Projects 2013 > The Secret Lives of Books > Journal

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....most often because I recognise the cover as something I have seen a friend reading . I like the recommendation cards by books in Waterstones. I feel that I can take more risks choosing a book in a library because I know that I won't be keeping it. Once I really liked someone's outfit so I followed her and borrowed a book that she had been looking at. That is probably more than I should admit.

I've recently been pondering about how people choose e-books on Kindle, iBookstore, etc. Do they go from seeing the printed book or are they embedded in the culture of e-book browsing? Also, reading a Kindle means other passengers on public transport can never know what you're reading and become potential readers of that book themselves (... though isn't that how 50 Shades of Grey became so successful - no one needed to know!).

Re Waterstones etc., there's a fascinating insight into the commercial dynamics that determine placement of books in bookstores in John B. Thompson's Merchants of Culture (2nd edn, 2012). Definitely worth a read and he's an excellent speaker too.

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