A reason to read...

[fajrdrako]

From January 22, 2009: Since "Inspiration" is (or should be) the theme this week … what is your reading inspired by?

My reading is almost always inspired by curiosity. I want to know what's in a book, what it's like.

My reading is all inspired by anticipation of emotional response - that I will enjoy it. Or that I will learn something I want to learn (or need to learn) from it.)

But mostly it's curiosity. And that goes for every book in every library and every bookstore.

Comments

[barbarah.wordpress.com (from livejournal.com)]

That's a great answer. Curiosity is probably the basis of most of our reasons.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yes. For some reason, I look at the cover of a book, and I'm curious about what's in it. Even if it looks dumb! I know there's a world of something in those pages, in those words, and I want to find out - even if it's just to see whether the book is good or bad. Sometimes it's about the subject ("Antarctican penguins - hmm, I don't know much about that") or the theme ("Hmm, mystery novel set in Wyoming - cool.")

[confuzzledbooks.blogspot.com (from livejournal.com)]

I agree with you.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yay!

[ceindreadh.livejournal.com]

Mostly for me it would be curiosity. But occasionally I just get 'cravings' for certain books. Sometimes it's the whole book, other times maybe a particular chapter/paragraph will come to mind and I'll go and re-read the whole book as a result.

If the question had been what inspires my book buying, well that would be a much more varied response. Sometimes it's a writers name that will make me pick up a book. Other times a title might catch my eye, and sometimes even a cover will make me want to buy the book.
I love the second hand/discount bookshops. Many times I've picked up books for half nothing that I wouldn't have paid full price for and I've found some real gems.
(I once bought a book solely because the lead character in it had the same name as my real name!)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

But occasionally I just get 'cravings' for certain books. Sometimes it's the whole book, other times maybe a particular chapter/paragraph will come to mind and I'll go and re-read the whole book as a result.

Yes, I've done that, too. And there are favourite passages or scenes in certain books I've read over and over and over.

Still: my original impulse to read the book in the first place was probably curiosity.

You're quite right, the 'why do you buy a book' question gets a quite different answer. Some sort of attraction beyond simple curiosity, usually -knowing I like a certain writer or theme. And yes, sometimes the cover. I'm a sucker for Michael Whalen covers - and haven't always liked the books inside them.

There's a Harlequin romance out there somewhere in which the heroine has my name. I've always been curious about it but haven't actually gone to the point of finding it and reading it. Maybe I should.

[ceindreadh.livejournal.com]

There's a Harlequin romance out there somewhere in which the heroine has my name. I've always been curious about it but haven't actually gone to the point of finding it and reading it. Maybe I should.

I was named for a character in a specific book that my mother was reading at the time. I keep meaning to actually find the book and see what the character was like. (My standing joke is that I'm glad she wasn't into Lord of the Rings, lol!)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I was named for a character in a specific book that my mother was reading at the time.

I bet that happens fairly often. If I had a daughter, I wanted to name her Kate because of Kate Somerville in the Dunnett novels. I still love the name.
But then I wanted to name my son Rabindranath, which seemed reasonable to me, but made my friends roll their eyes.