The Next Book

I should be finished reading The Hidden Target by now, but we've had a house guest, and were gone most of the day at a party, so I 'll be lucky to read a chapter before bed. I am content with this amount of reading for tonight. I am not in any particular rush to finish this book, although I do need to return it to Sandie. I've several other books to read when I'm done, although I haven't chosen the next one yet. When is the right moment to decide what to read next? Do your book choices seem random, unconnected at times? For a while all I read were "tried and true" Nicholas Sparks books, so I limited my choices accordingly. Even though his books have many surprises in them, I knew what to expect in a general sense (tragic love stories, featuring restaurant and cooking scenes, and much passion) and I didn't concern myself with any books outside of this realm. (As I mentioned in a recent post I still want to read The Choice and The Rescue by Nicholas Sparks, as well as his new book, The Lucky One, which should be out soon.) I'm expecting to get The Art of Being Kind any day now in the mail, and today I read the short, first chapter of Honeymoon by James Patterson so I may read the whole thing. Another thriller. I've never read any books by James Patterson before. I'm not sure if I will. But it's great to have limitless possibilities, to have your pick of classic literature as well as the latest books, and everything in between, even though it makes it that much harder to choose. How do you decide what to read next? How and why does a book "strike your fancy" before you've read it? Do we judge books by their covers to an extent?