Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die discussion

Do any of you read the Forewards, Introductions etc of the author's who are doing the translating of the foreign books? Does it enhance the reading experience or is it for the most part unnecessary? Just curious as the opinions about this.

Thanks!

I always start to read the intros/forwards whether by the author himself or by another. I always finish the ones by the author, but as to others, if they are more than 6-8 pages, I might abandon them, especially if they seem to get a bit spoilerish.

I don't read anything about the books - intros/forewords/blurbs/back of the book summaries/reviews, you name it.

Ursula wrote: "I don't read anything about the books - intros/forewords/blurbs/back of the book summaries/reviews, you name it."

How do you decide which books to read?

Ursula wrote: "I don't read anything about the books - intros/forewords/blurbs/back of the book summaries/reviews, you name it."

Interesting. Any particular reason why? I always read the blurb so I have an idea of what I'm going to be reading. I'd be interested to hear your reasoning behind not reading any of the "extra material".

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "I always start to read the intros/forwards whether by the author himself or by another. I always finish the ones by the author, but as to others, if they are more than 6-8 pages, I might abandon th..."

Have you found the intro's etc by the author's informative and interesting? What made you decide to read the added information?

Kayla wrote: "Have you found the intro's etc by the author's informative and interesting? What made you decide to read the added information? "

I have usually found the introductory material by the author fascinating. They often give background information about how the idea for the book came about or tell something about what the author was trying to accomplish in writing the book. Once I started reading some of those (and I didn't for many many years), I almost automatically started reading the intros by others. Again, there is background information, or biographical information about the author that adds to my reading of the books themselves. Sometimes an intro will address other works that were being published about the same time or historical information that I'm too lazy to get by reading an actual history.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: How do you decide which books to read?"

They're all on the list, right? So I read whichever one comes into my hands, or looks appealing at the moment based on author, time period, title, or whim.

Ursula wrote: "Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: How do you decide which books to read?"

They're all on the list, right? So I read whichever one comes into my hands, or looks appealing at the moment based on author, tim..."

So you only read list books? How did you know these books would interest you?

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Kayla wrote: "Have you found the intro's etc by the author's informative and interesting? What made you decide to read the added information? "

I have usually found the introductory material by th..."
Great! Thank you!

Kayla wrote: "Interesting. Any particular reason why? I always read the blurb so ..."

I just got tired of reading spoilers in summaries and intros. The backs of books are a lot like movie trailers - they tell you what the book is about in the most slanted way possible to make you want to read it, and if they don't spoil anything, they don't tend to tell you anything of real value.

I prefer to see what I get out of a book on my own; I read all of that stuff after I finish the book.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "So you only read list books? How did you know these books would interest you?"
I didn't say that, but the group is for the list, so I answered with that in mind.

Ursula wrote: "Kayla wrote: "Interesting. Any particular reason why? I always read the blurb so ..."

I just got tired of reading spoilers in summaries and intros. The backs of books are a lot like movie trailers..."
An interesting perspective. then you're able to look back and see how the book compared to what they said it would be. I don't think i could do that, while I don't normally read any extra material, i do read the blurbs because I have to know what I'm getting into. It drives me crazy otherwise lol.

Ursula wrote: "Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "So you only read list books? How did you know these books would interest you?"
I didn't say that, but the group is for the list, so I answered with that in mind."

And I came back to apologize because I was sounding as if I didn't believe you. I do believe you and I've heard this approach to reading before. I don't think I could do it, though, and I find myself curious.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "And I came back to apologize because I was sounding as if I didn't believe you. I do believe you and I've heard this approach to reading before. I don't think I could do it, though, and I find myself curious."

The hazards of online communication. :) I started doing it about a year ago because as I mentioned, I truly just got tired of spoilers. And also of the really awful-sounding text on the backs of books. Girl is independent, tragic event occurs, she meets man/old woman/child/mysterious stranger who changes her outlook on life... You know the drill, it's like a Mad Libs construction of plots. Read a few of them (even for "good" books) out loud in a movie announcer voice and you might see what I mean. ;)

In non-list life, I do spend enough time here and on LibraryThing to see titles go by repeatedly, that sort of thing. I pick things up if the title or author strikes me. Or I judge a book by a cover. ;) Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad, but it all leads me in directions one way or another!

And for classics, I guess I started hating being told what to think before I even read the book. I don't always pick up things on my own, but at least I get the chance to try.

Ursula wrote: "Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "And I came back to apologize because I was sounding as if I didn't believe you. I do believe you and I've heard this approach to reading before. I don't think I could do ..."

I'm usually pleasantly surprised when I judge a book by it's cover in terms of the ones I do select (of course there have been some doozies I could have lived without lol) but I often wonder when I do that, what gems I'm missing out on you know?

But I totally get the cliche'd blurb, it's just an OCD thing with me. I sometimes find myself reading the blurb throughout the book just to remind myself of what it's about (mostly because I tend to read more than one book at a time lol.)

Ursula wrote: " I pick things up if the title or author strikes me. Or I judge a book by a cover. ;) "

That was how I chose books before Goodreads. (Especially title/cover, and I think now "how could I have done that?")

