Jan 14, 2010

Meme: Flapper, or Not?

From Booking Through Thursday, suggested by Prairie Progressive:
Do you read the inside flaps that describe a book before or while reading it?

I had to think about this. I'm kind of all over the place. If it's fiction and brand-new to me, I'll often read the flaps and all blurbs on the back before starting, to get an idea of what I'm in for. If it's an author I'm returning to, I usually skip it because I want to approach the book with an empty slate. Sometimes I go back and read it after I'm done, to see how the flap description matched up with what I thought of the book. Sometimes it seems way off the mark, as if whoever wrote the flap copy didn't even read the entire book!

With nonfiction, I often come up with a question somewhere in the middle of my reading that I think flap copy might answer (usually about the author) and read it then. I have a very old worn copy of Icebound Summer, with an awful-looking dust jacket that I've kept just because the flap copy is informative about the origins of the book itself, and I didn't want to loose that information.

And then there's always books of all descriptions where it never even occurs to me to read the flaps, and I just dive right in. I guess it depends on how much I want to know beforehand, and how informative the flaps might be.

What about you? do you read the flaps?

11 comments:

  1. I prefer other sources. My answer is here: http://www.rundpinne.com/2010/01/booking-through-thursday-14-january.html

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  2. I do sort of the same thing. Sometimes I read the flap and sometimes not. Here's my answer.

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  3. I think it depends for me too! But in my own books, I use the flaps as bookmarks (the library copies are always taped, hehe), so I at least glance at them. :)

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  4. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. It's arbitrary. I guess it depends on my mood.

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  5. So many times, they totally ruin the plot on those flaps. Still, I will browse them if I am picking out a book cold. If I know it has been reviewed well by trusted bloggers, I won't look until I'm done!

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  6. I usually know what I want to buy when I go in the store because I've read about it on blogs, so no, I don't read the flaps.

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  7. I'm a flapper. I usually read the blurbs first before reading a book but nowadays I tend to avoid reading the introduction page because it spoiled the story for me once!!

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  8. Oh yes, I am a flapper. I don't like prologues though for some reason.

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  9. Yes I read them, always beforehand and sometimes during reading to get my head around some conclusions I am making. Am I on the right track, kind of thing.
    By the way, the book you are currently reading, by Nick Trout, I used to work with him in England. It was quite a long time ago but he was a really nice bloke. I have always thought I should get round to reading his book but haven't yet. It'll be interesting to read your thoughts about it.

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  10. I am also in the habit of reading the flap when I get bored with the book, midway.

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  11. Anonymous1/15/2010

    I am a flap reader, period.

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