Aram Sinnreich

Last night I started reading a celebrated genre novel written in the last decade. The more I read, the more I realized that

1) there's something ineffable about this book that I just don't like.

2) I feel like maybe I tried to read it a few years back & came to the same conclusion?

It was strange because both of these feelings were so fuzzy. DID I read it already? It wasn't in my Kindle history. WHY don't I like it? Just, er, reasons.

Have you ever had this sensation?
@bookstodon

Dec 29, 2022 at 2:20pmWeb
Show threadSusanDec 29, 2022
@aramsinn @bookstodon - more than once…it’s the reason I created an e-shelf labeled “quit before finishing” so I can check my reading history and clear that fuzzy feeling.
Show threadNathan Lowell (he/him) 📎Dec 29, 2022

@aramsinn @bookstodon

I used to get the "Wait a minute? Didn't I read this already?" only to find the publisher had changed a cover and re-released it.

I usually can spot why I don't like a story. Clunky dialog. Characters that don't engage me. Purple prose.

"Smart people doing stupid things because the plot requires them to" drives me up the wall.

Sampling has cut most of that out before I commit to reading a book.

Show threadjaymebDec 29, 2022

@aramsinn @bookstodon

I don’t question anymore why I don’t like a book, even when it is so beloved (looking at you Catcher in the Rye). I’ll just put book down and accept myself as the odd one out.

I have yet to read a book again that I forgot I tried to read in the past. Although, I will admit that I recently read a book I enjoyed (Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman) and I can’t remember a single thing about it. That scares me.

Show threadDan EhrenkrantzDec 29, 2022

@jaymeb @aramsinn @bookstodon

A fun example. Catcher in the Rye is all about accepting oneself as the odd one out. You probably didn't need the message as much as others. 😉

Show threadjaymebDec 29, 2022
@de @aramsinn @bookstodon
Ha! I hadn’t even considered that. What a wonderful insight. Thank you!
Show threadbook creatureDec 29, 2022
@aramsinn @bookstodon I feel like you could read anything by Dan Brown and mistake it for a different book by Dan Brown, and there are a few popular but not amazing authors who fall into that category.
Show threadStephanie DrayDec 29, 2022
@bookcreature @aramsinn @bookstodon to be honest, some readers find that very comforting and it helps sales.
Show threadbook creatureDec 29, 2022
@stephaniedray @aramsinn @bookstodon nothing wrong with that. I think I have read 3 Jack Reacher books over the past 10 years.....or could be the same book 3 times, and Im fine with that. I was entertained. Huge, tough, brilliant guy really doesn't want to fight people and solve crimes but unfortunately keeps stumbling into fights and mysteries.
Show threadStephanie DrayDec 29, 2022
@bookcreature @aramsinn @bookstodon I will never rain on anybody's book parade! Reacher is a bit too vigilante for me, but he hits a sweet spot for many. xoxo
Show threadSusannaAuthor Old White HippieDec 29, 2022
@bookcreature @aramsinn @bookstodon John Grisham for the win. . .
Show threadS. Z. Attwell ☕️💻Dec 29, 2022
@aramsinn @bookstodon yes. Once I actually reread a book I had liked and realized I had zero memory - none - of just about the entire middle section. I was also bored reading parts that I vaguely remembered liking before. Very disconcerting feeling. I read to the end, finally remembered that yes I’d read this before and enjoyed it/previously loved the ending…idk what happened. (I have a photographic memory too thank God so realllly don’t know what happened.)
Show threadKam Reads and RecsDec 30, 2022
@bookstodon @aramsinn Yes, but uni trained me to squash that fuzziness right quick. Professors don’t really like it when you write a version of “IDK, the vibes weren’t right” in a paper, so I do research until I find someone who can articulate the fuzziness for me. I don’t have to really do that now, but it’s pretty much reflex for me at this stage so I still do it anyway by googling reviews. Less rigorous, but it’s not like I’m submitting papers.