Hello, fellow writers,
Since the last books I read unfortunately didn’t convince or even disappointed me, I would like to know how you avoid making bad book purchases.
I would love to find a novel in a bookstore again that really captivates me and transports me to another world, whether it is set in a fictional world or not. Perhaps some of you have certain criteria or a procedure that you follow when shopping for books.
Thank you in advance.
Libraries.
You can read all the reviews that you want, depend on trusted friends as much as you want, but you’ll never completely guarantee that a book won’t disappoint you.
But if you don’t buy books, the costs of disappointment are lower.
Unfortunately the only library near me does focus on non-fictional literature and books for children. Only a few books are regular novels. So shopping in bookstores is the main source for me to get new books.
Perhaps one of your regional libraries has an online platform, which would allow you to download ebooks?
My rule of thumb is, If a book has been in print more than 50 years, it’s probably worth reading. And if you’ve already read it–looking at you Jane Austen–it’s probably worth re-reading.
As someone who has worked in libraries, I’d urge you to talk with the staff and see if they are part of an inter-library loan program. If they aren’t, they might look into joining one to get a wider range of materials for their patrons.
And, letting the staff know there’s interest in a more diverse selection of materials can help them better meet your needs. It will depend on their budget and the library’s overall purpose, of course. A library built specifically to be a research facility will have less for the general reader.
For my reading exploration (mainly non-fiction - not sure if this works so well with novels) I first get the Kindle sample from Amazon - it’s save me a lot of unfortunate choices. There is a lot of bad faith advertising out there, as well as the literary mags/papers in-crowd who lie shamelessly for their colleagues (and possibly future reviewers). And then there’s good ol’ word of mouth recommendations …
@JimRac // That’s a great tip. Unfortunately, at the moment I only read physical books. But I’m playing with the thought of buying an e-reader on Black Friday.
@Ahab // I often flirt with the idea of reading the classics, but so far I haven’t dared to tackle classics such as Crime and Punishment or Don Quixote. However, I have already read shorter classics such as 1984 and Animal Farm.
@RuthS // I asked in my local library, but they said they cover mostly research material. If I had a specific book in mind, they could check if it would be possible to acquire it for a short period of time. It’s a nice offer indeed, but I prefer to step into a cozy bookstore and not know what I will find.
@Ascher // Yes, I am often cautious about the reviews printed on the back of the book. I usually read the reviews of the book in online shops or on other portals and then decide whether to buy it or not. Unfortunately, this has not always led to the right purchases, and sometimes I may even have put a gem back on the shelf without knowing it. As we all know, tastes vary.
I recently bought two novels in a bookstore that I was extremely happy with. I didn’t read any reviews of the two books, but I did read the blurb, checked the chapter length (I find that if chapters are too long, they drag a bit), and either the first three pages or the first chapter of the book. And if it convinced me or didn’t disappoint me, I took it home with me. I think this is an approach I will use more often from now on.
Thanks to everyone for your tips!
At least here in Scotland libraries allow you to borrow e-books (and audio books!).
You don’t have to buy an e-reader device to read e-books. Amazon offers free e-reader apps for all platforms, and I imagine all or most of the other book providers do as well. Probably there are third-party developers who also offer free or low cost apps.
Don’t get me wrong, e-readers are great. I love my ten-year old Kindle Paperwhite and read with it nearly every night. 
But you don’t need a new device to read e-books.
Best,
Jim
In my country public libraries behave as a network.
If you want to borrow a book they don’t have, they find one public library that has it and the book is sent by mail to your local public library. Sometimes they simply buy the book, then lend it to you.
You should ask.
Ebooks have the advantage that you can download and read the first 10 or 20 pages for free. That’s no guarantee, but I usually know after reading those pages whether I’m interested in the whole book, and only then do I buy it. That has saved me from making many bad purchases.
There’s… bad books?!
Of course not, there are only incompetent readers. 
@Shell // That’s also the case here, but in my area you have to live within a certain radius of the library to be a member. Otherwise, it would have been very convenient. I hope you’ve already found some great stories there.
@JimRac // Thanks for the suggestion. I checked and Tolino does indeed offer a web reader. According to my research, an eReader seems to be better for the eyes because the light shines on the screen and no light emanates directly from the screen. In addition, the “isolation” similar to a book seems quite attractive. I think reading on a notebook or smartphone would be too distracting. How satisfied are you with Amazon’s Kindle devices?
@Vincent_Vincent // That sounds really great, it should be like that everywhere. I’ll call again tomorrow and ask if something like that would be possible in general, it’s definitely worth a try.
@fto // That’s really handy, and I think you can also return an e-book as long as you haven’t exceeded a certain percentage. On my last visit to the bookstore, I also read the first few pages, which helped me make a better decision.
@alexxtholden // No, that’s not what I meant. 
All books have something magical about them that will appeal to some people. I just want to avoid books that I buy with the wrong expectations and end up being disappointed by or unable to identify with the characters.
// If anyone is interested or looking for a new novel, I can recommend this wonderful story that I read yesterday: The Door-to-Door Bookstore: A Novel by Carsten Henn
Being that I can only speak to my Kindle Paperwhite 3, purchased in 2015, I don’t think my device is going to help too much with your current buying decision.
