Cross-posted to !sciencefiction@lemmy.world

It is not possible to read all the Sci-Fi books out there. So you must have a process for selecting what you do read. Reading a book is an investment in your time. Your time is valuable. No one wants to waste that time reading unworthy books.

I have never codified my criteria. And it has changed and evolved over time. I suspect it will continue to change moving forward, as who I am tomorrow is not who I was yesterday.

What is your criteria to date?

Mine is that it must meet ALL the following criteria, some objective and some subjective.

  • it must have at least 1,000 reviews
  • it must have at least 70% 5-star reviews
  • if after reading about it I get the suspicion that it’s a romance disguised as Sci-Fi, I automatically reject it no matter what
  • if it’s YA, it really needs to be exceedingly compelling to choose it
  • Space Opera also needs to be exceedingly compelling
  • if I get the feeling it’s trying to preach I’ll reject it
  • if i get the feeling it has (messaging, strong opinions, or political overtones) about today’s societal issues, I probably won’t choose it. Not judging; I primarily read for escapism.

I guess that’s about it. There’s probably more but I just haven’t put that much thought into it yet.

I’m very interested in how y’all decide to choose a book to spend your valuable time reading.

  • @dresdenMEnglish
    1•10 months ago

    I don’t usually care about the reviews. I just read book’s Wikipedia page, and see if this is something that looks interesting. Maybe check the “Reception” section if wikipedia page has it, and decide the criticism / praise is something I connect with. If there is no Wikipedia page, check it on LibraryThing, and see the general rating and summary. If it’s an author I have read before, it gets extra points, or negative points if I didn’t like them. Though if I don’t like a book by a writer I just read one or at max two of their most famous / recommended work to see if they are for me, if not, I just black list them.

    As for how to choose which books to read about, first, I look up all the books of any author I like, and try to get those. Other than that, I used to get recommendations from reddit before, now I get them from the weekly threads here. Also, if friends recommend me any book, would also look it up.