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Monday, July 22, 2013

5 Ways to Know if a Book is Worth Your Time



     The sad thing about today is that there are so many books to read. My TBR only gets longer and I seem to have less time to read. It’s a never-ending book cycle. No matter how fast you read there will always be too many books waiting. So, in order to protect your time, you have to decide which books you should invest your energy into reading and as a writer studying.

1.      Read the first page

     This is what professionals in the publishing industry do. They can often tell by the first page if this is going to be the kind of book that will draw them in or if it just isn’t strong enough. What the first page does is show you what kind of book will be. It often gives you an idea of what the main character wants and then you can decide is the journey to get what the character wants will be a journey you are willing to take too.

2.      Read the back

     The synopsis on the back will give you a quick idea of the scope of the book. This gives you a better idea of the struggles, the hopes and dreams and the journey that will be focused on than the first page does. It goes further than the first page can and gives you a more complete concept. It can also hint at what is to come in ways the first page can’t. Sometimes knowing where the book is going can change your mind about a bland first page and keep you reading until the good stuff starts.

3.      Read the last page

     The last page will tell you if the journey was worth it for the main characters and if it is truly the kind of ending you would like to read up to. This one, however, is a bit tricky and may depend on your personality. Some people have to read the back, but others can’t because then they know all the surprises and reading them unfold is no longer fun. I rarely use this one because if I know how the story will end then I don’t often care to read the journey. So if I use this it is probably because I’ve already decided I don’t want to read the book. Just know yourself. If reading the last page makes reading the rest of the book less fun, don’t do it. But if it makes it just as fun or more fun, then do!

4.      Take the advice of friends you trust

Trust is the key word here. Sometimes friends know our tastes, sometimes they just tell us things they like. Knowing the difference can save you some time or give you a reason to employ the steps above. Still, friends are a great resource for finding good books. They are a personal reading army that can save you from reading books you don’t need to and multiply the search to find the next great novel. Either way they save you time and will help you in your book search.

5.      The writing is everything

     In none of these was there “Look at the Cover.” A cover has no value in understanding if a book is ultimately worth your time. What matters most is the story, the characters and the journey. A cover may enhance the mood or catch the eye, but it may not have anything to do with the book itself. Often covers are created by a different individual/artist who most likely has not read the book. This is not always true, but even if the writer also made the cover, there is no way to tell if the writer is a superior artist or a superior writer or both with just the cover to judge. The only way to tell if a book is actually worth your time is the writing. Some beautiful, enticing covers mask poor, boring stories and some bland, dull covers are the façade of beautifully intricate, deep tales that will make your heart sigh with longing.

     These are just a few ways to vet your TBR pile into a more manageable size and keep you from spending time on books you really don’t have time to read. Are there any other ways to help you find the books you’ll love? Tell me about it!



-Christina J. Adams

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