Armchair Book Expo Day 2:
What Do Readers Want?: What makes or breaks a book? How do we rate the books, or determine if it is good literature or a good story? What do we want from an author event? How does diversity representation fit into all of this?
For me, what makes a book:
-
very good style: beautiful and diversity of sentences (not all built on the same grammar mode – I have seen that!!), rich vocabulary, lively and true to life dialogs
-
unexpected twists
-
original plot
-
for audiobooks: a narrator that makes you believe he/she’s telling a story, not reading it to you; who uses different voices and accents for the characters
For me, what breaks a book:
-
same type of plot in the different books of a series
-
pace not matching the genre – fine with very slow uneventful book if it’s literary fiction, but not for a thriller, for instance
-
too many f* words and the like
-
too many typos, especially when trying to insert French words or expressions!
-
for audiobooks: dull voice, dull intention; voice sounding too old or too young for the main character; mispronunciation of French words (please professional, do your homework!)
-
the cover sometimes! Some marketers focus on a type of cover which is totally unappealing to me and makes me want to flee, whereas when I discover what it’s about, I’m interested
Diversity:
-
Right now, diversity for me means access to more foreign literature. More and more presses are trying to publish books in translation, I think it’s getting better. When I read books related to 52 countries for a special challenge, I discovered how rich it can be to perceive the difference of style between authors of various countries.
Let’s Collaborate & Listen: The online book community has changed so much over the years. How do we keep up within our own book-sphere as well as within the community as a whole (i.e., libraries, bookstores, authors, publishers, etc.)?
Personally, right now, I focus on:
-
visiting other blogs – though I have not done much recently
-
social media – mostly Twitter. A bit Instagram, Youtube, Facebook
-
a few local bookstores
-
the book club I founded; and sometimes book clubs at my local library
ANY IDEAS YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE?
Save
Save
Save
Save
Save
Save
Save
Like this:
Like Loading...
Related
Words And Peace 
One of the worst audiobooks I ever listened to the narrator yawned while reading. It wasn’t an in character yawn, it was just the narrator being bored by what he was performing!
Armchair Book Expo day 2: What do readers want? and Collaboration
LikeLike
OMG!!! Unbelievable!
LikeLike
Sometimes it can feel like the same plot is being recycled over and over again. I definitely like it when we pick up a book that’s truly unique. I’ve only listened to one audiobook, so I don’t have too much experience, but do you ever find yourself rating a book lower because of the narrator or can you separate the story from said narrator?
LikeLike
Yeah, especially in some series, the author is too predictable…
Audiobook rating: good question. I mostly rate the book itself, but if the audio performance is terrible, I won’t give a 5, for sure. In my reviews of audiobooks, I always make a special section for the audio performance, so I can explain there the difference between content and audio quality.
Also, after a few bad experiences, I now NEVER check out an audiobook before listening to an excerpt before. I don’t use Audible, way too expensive, but I go there to listen to excerpts, no need of login for that. And usually you have several narrators for the same book. so I do that, and then I request at my library the one with the best narrator.
Also, I listen to a lot of audios through Hoopla (a free service offered by many US publica libraries). They often have several narrators for the same book, so I look on audible to choose the best of the ones available on hoopla. That’s how I ended up choosing Simon Prebble to listen to the complete works of Sherlock Holmes. He’s fantastic
LikeLiked by 1 person
There’s so much I don’t know about audiobooks!
LikeLike
it’s a wonderful world… when it’s well done of course
LikeLiked by 1 person
A thoughtful response! i did not write a post on this topic, but I agree about the style point – and the pace that suits the book. I love distinctive stories (but not too weird). Also agree about the f-word. Boring and off-putting.
LikeLike
boring, exactly, as if the author had not expanded his/her vocabulary yet
LikeLiked by 1 person
Awesome thoughts! Thanks for sharing this post 🙂
Armchair BEA Cafinated Reads Day 2
LikeLike
thanks for visiting, I hope you enjoy this week
LikeLike
I’m a total sucker for unexpected plot twists!
LikeLike
me too, for me, that’s a major proof of the author’s creativity… or lack of!
LikeLike
Interesting point about audiobooks – I don’t listen to them but I think having someone narrate as if they’re really telling a story, not just reading it, would make a significant difference in my enjoyment of the audiobook.
LikeLike
i think that’s exactly how it should always be done!
LikeLike
I totally agree with you on different plot lines. I feel if the plot is to similar to something I read it just doesn’t grab me. I also agree with you on audio-books if the narrator isn’t great it just doesn’t do it for me.
LikeLike
yep
LikeLike