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.
If the blurb is intriguing and if there are not (m)any negative reviews that say the book is a waste of time, I’ll try. Intriguing to me is any concept that is a sort of what if scenario that is of interest to me. The more I’m intrigued by the concept, the more I’m likely to ignore bad reviews. That’s it. I’m a simple man, I guess.
Example: I read a couple of Meg books because of the premise. What if there is a layer at the bottom of the ocean that preserves extinct marine life there? The books ended up meh, but that was a neat concept that made you think.
Meg has books!? I should look them up! Are they any good?
I agree with your point. For example, for some reason I don’t like Stephen King’s books, have read a few, just think they would’ve been much better if they were half as long. Still got one of his book recently (Sleeping Beauties), because I liked the premise. Haven’t read it yet though, so not sure if I would actually enjoy it or not.
And I love Stephen King. I haven’t read all his books, but he’s my top author. Contrary to what you think, his best books are his longest books. He excels in weaving the mundane background stuff that immerse you deeply into the world. My favorites are It, 11/22/63, the fist 2/3rds of The Stand. Doctor Strange, The Shining, Green Mile, Billy Summers, Pet Sematary, Carrie, Cell are also great. I didn’t like his Institute much, because it felt like that book was about 500 pages too short. Have you checked any of these books out? If not I’d strongly recommend you do.
Out of these I have only read The Stand, and I thought it would have been a great book if it was 2/3rd of the total length 😀 .
I actually read King when I was pretty young, it’s possible I would like him when I read him now. I have heard of It and have been thinking of getting it, but will add rest of the books to the list too, and get whichever one or two I can easily find.
Thanks for the recommendations.
The reason I didn’t like the last third of the book was that the concept of the virus itself was enough horror, and the first third of the book is the most relatable horror especially after covid. There was no reason or place for a supernatural horror. That aspect ruined the flow for me.
Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Though when I read it long time ago, when there was no sign of Covid, it might be interesting to read it now.
Yeah there’s like half a dozen books. I only read the first two though. The author Steve Alten has written a lot of off the wall concept books. He has a Loch series which is about the Loch Ness monster. I think there is even a crossover novel with the loch and the meg. There is even a novel about a human given shark genes. Most of the books have intriguing concepts but mediocre writing (I’ve read I think 5 books of his), but his Omega Project is a pure science fiction that was awesome. I can’t even give you a one line story. It’s very complex. That is his first book I listened by chance and all the others were to see if he wrote anything else comparable.
Ah, cool, will look it up. Thanks!