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.
I just want to be entertained and usually this means I will pick a book by the genre I most fancy reading more than anything else. I get a lot of in person recommendations so I tend to stick with those, I know who I can listen to and who to ignore by now from my friendship group.
Generally I don't like reading or supporting work from problematic authors, unless I am going to find their work ironically funny, this was me with the Wind up bird Chronicles. The book is a lovely read but the main character is just awfully written and completely illogical, it's wholly in line with the criticism of the author.