Category: discussion

Aria @ Book Nook Bits is the new host for Let’s Talk Bookish! If you aren’t following her yet, good check out her blog and give her a follow!

 February 3: Do You Read Reviews and Spoilers Before or After? (Jillian @ Jillian the Bookish Butterfly)

Prompts: Do you like looking at reviews for books before you read them? Is reading reviews important to you when choosing what books to read next? Or do you prefer to wait until after you’ve read a book to look at reviews? Do you ever look at spoilers before you read a book?

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Welcome to another week of LTB here at DTRH, everyone! It’s the first LTB of February so that’s pretty exciting. Today’s topic is a great one, and I really wonder if people will share my opinion on it. Without further ado, let’s begin.

I don’t usually like looking at reviews for books before reading just because I find it a bit of a hassle. Although, if there’s a blogger I really like or usually agree with, I do take those reviews with more weight. However, in general, I like to read the synopsis and look at the book, the title, and the cover, and just kind of see if I am drawn to it. If I am, that kind of forms part of the expectations going in, which I think is fair. Every book has readers who didn’t like it and readers who did like it, so I don’t find too much value from reviews (i.e., ratings) to help me decide on whether to read something. A book can not be rated 5-star by anybody and still be worth reading!

So I kind of answered the next prompt accidentally but I stand by the same statement. It isn’t important to me because I don’t find that I derive a lot of value from it. Answering the next question, I do prefer to wait until I’ve read it to look at reviews and what everyone else thought about it so that I’m not too biased going in. After all, sometimes the hype and expectations of a book is exactly what ruins it! Or at least lowers its perception. I do like finding my own opinion of a book while reading it before finally looking at what others have to say. And when I do, that’s when I can agree or disagree with the general populace, or try and figure out what some people liked and what some other people didn’t like. It’s always so interesting why people like or dislike a book, there are literally so many reasons.

I don’t generally read spoilers before I read a book, but I don’t mind them. Sometimes in a recommendation I’ll also ask my friends to mini-spoil it for me (e.g., does it have a happy ending, etc.). I find that personally, while reading a book, I will be quite absorbed into it and find that I am still shocked by things I explicitly knew, so I never found spoilers to be troublesome (same with spoilers in movies, actually!). So sometimes I want the guarantee of an ending or a style or something else, which warrants a spoiler from someone. Sometimes it’s the spoiler itself with no context that really makes me want to read something to find out more about it—anyone else get that? But generally I won’t go intentionally looking for spoilers before reading a book.

How about you all? Spoilers no spoilers? Reviews? If you do look at reviews before reading, are there certain people you trust to review and share the same tastes? Or do you take an average of what everyone says to decide whether something is worth reading? Let me know in the comments below!

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Aria @ Book Nook Bits is the new host for Let’s Talk Bookish! If you aren’t following her yet, good check out her blog and give her a follow!

January 20: Collecting Books (Zahra The Owl)

Prompts: Do you enjoy collecting books? Do you feel like physical books are overpriced? Do you buy books after you’ve read them to add to your collection? Do you buy special edition collector sets? How invested are you in your book collection? 

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Welcome to another week of LTB here at DTRH! Today’s topic is about collecting books, which I’m sure many of us can relate to. I’d actually be more interested to see if there are bookish peeps who don’t at least want to collect books. Can’t wait to see what you all have to say.

I enjoy collecting books. But like I said, I don’t think that is surprising given the community we’re in here. I would say I’m not an avid book collector though. I have seen people get the works and really go all out on collecting very nice books and creating extravagant bookshelves. If finances weren’t a concern (and space!), I would certainly have more books. I certainly enjoy buying and collecting books, but I wouldn’t place myself at the top of the list of being the most avid book collector though.

I feel like not all physical books are overpriced, in which case, what criteria makes pricing go out of whack? Is it supply and demand? I honestly have no idea and have never looked into the economics of book pricing, but I don’t feel like books are always overpriced…though maybe I have just gotten used to it. I have seen some crazily overpriced books though, but maybe there’s a good reason for them.

I usually buy books before I read them, but if it’s a book I really like I’ll buy it after to add to my collection too. Or if there’s a special version with a new cover, that’s always a good reason to add something to your collection too. It’s not always the right time to be buying a book, so I do pick and choose my moments.

I haven’t really gotten into special edition collector sets. That being said, I have seen some in person and they are gorgeous. But I’ve checked some prices and they’re also exorbitantly expensive. I’m just not sure I can justify at this point in time. It does look ultra nice though, and had I the means, I’d probably consider it. It really is the ultimate decoration on the book shelf (and of course functional too!)

Ultimately, I am currently not overly invested in my book collection. It is something for my bucket list, and something to create as my career progresses, but I am not currently too bogged down in it. I am getting good ideas from my friends who have nice bookshelves and collections though!

How about you all? I know many of you read e-books or listen to audiobooks, but does that preclude a book collection? Let me know in the comments below!

Aria @ Book Nook Bits is the new host for Let’s Talk Bookish! If you aren’t following her yet, good check out her blog and give her a follow!

January 13: Problematic Inspiration (Ikwords @ Words on Key)

Prompts: Can inspiration for a book be problematic? What inspiration would you consider to be problematic? Should an author be canceled because of a perhaps controversial inspiration for their book? In other words, is any kind of inspiration “bad”?

Welcome to another week of LTB here at DTRH, everyone! Today’s topic is one that I’ve sometimes wondered, though not sure if I have ever openly complained about it. But I also wonder if problematic necessarily means bad. I’d love to hear what you all think on this!

I definitely think inspiration for a book can be problematic, but I’m not necessarily sure this is a problem in and of itself. If an inspiration for a book pre-supposes some sort of notion that is inappropriate/problematic, then I would call that a problematic inspiration, although it may not be the case that the book itself automatically becomes problematic. It could be a book that tries to combat the status quo or take a presupposition to take it down. In these cases I think it’s probably okay that there was a problematic inspiration.

I think something like a very racist sentiment being the underlying inspiration could be an example of something problematic. But again, I think it probably comes down more to how the book is executed that determines whether it is problematic or not. In addition, something having a problematic inspiration may not always necessarily be written out in a way that is problematic, so in a way it doesn’t matter what the inspiration was. That of course all changes if you announce your inspiration…but I hope authors would be smart enough to keep such sentiments to themselves if so.

Should an author be canceled for these inspirations…probably. If we accept and condone it, we are basically accepting their problematic viewpoints. One particularly famous author comes to mind. Although if the inspiration is just controversial and not actually wholly accepted as problematic, there’s no need to cancel them at that point. I think discussion is healthy and we should all be open-minded to both sides of a situation/perspective and to make judgments for ourselves.

I don’t think any kind of inspiration is “bad” in and of itself for a book. It really depends what stems from it and how the book is executed and written. For example, a book about all women being weak and needy stemming from the same inspiration is not likely something I would support. But if that initial thought made the author think to write about a protagonist combating that exact mentality…even if the inspiration was that they personally thought that all women were weak and needy…I think that we shouldn’t judge the book by its inspiration necessarily. Although if it is announced by the author themselves…then I think that should probably fall on the reflection of the book.

Hopefully that’s not too unfair. What do you all think about problematic inspirations in books? Is it the books themselves or the authors that are the problem…? Let me know in the comments below!