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Back cover

I get so curious about what’s on the back copy of novels, I usually hold off on reading it until I’m well into the novel because it’s usally so spoilerific (which I think is a bad idea, why the heck print spoilers on the literal cover?).

I just finished the Swedish Pan 1969 print of Boris Vian’s 1956 L'Automne à Péking (this isn't a review of the book itself. If you're looking for book recos, I have many I like better, like 4x Edelfeldt which is a treasure chest of a book).

When I was like four fifths through, I glanced at the back cover, and I was struck by a huge spoiler. Grumpily, I went back to the book and read on. When I had only a couple of pages left, I decided to look again, and I saw that it revealed the entire ending. I got so mad! I really had to pull teeth to make myself finish the book.

Yeah, we all know that books are about the journey, not the destination. But, that means I wanna undergo the journey as designed, not be struck by the ending way too soon.

Yes, I’m familiar with the 2011 Christenfeld and Leavitt study.

But I’ve tried and tried, I’ve experimented on myself and I just don’t work that way.

From now on, no more back cover reading.

Annika wrote in:

Liminal spaces are precious and you can only experience something for the first time a single time. It’s an experience worth guarding.

One of the reasons I hate being force-fed a movie trailer before a film I’m paying to see.