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Comment by xhevahir | Hacker News Reader

Being American, I've been put off by the French (or maybe just Gallimard's?) way of doing things, which is to put the author's name in very bold print on the front, and on the back a short passage from the book which may or may not be representative of the book as a whole. Am I supposed to infer from the style of those few sentences whether the book is going to be good? Because as a non-native reader of French I don't feel competent to do that. (And I doubt that many readers can.) And all those cream or off-white covers! Don't get me started.

Having said that, the last American book I bought after studying the blurb and the award medallion was bad enough that I didn't finish reading it.

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Since so many French (and not just French) books are sold shrink-wrapped, the only way to get any idea of the book's style is either the except from the text on the back or from the author (as in you already like X's writing). You must literally judge a book by its cover.

Quite a few bookshops discourage you from opening the wrapper, especially, I find, in Germany for some reason.

Why on Earth are they shrink wrapped? In a Barnes and Noble store in the US it is not unheard of for people to pick a book off a shelf in the store, sit in a comfy chair or in the cafe, read for awhile, and then put it back when they are done. I did this quite a bit when I was dead broke many years ago.

One suspects the stores in France (and I've seen the shrink-wrap when I was in Germany too) want to avoid people doing exactly what you did. Granted, I did exactly the same thing as a teenager in the US. In big stores like Barnes & Noble the staff mostly let me read in peace, but in smaller stores the staff/owner would make some comment like "This isn't a public library! Buy it or get out!" after a few minutes of reading.

Can't read in the public library anymore. Your only hope is a university library that happens to be a government depository library as they have to let you in.

https://mu7ami.micro.blog/2021/07/19/library-blues.html

I've often heard that hysteria, but it seems overblown in my experience in the Washington, DC area. Yes, you will likely see a homeless person or two when you go to the library, especially when the weather is bad, but they certainly haven't "taken over" the library or generally bother anyone using the library for its intended purpose.

One of those cultural things, such as giving out a single tiny paper napkin when you buy an ice cream (rather than letting you take as many as you like) or the folks who switch off power to their apartment when they go out for the day.

Instead of an abundance mentality (let them browse the books: they might buy more than one, and it least are likely to be more satisfied) it's a zero sum (they might look into the book, read what they want, and then buy nothing).

I buy a lot of used books and of course this shrinkwrap nonsense doesn't apply there.

I don't see this in English speaking countries, India, Japan, or China; I do see it common in France and Germany. I don't buy books in other countries so can't say.

I don't know. I remember going into a bookshop somewhere in Australia and most of the books were shrink-wrapped. I saw a few I was interested in, so I wrote the titles down for later investigation.

If I had been able to read a couple of sample pages, as I often do prior to buying a book, I would likely have bought some.

That's because you can no longer do this in local libraries, which have become day care centers for the homeless:

https://mu7ami.micro.blog/2021/07/19/library-blues.html

Funny. I find the short passage more telling than "Awesome, a masterpiece (John Doe)". But the short passage is rare and more "litterary". Usually, it’s a summary of the book (often written by the author himself/herself). Summary is, IMHO, the best way to judge a book. The worst being a summary that spoils the book (yeah, it happens…).

> Am I supposed to infer from the style of those few sentences whether the book is going to be good?

Well.. yes. It's obviously not the best way but it's clearly better than inferring from universally positive blurbs that you get otherwise (hence this article). Have you ever seen a blurb "this book is okish"?

How is that any different from US books?

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