Here's one that made me stop and say, "Oh, yeah?"KAHAWA [by Donald E. Westlake] is such a splendid huggermugger that if you don't like it, there's something wrong with you...No reader that I will ever want to meet should dare complain. -- John Leonard, New York Times

I once read an essay by an author (sorry, can't remember who it was) who claimed that all the praise from famous authors on the covers of books was just their way of ensuring themselves good reviews in the future from the author in case the book went bestseller. He himself never actually read any of the advance reader copies sent to him for review. He just dipped into them to get an idea of what they were about and then made up some stuff he knew could be read as ambigious so in case the book flopped he could deny ever praising it. After having read some of the overwrought and idiotic stuff in those blurbs I am inclined to believe him.

On the back of Labyrinth by Kate Mosse -

'An action-packed adventure of modern conspiracy and medieval passion...elegantly written...'

Even if you liked this book, I can't imagine calling it elegantly written. I read the first 200 pages as a favor to a friend and was still waiting for the story to begin...action-packed?

Maybe I shouldn't have picked a blurb from a book that I thought was a stinker, but I think that quote from the Independent got placed on the wrong book cover!

On the back of the excellent 'A Gathering Light' (originally titled 'A Northern Light') by Jennifer Donnelly - "If George Clooney had walked in to the room I would have told him to come back later when I'd finished." Sunday Telegraph, female reviewer. No book is THAT good - ever. ;-)

Hee, maybe not, but that is clever!

Blurbs, like so much hyperbole, is meant to attract attention. But it doesn't do so for me. If I am browsing, I usually pick up a book for its title. Then I look at the inside flap for the synopsis, then I read a few paragraphs here and there. But the blurbs are silly to me, like they are in advertisements, political statements, and talk radio. So I ignore them.

I largely ignore blurbs, too. I'd prefer to read the first few pages, then make up my mind. There is so much exaggeration often in the praise, that it turns me off....Often authors and colleagues who are friends have a mutual arrangement to praise each others works.