Things I Love

Today I'm going to talk about the random things I love in books. These are things that have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the actual story, and won't result in me loving or hating a book, but they're always fun to see. (By that, I mean that it's more of a "woah cool!" than a "huh, this is my new favourite book.")

Pretty Covers

I can't even be ashamed about this one (okay, maybe a little) because we ALL do it, don't we? I'm sure there has been one instance where you've picked up a book because you're mesmerized by the cover. Even if you ultimately ended up putting it back on the shelf, that shiny, gorgeous cover made you give it a second glance.

I don't know if there's a pattern to the covers I like. I'm sure there is, I just don't know it. Here are some covers that I loooooooove:

(Well, apparently I have a thing for pretty dresses. I WANT THEM ALLLLLL)

Chapter Titles

I love when a book has actual chapter titles! I feel like so many books nowadays have just "Chapter 1" or a Roman numeral to signify the new chapters. I guess that's fine... just kind of boring. I like being tempted about what's to come in the next chapter. That little bit of foreshadowing, or even if the chapter title just sounds mysterious and exciting, gives me something to look forward to.

Rick Riordan has THE BEST chapter titles in his novels. Examples?

• I Accidentally Vaporize my Pre-Algebra Teacher
• I Become Supreme Lord of the Bathroom 
• A God Buys us Cheeseburgers

Character Names

I'm so nosy. When I'm reading, I want to know everyone's name. I'm not satisfied with "the boy with the purple backback" and "the redhead with braces." I don't particularly care if this person is important to the story or not, but I love knowing their names! This is mostly just because I have kind of an obsession with names. I love looking them up and learning new ones and seeing the different spellings. Reading a book and recognizing characters by that distinctive calling card is fabulous.

(I wanted to scribble in "TELL MEEEEEEE!" but I decided against it.)

Places That Sound Cool

This is mostly with the fantasy genre, but I love locations with interesting-sounding names. Again, this isn't for any real reason, but places with unusual names tend to immediately make me think of a mystical, entrancing place.

I also like places with names that actually MAKE SENSE. For example:

The world is the land of potatoes. Everyone eats potatoes and is shaped like potatoes and they sleep on potato pillows (of course, after having taken off their potato shoes!).

Now, in Latin:

Potato = Potare (I found multiple translations although a lot of online translators didn't even have potato. The horror!)

Land = Solum (Again, multiple translations)

So maybe we should call the place... Potaresolum! Except something better than that

Acknowledgements Sections

I always, always, always read the acknowledgements section. They are usually so full of gratitude, love and just plain happiness (I wrote a book! A BOOK, I SAY!) and it makes me smile to read them. Plus, it's fun to go through the names mentioned and see if I recognize any of them.

Basically, reading the acknowledgements section is like soaking in a warm, comforting bubble bath of LOVE.

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What random non-actual-book-related things do YOU love? Are there any that you hate? Let me know in the comments!