buying a book by its cover
The other day I went into a store because of the word "adverbs".
I was walking by Leigh's Favorite Books on Murphy Avenue in Sunnyvale and trying to decide whether to go inside. On the plus side, it's a wonderful little independent new and used bookstore. In the cons column, because it's such a wonderful little independent new and used bookstore, every time I go in there, I end up buying something, and I really don't need any more books when I haven't read some three-quarters of the ones I already have.
But this book in the window display caught my mind, which went:
1. It's called Adverbs. Parts of speech are interesting. A part of speech used as a title of something other than a grammar book is interesting, and this cover doesn't look like a grammar book.
2. This cover features comic book art. Comic books are interesting.
3. It's by Daniel Handler, who is also Lemony Snicket. Daniel Handler is interesting.
So I went inside and picked up the book, and the blurb is very funny, and the chapter titles are all adverbs, and I was inside Leigh's Favorite Books, so I had to buy it. No, I haven't read it yet. Maybe it will be the next book I read, or maybe I won't read it for years. I haven't read a book in over two months, and this wasn't really going to be my post about not reading, and maybe it is now, or maybe it isn't.
A final note: The complete title of this book is Adverbs: A Novel. All novels these days are subtitled "A Novel". Maybe this makes sense for a book that might otherwise be confused for a grammar guide, but were we in serious danger of jumping to the conclusion that Never Let Me Go or The Night Listener was something other than a novel? I feel fairly confident that until a few years ago, novels were not subtitled thusly, but now it seems to be a publishing requirement. Does anyone have any information about this phenomenon?
And now, I must get back to work on The Overworld: A Novel, which incidentally has only a 35.9% chance of being a bestselling title, according to the Lulu Titlescorer.
I was walking by Leigh's Favorite Books on Murphy Avenue in Sunnyvale and trying to decide whether to go inside. On the plus side, it's a wonderful little independent new and used bookstore. In the cons column, because it's such a wonderful little independent new and used bookstore, every time I go in there, I end up buying something, and I really don't need any more books when I haven't read some three-quarters of the ones I already have.
But this book in the window display caught my mind, which went:
1. It's called Adverbs. Parts of speech are interesting. A part of speech used as a title of something other than a grammar book is interesting, and this cover doesn't look like a grammar book.
2. This cover features comic book art. Comic books are interesting.
3. It's by Daniel Handler, who is also Lemony Snicket. Daniel Handler is interesting.
So I went inside and picked up the book, and the blurb is very funny, and the chapter titles are all adverbs, and I was inside Leigh's Favorite Books, so I had to buy it. No, I haven't read it yet. Maybe it will be the next book I read, or maybe I won't read it for years. I haven't read a book in over two months, and this wasn't really going to be my post about not reading, and maybe it is now, or maybe it isn't.
A final note: The complete title of this book is Adverbs: A Novel. All novels these days are subtitled "A Novel". Maybe this makes sense for a book that might otherwise be confused for a grammar guide, but were we in serious danger of jumping to the conclusion that Never Let Me Go or The Night Listener was something other than a novel? I feel fairly confident that until a few years ago, novels were not subtitled thusly, but now it seems to be a publishing requirement. Does anyone have any information about this phenomenon?
And now, I must get back to work on The Overworld: A Novel, which incidentally has only a 35.9% chance of being a bestselling title, according to the Lulu Titlescorer.