Play Book Tag discussion

This week is about our perception before and around our reading experience.

Do you give older books more patience than new ones? Especially ones considered "important"?
Can hype ruin a book before you even read it?
How much does the source of a recommendation affect how we read a book? Friend, school, stranger, library display?

Another great set of questions, Jason!

On patience with older "important" books:
I think I do have more patience with them. I expect to struggle with older classics in terms of both language and structure. I am expecting to need to figure it out, and the difficulty is part of the point of reading it.

I also think part of my willingness to give it more time is that I have a strong belief in worldwide cultural and historical understanding. I think it is important to understand the world as much as I can. I have heard of many of these classics for my entire reading life, so I feel it will contribute to my goal of being "well-read." This makes me feel invested in finishing it in a way I never would with a recent commercial fiction (for example).

On hype ruining books:
I don't think it "ruins" it so much as sets extremely high expectations, and there is often disappointment when the book doesn't reach those expectations, even if the book is objectively very high quality.

When people say a book is "life-changing" or "the best thing I've read in years," I expect to love it, and if it doesn't hit me the same way, I feel a bit let down. If I found the same book more quietly on my own, it might delight me.

On recommendation sources: I think this is a more subtle form of influence. I really (REALLY) want to like a book that has been recommended to me by a friend. I tend to be a little more generous or give it more leeway than I would just some random book I read. I actively look for what my friend liked about it.

I think I'm unusual in that I often looked forward to books I was recommended or assigned in school, but many of my friends felt resistance right off the bat. They didn't want to be "forced" to read something, whereas I felt it would add to my goal of being well-read (even if I hated it).

Stranger recommendations have little to no influence on me. If I dislike it, I just figure "everyone has different tastes."

Library or bookstore displays feel more like discoveries, but I don't feel any pressure to like them. Again, if I don't, I chalk it up to differences in personal taste.

Do you give older books more patience than new ones? Especially ones considered "important"?

No, I don't. I've been reading older books and ones deemed 'important' since a very young age. I took Dickens with me to Summer Camp - Great Expectations, an abridged edition sold by Scholastic through a catalogue - and also the latest Nancy Drew. In high school I voluntarily devised a reading program for myself that featured classics that weren't being taught but would be tested on the Regents Exams and standardized testing (a friend did the same and we discussed the books as we read them).

I also rarely DNF a book. I am a patient reader, one who doesn't need to be captivated or gripped immediately. I also believe you have to be patient with contemporary books perhaps even more than with older ones as there's no real established knowledge about the book out there to establish your expectations of the read. This is especially true of debuts but also when a writer is trying something new from what they have written, or seeking to transition (which happens frequently with YA authors).


Can hype ruin a book before you even read it?

It does for me in the sense that all the hype leads me to put off reading a book right away, even if I was planning to do so, because experience has taught me that I will regret jumping in and reading it immediately. There are rare exceptions, like my current reading of Heated Rivalry which is the triple x smutty cute fun romance I need after my recent finish.

Hype is why about 10 or so years ago I started letting new books 'age' before reading them, waiting until no one is talking about the book. If you look at my annual top 10 nominations, rarely is there even one book that anyone else lists. James was a very rare exception a couple years ago.

How much does the source of a recommendation affect how we read a book? Friend, school, stranger, library display?

Recommendations both do and don't affect my reading a book. From college onwards, for decades, I religiously read the NYTimes Book Review and a few other review sources, and often used those reviews to pick books to read, especially in my 20s. That pretty much came to a halt when I went to law school and became a lawyer - there just wasn't time to read more than keeping up on favorite series with occasional books that caught my eye. I'd still buy books that caught my fancy, but I read mostly the latest out by favorite authors. I stopped paying any attention to reviews.

NYC has a lot of bookstores, especially independents including those specializing in certain genres, at least back before the chains like B&N came into being. They would all be open very late so I'd stop in on my way home from work quite often, or after theater/concernts/opera and browsing in bookstores was both therapy, part of my transitioning from work to home. Displays have a way of bringing a book to my attention - I am easily seduced by covers. One of my more recent 'finds' that happened simply because there was a table display right inside the store of the Indie book store for a local translator's recent translation - and signed copies as he'd been there the night before talking/signing. That book was a gem: The Book of Emma Reyes: A Memoir in Correspondence.

