I have no interest in changing your mind, but just as a counterpoint, your complaints about "The Goldfinch" (which I loved) are precisely what I hated about "All the Light We Cannot See" - started out strong but immediately lost its way, all flash and no substance, trope-y with no new ideas, the WWII setting gave it a veneer of seriousness that it didn't deserve, and a terribly schlocky ending. There's no accounting for taste, even on major prize committees.

This has a lot to do with how books are printed and bound - it's typically cheaper and more efficient to print the photo sections (which often use a different paper stock than the rest of the book) and then bundle and bind those in the center of the whole book. So it's less a question of editing and more a necessary evil to minimize production costs and maximize profits on the sale price.

Thank you!

Same - I give stars on Goodreads because it helps me remember (especially if someone asks for a rec) what I really loved and what was fair-to-middling. But I read for fun, not as a literary critic, and I don't need an incredibly specific rating system.

Would you mind sharing the new release you're talking about? Thank you!

Any kind of animal abuse. I love Celeste Ng but I'm going to skip "Our Missing Hearts" because one of the reviews mentioned an upsetting animal death. I'm sure it's a tiny part of the book but I know it's there and it's completely put me off.

For violence and abuse toward humans, it depends on how it's handled and how graphic it is. There's nothing specific I avoid on principle but I will quit a book if it feels gratuitous. Authors have a right to tell those kinds of stories and I have a right not to engage with the content if it crosses a personal boundary.

I typically don't read horror as a genre (not never, but very very rarely) because if it's too scary I have to sleep with the lights on :)

I'm excited! My favorite Rushdie is "The Enchantress of Florence," a sparkling gem of a book.

Confession: I've started "Midnight's Children" 3 or 4 times and while I always get a little further on the re-reads, I've never managed to finish it.

I think you really missed something in those first 48 pages because Fitzgerald makes it very clear that Amory is awful and you're not supposed to like or admire him, and this is meaningful to the character's emotional journey in the remaining (checks paperback) 154 pages.