I have mixed feelings on reading jacket flaps and back-cover-blurbs-and-summaries. On the one hand, they can "sell" a book (either in a store or a library) by sounding tempting and promising. They can raise and lower expectations. If they're accurate, they can help convey tone. They offer just a taste of what the book offers the reader. But. They can also be inaccurate. They can give too much away. They can give books the wrong spin. They can emphasize unimportant things at the cost of capturing what a book is *really* about. They can be too ego-boosting if they use words like "instant classic" and "timeless" and "unforgettable." And any time you need a jacket flap to tell you that the writer is "compelling" or "engrossing" or "lyrical" well, it makes me a bit skeptical. I like to decide that for myself.
Suggested by Prairie Progressive:
Do you read the inside flaps that describe a book before or while reading it?
So in a way I prefer to let the book speak for itself. To judge a book's appeal based on the first few pages, the first few paragraphs, that all-important first sentence. So while I may read the flap at some point, I rarely let it factor into my decision-making.
© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
10 comments:
I most definitely am a flapper. I will say that one of my pet peeves is having poorly written jacket flaps and they are not uncommon in young adult fiction. It blows my mind that a publisher, who is putting out a lot of money to have a book published, doesn't take care when choosing the cover or having the jacket flap written when those two things are often what sells a book.
I confess. I am a flapper. I usually buy my books from Amazon online. All I have to go on is the cover and the Product Description which is usually the back cover copy. Sometimes I wonder if the person who wrote it actally read the book though.
I had answered this on another blog.
But I read a book from cover to cover, I enjoy reading all of the pages and gaining knowledge about a book. I enjoy reading the reviews that are in some books and who wrote them. I look for the verbs that the reviewers use and how they express themselves. I love it when author interviews are included in the book.
I don't feel that by me reading others impressions persuades me to make a judgment.
Hm,m. It has been so-o long since I browsed books in an bookstore with no real purpose. I'm such a review junkie that when I'm in a bookstore, I can usually recall what the book is about. But I have to say that I probably am a flap and back reader.
Brenda
I guess I am a semi flapper. If it is an author or book I've never heard about and it's mostly in book stores where I'll read them. You made excellent points with some of them being inaccurate or giving too much away and most especially over sell. I like to make up my mind too on books.
I am a flapper. I want to learn about a book before I read it. But I don't judge a book by the contents of jacket flaps!
I'm definitely a flapper. And I encourage students to read flaps too. We already judge books by their covers (oh, c'mon, you know you do... at least a little), so I'm all for reading the flap for a small taste of the book. Usually, that's enough for me. But it doesn't take much to sell me on a book. :)
I agree with Paige--I read flaps but I think they could be written with much more care, in many cases, for YA books. However, if I'm at the library or the bookstore and a random book attracts my eye, I do tend to check out blurb copy, and, secondarily, any testimonials. I try not to let it affect my judgment of a book, but of course, if the blurb doesn't draw me in...
I will admit to reading most jacket flaps... but it's really, really likely that I've already read reviews of the book before it's in my hands. So I'm not sure that blurb really makes or breaks it for me. I'll agree that there are some interesting ones out there.
Despite the occasional flap revealing info that I had rather not know before reading the book, I still find myself reading flaps and back covers before I buy/read any book. Just have a natural curiousity, I guess. I don't mind terms like "unforgettable", "engrossing", etc. if they come from someone I think actually read the book and means it. I use those words myself. I think when things grab us like that it is hard not to use those kind of descriptors. That being said, book covers are all about advertising, and so those words/phrases have to be met with some healthy skepticism, I think.
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