I tend to ignore the tables of new and notables (except for crime fiction), best sellers and certainly those end of aisle promotional stands from publishers, but definitely look closely at staff recommendations (especially in Indies), relating to a specific theme like Black History Month that dig deeper than just what's just out.

Recommendations from strangers I will take seriously if we've been having a conversation about what one of us is reading - that happened a while ago when I was at the hair salon. A woman waiting her turn saw the book I was reading - it was on the stand front cover up next to me - and asked about it. While discussing it, she recommended what she had just read -- both were historical crime fiction - and it was really good. But some person I don't know on Amazon or GR or anywhere? No I pay no attention.

I do pay attention to friends' recommendations, and reviews by those here, in similar groups because there's an established knowledge base.

Recommendations from friends: I think it's natural to want to like what someone close to you praises to the skies, but I don't believe anyone should be obligated to do so. I just am careful how I couch my own reaction to the book when we discuss it. I will be honest but there's no need to be rude or even use words like 'hated' or 'worst'. Leave it at 'it's not my cup of tea but I can see why you liked it'. Yes I have a friend IRL who always let's me know just how awful she found some book I recommended (or tv show or whatever), no holds barred - she does that with everyone. We all roll our eyes.

One thing: if someone recommends a book to me, I'll accept it graciously and happily but be warned: It will not be read anytime soon so don't ask me about it. I know some people feel obligated to read a recommended book right away. Not me and I don't expect anyone to whom I recommend a book to do so either. In fact, an IRL friend just read - and loved - a book I recommended to her years ago. I was delighted about it and did not mind that it took so long for her to pick it up. We all have busy lives and very big TBRs and long currently reading lists.

Usually, I don’t need to be more ‘patient’ with older books. It may take me a little time to adjust to their rhythm, and I may need to carve out more space and time for them without distractions. But that’s something I enjoy rather than it feeling like hard work - it makes me think about the time and circumstances in which they were written, and why we still find them relevant today (or not, in some cases). Of course some are more arcane than others, in which case they might end up with a bookmark in the same place for months… or longer …

I usually actively shy away from hype - it’s much more likely to put me off a book than make me read it. Call me cynical, but I tend to distrust hype of all kinds: it too often serves an agenda that is not linked with genuine value. That’s not to say I don’t read very popular books - I often do (eg Thursday Murder Club; Fourth Wing) but am much more likely to have picked it up because it looked fun in the bookshop or because a book friend with similar tastes to me had recommended it.

Very occasionally though I’ll deliberately read something that is mega popular and hyped, so that I can see what is driving its popularity. Even if I don’t end up liking the book/series much (looking at you, A Court of Thorns and Roses or Fifty Shades), it’s an interesting exercise in looking at pop culture - after all that then often influences other aspects of the media we consume or what we talk about at the office water cooler.

I started reading with older books, since we had books that had belonged to my mother - full-length versions of Heidi, The Water Babies, The Story of the Treasure Seekers, etc. Our public library also had a lot of older books. A lot of them were British, so I was bit confused about shoes always being called boots, and the children's evening meal being called tea. In Heidi, Clara says her governess is so boring that she always wants to gape - I was mystified, but it means yawn. I would just keep reading if I didn't quite get it. So I wasn't put off later by Dickens and other classics. I was a French and English major, which at that time was all classics, hardly anything modern

Hype can get me to read a book, but I am getting more suspicious of any book called "luminous". I didn't like Beautiful Ruins, All the Light We Cannot See, or Where the Crawdads Sing. I could see they were well written but they didn't work for me. I also don't like the emotional manipulation of The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry or The Art of Racing in the Rain. I generally stay away from books labeled "chilling" or "gripping", anything with serial killers or psychological terror - and I can NOT read any more books about Nazis.

On recommendations, I look at the NY Times Book Review and I get several daily newsletters on books. I am definitely influenced by GR friends. I wouldn't have read She Who Became the Sun or anything by Tana French without Theresa's recommendations, or In the Distance without Book Concierge's. I don't generally go by GR reviews, but I do on Audible because they can alert me if the narration adds or subtracts from the book.

