Is it just me?

Every Sunday morning, I go to Sarah Weinman's blog to check her round-up of all the major mystery reviews. When I see a book that looks interesting (something I've read, something I plan to read, something I'm curious about), I'll click through and read the review. (Note: I don't usually do this if it's a book I plan to review -- but by the time someone else's review runs, mine would probably be done anyway.)

Lately I've been noticing how much I disagree with the reviews I'm reading. The same thing goes for the PW reviews that I see on Amazon. Reviewers are heaping praise on books that I find to be, at best, merely average -- and often they're much worse than that.

This leaves me wondering: are reviewers getting soft or am I just turning into a grumpy old man?

I don't think I'm being any more curmudgeonly than before. I still find plenty of books that I enjoy and that I would feel comfortable giving glowing reviews, too. But I can't help but be surprised at all the crap that people are heaping praise on.

Same thing for many of the Best of 2006 lists that I read. I thought that last year was just okay for crime fiction; hardly a banner year. There were a lot of good books, but few great ones -- and an awful lot of truly bad ones.

But when I've looked over the lists that people put together, I've seen plenty of titles that that were disappointing, if not mediocre; lots of books that I simply gave up on reading.

So all of this makes me wonder: are reviewers getting soft? Are people becoming reluctant to pan books (or, at least, give mixed reviews to books), unless they're written by Michael Crichton or Thomas Harris?

I know the temptation to over-praise books, subconsciously or otherwise, and I know some of the reasons why it happens. But it seems to me that the plaudits being doled out lately are above and beyond.

Comments

[Dorie]

I have a problem with reviewers over-praising debut books, because they want to give the author a break, I suppose. But as a reader I don't care if it's the author's 1st or 20th book, if a book is described as "great" I expect it to be great. Yet there seems to be a sliding scale. Why the fear of giving first-time authors an honest review? It is a disservice to readers. In years past I would purchase the work of a debut author based on several glowing reviews, but I’ve learned to borrow them from the library first, then purchase the ones I enjoyed. (BTW David, just want to be clear this is not directed at you. This has just been a pet peeve of mine for a while.)

[Elaine Flinn]

You're NOT a grumpy old man - besides, you're not even old.

Top 10 lists? I offer mine on DL - and as a writer - I'm intereted to know just what does strike readers fancy. But I've found - more often than not - they are filled with books in a sub-genre that doesn't appeal to me as a reader.

And I don't think reviewers are getting lazy - I think they're overwhelmed by the sheer number of books being published now - and so many of them are carbon copies with voices that are far from original.

[Lana Lang]

My general impression is that it's more politically correct to say that there is a lot of unrecognized talent out there, as opposed to saying that "90% of everything is crap" which is what Ted Sturgeon used to famously say.

I read a lot, and probably enjoy less than a third of what I read, because most of the stuff is pretty unoriginal and derivative. This is especially true of debuts.

[Clair Lamb]

I'm with you, David -- I was baffled by several of the books that turned up on multiple "Best of" lists. Some of those I could chalk up to differing tastes, but some made me wonder whether the reviewers had actually read many books in 2006.

You've said before that you don't like writing negative reviews; are you reconsidering this position? I've spent the last two weeks going through a pile of paperback originals, and of eight books, I've found ONE that I thought was worth finishing -- and even that one could have used more time with an editor before seeing the light of day.

Negative reviews might hurt authors' feelings, but it's the only way I can think of to hold publishers accountable for putting out crummy stuff. It's no wonder people aren't reading, if this is what they get when they grab a paperback off the grocery store display rack.