After many years, I think I’ve finally tuned into the right trade publications and book blogs to keep myself supplied with reviews and recommendations for books I will genuinely enjoy. And yet, I still shy away from personally reading books that get a lot of buzz. I’ve had this curious aversion for a while. It wasn’t until Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban came out that I started reading the series. The only conclusion that I can come up with is that I read a buzzy book that turned out to be so awful I’ve blocked it from my memory.
I suspect that the problem (apart from my book trauma theory) is that expectations play a huge part in how I approach books. I expect books to follow or creatively break genre barriers. I expect literary books to devote a lot of time and beautiful language to exploring emotions we don’t have words for in English. And if I learn that there’s a twist, there better damn well be a great twist. When a book fails to live up to expectations, I end up disliking the book even more than I might have without all the hype in the first place. Being a book reviewer, I strive to judge books on their own merits and not my inflated expectations.
I clearly don’t worry about fear of missing out, but I am competitive about discovering books. This is as big a problem for hype-avoidance as managing my expectations. If I wait long enough, I feel like I’m discovering a book on my own instead of following the buzz.
The only thing that gets me over my avoidance of hyped books is time, lots of time. It took me thirteen years to read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. I might be making progress; I got around to Homegoing after only a year. I have no problem being behind the curve. Once enough time has elapsed and I’m no longer surrounded by people talking about how great the book is, only then do I feel like I can give the book a fair shake.
I have found a few books lately that have failed to live up to the hype. I am beginning to wish that I never experienced that hype before reading those books because I too am harsher on a book if it doesn’t live up to my expectations.
I feel a little guilty when this happens to me. So I comfort myself with Ranganathan’s words: Every book its reader. When I start a book that turns me off, I just remember my mantra and move on to another book.
Although, sometimes, there are books that I find so awful and repellent that I hate-read them and tell everyone what I hated about the book.
I’m with you! Popularity seldom plays into my reading choices unless it is enduring popularity…the kind that has lasted long enough for the book to be considered “classic” or “genre-defining” in some sense. I always roll my eyes at “The 100 books you must read before you die” kinds of lists that include selections that are the fad books of the last few years. When it comes to classics I have found that a prolific classic author’s most popular works usually are their best, and their “forgotten” works are in fact relatively forgettable.
Agreed! I’ve seen too many lists of greatest authors from years ago that are full of authors I’ve never heard of or books that have been ripped to shreds by critics and readers after the book’s moment has passed.
I don’t find that strange at all, since I’m the same!