To encourage the fun of books, try ones with flaps to open, tabs to slide, things that pop up, etc. My little guy loves to open doors, turn things, etc and has for ages. We still even have some of the cloth type baby books that have little animals on strings that can go into their little spots and things and he likes to feel them, suck on them and rub them on his face.
I also play hide and seek with different animals in his books. All of his books are ones with thick heavy pages, like board books, so they open easily. And I think they are all just one picture with a word underneath, lots of colours and shapes and things to look at. So I will pick one thing, like a dog, and say the word, rub his hand on it, touch it, make barking sounds, and what not. Then I close the book and say "Where's the dog!?" and then open it up really quick, like playing peek-a-boo, and say "HERE'S the dog!!!" Over and over and over and over again. He absolutely LOVES it. He has learned quite a few words that way and I was really really shocked yesterday when I found an old book that I thought we had lost and held it up to him and asked where the duck was. He got a huge smile on his face, turned some pages and stopped at the duck and slapped it and held it up to me!! Soooo cute, and proof that they really DO retain vocabulary.
I give him his board books when he is in the car, he sits in the backseat on his own and flips through them, chews them, giggles and grins to himself at certain pages, and really enjoys his time.