I will say though that my Paperwhite might be the only 10-year old personal electronic device that I still use on a daily basis. Actually, I can’t believe the battery still works! I still get a couple weeks out of a charge. Unless the battery eventually fails or I accidently drop the PW in the toilet, who knows, maybe I’ll get another 10 years out of it. 
Whatever you end up getting, I would say definitely get e-ink–very easy on the eyes and gives forever battery life. Definitely get an adjustable back light–it’s nice to be able to change the lighting if needed. I keep my PW in a covered case with a built-in hand strap–the strap really helps with one-handed reading when I’m lying down.
An important question is whether you’ll want to read books on multiple devices. For example, I can jump relatively seamlessly between my PW, my phone, my PC, my iPad, and Amazon’s syncing service keeps all the devices up-to-date with the latest page I read, highlights and notes I’ve made, etc.
If you’ll want to use multiple devices and you purchase a Kindle, then you’ll need to commit to Amazon’s cloud ecosystem–you’ll keep your content in their cloud and use their syncing service to keep your content in sync across your devices. It’s probably the same with the other e-reader providers, but I’ve no experience with them, so can’t comment.
But if you only want to read e-books on your dedicated e-reader and nothing else, than ecosystem doesn’t matter. You can buy a Kindle or whatever device and load your books directly from your PC to the device–this is called sideloading. Please note that I hardly ever do this, so I may be oversimplifying the process.
Hopefully others can share their experiences with more up-to-date Kindle or other e-reader devices.
Best,
Jim
Unfortunately, I have not developed a wholly successful method to avoid bad book purchases. 
There is no substitute for actually holding a book in your hand and being able to page through it whether at a bookstore or a library. You can riffle through it and instantly discern that all 600 pages of it are ghastly prose which no 10-page online preview can provide.
When I lived in a university neighborhood there was easy access to new and used bookstores and the university libraries (hooray for alumni privileges!). Now, living elsewhere, I’m less mobile and my eyes have weakened and I’ve become a great fan of ebooks. You can change the text size! Yay! I normally read on an 11" iPad on the couch but quite often I’ll sit down in the comfy chair at the 27" screen in my study with a glass of wine (hard to balance a glass on your chest on the couch).
I’m tempted to get an e-reader like a Kindle with e-ink because they’re exceptionally light and the e-ink versions are easier on the eyes. But there are classes of book that I will never purchase in electronic form. Artful books and books about art. Envisioning Information by Edward Tufte is a perfect example. It is simply impossible to duplicate that book on-screen.
Oh! And don’t forget things like Project Gutenberg where you can find classics and oddities for free that will not be in your local bookstore. (You’re not going to get the latest spiffy translation of the Iliad, there, however.)
Returning to your basic question, I’m afraid it’s impossible to give you guidance. Your age, your education, your culture, your current itches and enthusiasms are yours and not for anyone else to guide. You can look at reviews, hear the recommendations of friends, but basically you need to look at the book and see whether the language, characters, and plot intrigues you. Bookstores and libraries and to a much lesser extent online quotations are your best hope.
I wish you the best of luck in your quest. 
Dave
On the other hand, there are no guarantees in life. Favorite authors sometimes produce duds, unknowns sometimes produce pleasant surprises.
Famous authors often produce duds it’s just that their publicity people like to slip those under the carpet. But yup sometimes you just should take a chance on outliers. . . .
For example, when I was a foreign student in Strasbourg, struggling to improve my French, I saw a play based on Théophile Gautier’s Le Capitaine Fracasse. It was utterly charming. So, I got a copy of the novel and struggled through it. I loved it and still do. It’s pure 19th century romanticism in the 3 Musketeers vein: Swords! Soubrettes! Boots! Horses! Stratagems! And like so many popular novels from that period it goes on and on and on because that made Gaultier more money and people out in the countryside didn’t have TV’s so the multiple-page descriptions were necessary & attractive and if well-written a pleasure. (And boy did my vocabulary increase.)
So, can I recommend this book to enquiring readers in the anglosphere? No. It’s never been translated so far as I can tell yet is still in print. Can I recommend it to people who have no interest in penurious master-swordsmen barons chasing actresses across 17th century France? No. Is it a book to read if you can? Yes. Gaultier was a wonderful writer.
If you’re perishing to know the story there have been many films based on it which might be sub-titled.
If I’d walked into my local bookstore I never would have found Le Capitaine Fracasse. Stay open to surprise.
Dave
A quick note on buying ebooks for those who aren’t aware (and who live in the UK and US, for the time being, at least).
I’ve stopped buying Kindle books, for all the obvious reasons, and have been looking for somewhere else to buy my ebooks.
I’m now using Bookshop, which in the UK has recently starting selling ebooks as well as physical book (in the US this started a year or two back, I think).
This is good, because you can nominate your local bookshop and they will get a percentage of the cover price. So, if you’re not in the UK/US, it may be worth checking if there’s an equivalent local version…
(BTW, if you are using the Mac Kindle app, don’t upgrade to the latest version if you can help it. At some point (v7.5, I think), they changed the procedure for highlighting text so that you know have to click 3 times to highlight some text – it used to be once – yet they bring up a huge popup with definitions and other extraneous information every time you select some text, with no ability to make this optional. Presumably they didn’t bother testing any of this with actual human users, but the AI said it would be fine…)