malorie Blackman…I haven’t actually read all of their books but they’re ones I will pick up and try and get to when I can!

Pretty covers!
They say don’t judge a book by it’s cover and I know we shouldn’t but…I think we all do with books. When something has a pretty or interesting cover, I’m drawn to it and I am way more likely to pick it up. Obviously, if it sounds terrible I’m not going to read or buy it but it does get me to at least read the synopsis. This is the reason I bought The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen which I’m currently reading!

And…they’re in a cult
This is a more niche one but is way more common than I thought. As was once said on Buzzfeed Unsolved (one of mine and Sarah’s faves), “I’m here for the cult stuff”, and honestly, it’s true. If a book is about a cult, fiction or non-fiction, I will give it a go. Obviously, cults are horrific and terrifying and they’re something which many people have a morbid fascination with, including myself! I recently read After the Fire by Will Hill which was amazing and dealt with the emotional trauma brilliantly!

Friendship groups
My weakness? Cute friendship groups. I can’t cope when books or films or anything has really lovely, adorable friendships! They make me so happy and when that is the focus of a book, I can’t help but devour it. Most of my favourite books feature brilliantly written friendships and I’ve picked up countless ones where this sounds like it’s the case. If you have any recommendations of books with fab friendship groups, please let me know!

What are your reasons for instantly picking up a book?