I won’t lie — there are definitely a few volumes on my bookshelves that are there more because they look interesting/attractive than because of their literary value. Helps to round out my collection of books, in a way.

Cover is the first thing you know about a book and it is a genre-definer. More books are sold because of a well-made cover than because the book is good.

That being said, nowadays few books/authors live up to their initial hype or survive the best-selling lists for a long time. Reading in a certain genre feels like burning matches one after another, and it's making me disillusioned on the industry, to be honest.

Pay wall on the article damn would love to have read it

[removed]

I have a collection of really cute Barbara Pym's, but she's fantastic, so win-win for me.