For some popular books - Fifty Shades & The Bridges of Madison County - I thumbed through them at the bookstore to know enough of what they were about to be sure I didn't need to read the whole thing.

Do you give older books more patience than new ones? Especially ones considered "important"

I guess I do, although my definition of what constitutes a new one might differ from the majority. For me, it is a book that relies entirely on hype, that hasn't had time to age properly, like a single malt whisky or a good French cheese. I know I am taking a risk on them, especially those at the top of the popularity ladder.
Still, I have had some good experiences with bestsellers despite the low batting average, so I will continue to try to filter between the hype and the feedback from the friends whose opinion I respect greatly. Usually I wait at least a couple of years for the noise to fade and for the true experience of the book to come through. It also help to read several negative opinions for any major seller that tops the charts. These are often more relevant than the glowing, enthusiastic outbursts.

Can hype ruin a book before you even read it?
Yes, often I am more harsh with books that I pick with high expectations than I would have been if I had started a read just for fun. There's something from Mark Twain about being part of a crowd that really appeals to my critical sense.

How much does the source of a recommendation affect how we read a book? Friend, school, stranger, library display?
I very rarely write 1-star or 2-star reviews for the hyper-popular books or for books recommended by close personal friends. Why should I be so arrogant about my own personal bias when so many other readers found the story great, enchanting, deep? I believe there must be something good or well written in most of these stories if they managed to get a response from so many readers, so I try to articulate what it may be (if my annoyance at the time I could have spent reading something better or my snarky funny-bone don't take over my keyboard)
Some recent examples are Elif Shafak, the favorite author of one of my friends, and Fredrik Backman, once a personal preference. I think I will stop reading both, but I will never go as far as trashing their books in comments

Do you give older books more patience than new ones? Especially ones considered "important"?
Not necessarily. I tend to be a patient reader as long as I like what I'm reading. Like others I grew up with classics in the house (I'd forgotten about Water Babies, but we had that.)

Can hype ruin a book before you even read it?
Too much hype often keeps me from reading a book now; it makes it more likely I'll be disappointed if it doesn't hit notes as high as everyone is saying.

How much does the source of a recommendation affect how we read a book? Friend, school, stranger, library display?

It all depends on who the people involved are and what was going on when a book was recommended to me. I don't generally borrow books from the display case and haven't perused the new books shelves in some time.

The new books shelf section is how I started reading Fredrik Backman when I found My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry. I have found other gems there along with books that have disappointed, etc.

Do you give older books more patience than new ones? Especially ones considered "important"?
Not at all. I don't find older books hard to read. The language differences and cultural differences are just part of that time. It is important to understand human history, so we don't go back to the bad parts. I judge books based on whether I enjoy them or learn something from them, not how they are written (so long as it makes sense and isn't filled with lazy errors).

Can hype ruin a book before you even read it?
Absolutely. If everyone else loves a book and I hate it, I wonder if there is something else wrong with me. This happens often, so I now avoid hyped books to avoid feeling even more inadequate.

How much does the source of a recommendation affect how we read a book? Friend, school, stranger, library display?
I avoid anything my mum loves because I've never liked a book she has liked. She strictly reads books from the Booker nominees and is all about fancy, fluffy writing. My science brain does not like fluffy. I do read several books a year which are required because my y12 psych kids choose them for their character analysis. I have no expectations for them because kids chose them but sometimes I am delighted by what they choose and surprised by how deep the characters are. Our library has been closed down which is very sad. There is also only 1 bookstore left and it requires driving into the city, which I only do for the cancer clinic and surgeon appointments. I do treat myself to a visit if it is still open after the appointment though and rarely leave with nothing. The way they are set up I know which shelves are likely to have something I'll enjoy, and the bestsellers are on a wall facing you as you walk in. They are very good at selling me books. Colleagues tend to suggest books I have already read but that allows me to suggest books for them. I have 3 people (1 student and 2 teachers) using my bookroom as their library at the moment. To give you hope for the future the student requested The Bell Jar.