Let's start the polls again this year.
So far, in my totally non scientific research about the fantasy readers practices and tastes, I observed the following :
The fantasy literature readers like to read epigraphs at the start of a chapter, only a minority of them are also audiobook listeners, most of them were introduced to the genre (here we can almost add the 'epic' specification) by Tolkien work, they prefer series over stand alone novels, they like to have maps included in their books, they have bought at least one book for the cover alone and they 'will/want to/have' read The Gathering Storm by Brandon Sanderson and Robert Jordan.
I could have added that Anomander Rake is the best Malazan swordman but that poll was at the beginning of the blog with only 6 votes.... :)
So then, we have a glimpse of the general definition of a fantasy reader. It probably doesn't apply to all but still ... interesting to see.
To continue on, here's the next question :
Do you finish all the books you start reading?So far, in my totally non scientific research about the fantasy readers practices and tastes, I observed the following :
The fantasy literature readers like to read epigraphs at the start of a chapter, only a minority of them are also audiobook listeners, most of them were introduced to the genre (here we can almost add the 'epic' specification) by Tolkien work, they prefer series over stand alone novels, they like to have maps included in their books, they have bought at least one book for the cover alone and they 'will/want to/have' read The Gathering Storm by Brandon Sanderson and Robert Jordan.
I could have added that Anomander Rake is the best Malazan swordman but that poll was at the beginning of the blog with only 6 votes.... :)
So then, we have a glimpse of the general definition of a fantasy reader. It probably doesn't apply to all but still ... interesting to see.
To continue on, here's the next question :
For myself, it's a no, although it was not so in the past. I used to finish all the books I started but with the quantity and quality of fantasy novels in the market these days, a bad book or a book not to my taste will not last long.
I finish pretty much everything I start. Partly because I have read enough books by now to be able to predict fairly accurately what I will like and partly because I read a lot for review and I don't want to review a book I haven't finished.
ReplyDeleteOccasional I take a chance on a book and read something way out of my comfort zone. If I end up not finishing a book it is usually one in this categorie. This happened exactly once last year and I am pretty sure I will go back and give this book another shot later this year.
You're right about predicting what we like, I had not thought of it. However, sometimes when someone highly recommend a book I'm not sure about I'll give it a try even though it doesn't seem my type.
ReplyDeleteThe last book I put down was Lord Foul's Bane by Stephen Donaldson and I'm not sure I'll give it another try...
What is the book you put down?
Neuromancer by William Gibson, after about 50 pages I think. I've been picking up some of the big books in science fiction recently and I liked a lot of what I read. I'm currently reading Frederik Pohl. Neuromancer is part of that experiment as well but it failed to grab me and I moved on to something else.
ReplyDeleteI gave Donaldson a go a couple of years ago and didn't like that either. I don't think I'll go back to that book.
I takes some time before I decide whether to buy a book or not. So this is the first decision. Normally a book gets a 50 page chance. Then I decide whether to continue reading or not.
ReplyDeleteThere was only one book in the past three years which I didn't finish - A crack in the edge of the world by Simon Winchester.
That means I choose my books very well.
edi, I admit that one book in three years is a good ratio, I think it's almost the same for me :)
ReplyDelete50 pages is surely enough for most books to know if it's worth reading, I can't think of a book that became way better after 50 pages...