One of the things I did this morning when considering a book was to go to the "Readers also enjoyed" section here. I laughed out loud. The first 10 books on the list I had either already read or I had marked as "wish list" - apparently I'm beginning to fall into a pattern.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Ursula wrote: " I pick things up if the title or author strikes me. Or I judge a book by a cover. ;) "

That was how I chose books before Goodreads. (Especially title/cover, and I think now "how co..."

I have this same "issue". That's why I started taking on the List challenge etc. I wanted to get out of my reading comfort zone and expand my literary knowledge :-)

Kayla wrote: "I'm usually pleasantly surprised when I judge a book by it's cover in terms of the ones I do select (of course there have been some doozies I could have lived without lol) but I often wonder when I do that, what gems I'm missing out on you know?"

The answer is usually "not many," haha. But they do exist. I used to work in bookstores, so I have a pretty good stockpile of ideas about books and authors to help me make decisions. If I'd been dropped on the planet full-grown and told I couldn't use any of the written material to make decisions about what to read, I'd probably be in trouble.

I won't monopolize things because I'm way on the weird side on this one, and hopefully you get more useful answers, but I will say that sometimes when I finish something and say "huh, I don't get it," I end up reading a lot more info on it than I would have if I went into it with some preconceived notions about how to judge it. But as with everything, I think we all just have to find out what works for us.

If you don't have a high tolerance for internally screaming "Where is he/she going with this?!" (especially with list books), it's probably not the method for you! ;)

Ursula wrote: "Kayla wrote: "I'm usually pleasantly surprised when I judge a book by it's cover in terms of the ones I do select (of course there have been some doozies I could have lived without lol) but I often..."

I appreciate your opinions nonetheless. They've been extremely helpful :-)

I read everything on a book--back, inside flaps, introductions, prologues--everything. I don't mind that the introductions "spoil" the plot because I'm very seldom ever surprised by a plot to begin with. I especially like to read the translator's note because it gives me an idea of their philosophy. For example, I was extremely disappointed by a translation of Rousseau I recently read because the translator admittedly skipped whole chapters because he didn't think they were necessary. Hmm. On the other hand, my book club recently read Madame Bovary and we all had a different translator. I knew that my translator tried really hard to retain the original, and I think my version was the best. I had a much different experience of the book than my friends had.

Bottom line, as an autodidact, I think every little bit of information is helpful.

Kayla wrote: "Ursula wrote: "Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "And I came back to apologize because I was sounding as if I didn't believe you. I do believe you and I've heard this approach to reading before. I don't th..."

I totally understand the OCD thing. I think that's probably the main reason why I read everything. I've also learned to be suspicious of books that have no blurbs about the book that is currently in my hands but, rather, the last book by the same author. Not a good sign! There's also the issue of expectations. If there are ten pages of blurbs saying this is the best book ever written, I'm bound to be disappointed.

But, especially when it comes to books that were written more than 100 years ago or in a language I don't read, I do find value in the introductions.

A conversation in the "what did you finish" thread prompted me to look at one of my reviews. How often does one conversation tie to another? In any case, this is a paragraph from my review of Daisy Miller that seems pertinent to this conversation:

This is very short and could easily be read in one sitting. The edition I read included an introduction by James. Also included was a letter from Eliza Lynn Linton in which she asked him to discuss Daisy's motivation - was she innocent or defiant. What was so interesting about this is James' analysis of Daisy's personality - analysis that most certainly was not included in the novel. This letter gave us the opportunity to see a bit of the inner workings of the novelist himself.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "A conversation in the "what did you finish" thread prompted me to look at one of my reviews. How often does one conversation tie to another? In any case, this is a paragraph from my review of [boo..."

that's actually really cool. I think you've convinced me to start reading them at least when it's written by the author themselves. Thanks Elizabeth!

Tej wrote: "Kayla wrote: "Ursula wrote: "Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "And I came back to apologize because I was sounding as if I didn't believe you. I do believe you and I've heard this approach to reading befo..."

Exactly! Thanks Tej!

I'll read intros written by an author, but rarely by another writer. Especially when it's an intro to a "classic" they assume everyone's already read, they often spoil major plot events! Depending on my mood, I might go back and read them after I'm done with the book or I might not.

There's been a few times the intro has had something I really wished I'd known before starting a book, but there's plenty more times that it gave away the ending.

Ursula wrote: "I just got tired of reading spoilers in summaries and intros. The backs of books are a lot like movie trailers..."

I completely understand and you're not alone. I've seen blurbs that give away major plot twists that happen just before the climax! Either that, or they're so off that you have to question if they're even about the same book!

I often won't read blurbs if it's an author I'm familiar with. Otherwise, I'll take a leap of faith - either based on a friend's rec or a list it's on or an award it's gotten... Another thing I'll do is purchase the book based on a blurb and then let it languish on my shelf for long enough for me to forget all but the barest gist of what it's about. As long as I have a general idea of what genre it is and era/country the author is from, that usually gives me enough info to let me know when I'm in the mood for it.

That's one reason why I like Goodreads. I've found several friends here with extremely similar tastes to mine that I can trust to write non-spoilery reviews, and then if two or three of them are all enthusiastic about a particular book and no one seems to be thumbing their nose at it, I'll give it a try.