How I Choose Books

When I go book shopping I always seem to come home with quite random selections of books. After thinking about how I shop I realised that I do actually have a process for buying books, although it might be quite strange. This is how my process goes:

The first step I take when buying books is to decide on what genre I’m looking for. This is because the larger bookstores usually have the books shelved according to genre. So I head to the relevant shelves. If the books aren’t organised by genre then I’ll just jump straight to step two.

Step two is to scan the shelves searching for authors that I recognise, either because I’ve already read books they’ve written or because I’ve heard them mentioned somewhere and liked the sound of their books.

If I don’t find any books by authors I recognise, or I want something different, then I glance at the colours of the book spines. Usually if I’m looking for a light & fluffy read I’ll lean towards the lighter pastel coloured spines, if I’m looking for a crime/mystery or horror book it’ll be the darker spines that get my attention.

The next, and probably most important, step is to read the titles. If one jumps out at me I’ll pull the book off the shelf for a closer look. Titles that I tend to steer away from are anything that sounds boring and anything that conjures up images of space, future and science fiction in general (because I really don‘t like science fiction!).

Once I pick a book off the shelf, chances are I’ll end up buying it. However, before I make the final commitment I always read the back cover. If the synopsis grabs my attention, it’s a keeper. But really, reading the synopsis is just a formality, I’ve subconsciously already decided to buy the book the moment I picked it off the shelf.

The very final step is to check the price! I refuse to pay over the odds for a book, anything over £5 I usually don’t bother. But seeing as I mostly shop in bargain bookstores and second-hand shops this isn’t really a problem.

I don’t tend to look at front covers of books; if I do it’s only to see the price sticker. I don’t know why I don’t look at the front cover in the shops because I do look at them when I get home, I guess I just don’t like to be influenced by a cover picture as they can sometimes be quite misleading about the book.

So how about anyone else? What makes you choose which books to take home?

Double Stitch by John Rolfe Gardiner

Synopsis: In 1926, Rebecca and Linda Carey arrive at a progressive orphanage outside of Philadelphia. They're identical twins, ten years old, copper skinned and beautiful, with perfectly matched faces and manners that doom them to a mischief of switched identities. Drayton Orphanage is a wealthy campus of fairy-tale stone cottages and modern education, but these girls are unimpressed. They want to get as far away "as a dollar will send a post card." Implacably sharp-tongued, confident and aloof, they enthrall everyone at the orphanage but bridle under the attention, drawn only to each other.

While their guardians wage war with their own divided personalities, Becca and Linny battle for control of their twinned life. Locked in a paired world, they can't help themselves from switching names and clothes and tricking their teachers, house mothers, and peers. But when their black grandmother turns up unexpectedly, one twin imagines herself colored, the other white, and a painful rift grows between the two who had often before not known which one was which. When the apostate Freudian Otto Rank comes to Philadelphia and becomes interested in the twins, he and his prodigy (and lover) Anais Nin, see what no one else does - that the twins are becoming dangerous to each other: "We must all recognize the double who stalks us. Guilt is shifted to the shoulders of the double. Fear, too. In the end there may be paranoia, extreme mistrust. And if the other haunts relentlessly it must of course, in the end, be destroyed."

Far from blind to the threat they hold for each other, the twins live in a nightmare of broken mirrors. As they come of age, they choose to separate from each other as well as thestifling world of the Orphanage. But, when at age seventeen they finally do escape, one to China, the other to California, their lives, still parallel, turn horrific - their shared willfulness and naivete lead them to similar straits. Together and apart, each is caught in a struggle to survive the fate of the double.

My thoughts: I really enjoyed this book. The main characters are identical twins, Linny and Becca. They come to the orphanage when they’re 10 years old and the story is basically about them growing up and their struggles with their individual identities vs. their double identity.

Throughout the story the psychologists and the orphanage staff all believe that the twins could be a danger to each other if they stay too close together. But at the same time, their teachers don’t want to split them apart.
At one stage in the story, after finding out that their grandmother is coloured, Becca and Linny have a huge falling out. Becca believes she is black whereas Linny believes she is white. This conflict was really interesting and it affects the story again later on.
When they finish school the twins go their separate ways, Becca goes to China and Linny heads to San Francisco. This was the part of the story that I enjoyed the most I think. It was full of adventure and bad experiences for the twins, and even though they were so far apart they were still together in some way.

I loved this book. I have a slight obsession with identical twins anyway and I also love reading about psychology, so this book was perfect for me.
This book was a fascinating insight into identity struggles and the psychology of doubles. The story of the twins was amazing and I’ll definitely be reading this book again.

Lily Giveaway

This giveaway is now closed

I've reached 25 followers and to celebrate I'm holding a giveaway. You can win a copy of Lily by Adele Geras. All you have to do to enter is answer the question correctly *Hint* You'll find the answer in my review of the book here.

Rules

*The giveaway is open internationally*
*You don't have to be a follower to enter*
*Just answer the question correctly to be in with a chance of winning*
*Entries close at midnight on March 31st 2010*
*The winner will be notified by email after the closing date*

Monthly Round-Up - February 2010

February is such a short month, I hardly even noticed that it was over!

Books I reviewed in February:
1. The Moonlight by Joyce Cary
2. Diary of a Hapless Househusband by Sam Holden
3. DEAD(ish) by Naomi Kramer
4. Going With Gabriel by Bryan Islip
5. Some Kind of Hero by Donna Hay
6. Honeycote by Veronica Henry

My favourite book this month was Diary of a Hapless Househusband by Sam Holden.

What's coming in March?

• I'm thinking of doing a giveaway.
• I'm going to try to post more often.