Kobo loyalty program: lousy selection for annual free bonus book

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Because it is your fault we are bored. You and you alone are solely responsible for housewives being bored.

*PS: I happen to be a domestic engineer and have never been bored.
Well I take that back, but the bored had nothing to do with the house or being a wife.

You have to blame my wife for that. I would never cheat on her. That's why all those housewives remain unsatisfied and bored.

[RobertJSawyer]

Originally Posted by shalym

Or were you talking about "manly" military sci-fi?

Absolutely not.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

You have to blame my wife for that. I would never cheat on her. That's why all those housewives remain unsatisfied and bored.

I wasn't even thinking that.
Thanks for the laugh.
I shall thank not blame your wife.

[GeoffR]

This is my third year in the VIP scheme, I get enough extra super points to make it worthwhile joining, so the free book is just a bonus. The lists are country-specific I think, at least the book I chose this year doesn't seem to be on the OP's list. This has been my experience with the New Zealand lists:

The first year I thought the free book selection was quite good, there were a number published by Atlantic books on the list, I chose Dark Eden by Chris Beckett and it was well worth reading.

The second year there was nothing I had even the slightest interest in.

This year's list has recently added a few published by Canada's Dundurn Press, I chose Strange Things Done by Elle Wild, I haven't read it so we'll see[*]. (The setting is intersting to me at least, I got to Dawson City in spring, before the river had thawed, while hitch-hiking around Canada when I was younger,)

Edit: The lists do seem short on science fiction and long on romance and cosy mystery though.

Edit:[*] Now read it, it was nothing special.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

You have to blame my wife for that. I would never cheat on her. That's why all those housewives remain unsatisfied and bored.

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

I wasn't even thinking that.
Thanks for the laugh.
I shall thank not blame your wife.

To quote from Thorne Smith's The Stray Lamb,:

“Now I wonder,” she said musingly, “just who that fish is panning. Are you by chance an adulterer, Thomas?”
Thomas looked really pleased.
“While my wife was alive, Miss Hebe,” he explained, “she was a just but exacting woman. I had neither the time nor the energy, miss.”



I first read his books more years ago than I care to think about and like Jerome K. Jerome's books, I still enjoy re-reading them.

[Byrdie]

Long on romance maybe but they're all hetero romances. Not for me -- yes I have tried and they still either bore me to tears or else are wall bangers. Sometimes even both. A couple of the cozy mysteries look promising but not much else. Science fiction pickings are very slim, and I don't think there's a western in the bunch. Not real westerns anyway, not talking about the sort that seems to have overrun my library's Western category on Overdrive. :shudder:

[tea2]

Ugh. Agreed. I answered their questionnaire on the program to complain about this specifically. I don't even mind romance on occasion, but there's *maybe* one book I would read on that list. I think we should get something from our wishlists that's VIP eligible (with a max point limit of 6800 or something like that).

[meeera]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I can understand some romance being in the selection. But I cannot understand it being mostly romance.

Romance and crime sell. So it's not at all surprising that they dominate that list. As for the rest of your remarks, a touch of Wheaton's Law is called for, I think.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by meeera

Romance and crime sell. So it's not at all surprising that they dominate that list. As for the rest of your remarks, a touch of Wheaton's Law is called for, I think.

For those of us that don't read romance, the selection is pretty poor. It needs to cater for more reading tastes.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

For those of us that don't read romance, the selection is pretty poor. It needs to cater for more reading tastes.

Make 1 person happy and disappoint 10 or make 10 people happy and leave 1 wanting more. I think I would rather have 10 happy people.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Make 1 person happy and disappoint 10 or make 10 people happy and leave 1 wanting more. I think I would rather have 10 happy people.

Even if 25% were romance, 25% mystery/thriller, 25% SF/fantasy, and 25% other then more people would be happy. There are a lot of people who read who do not read romance and Kobo should cater for a wider variety of people.

If I'm that one, I'll tell people I know (who do not read romance) about this and they might not join. Thus, Kobo makes more than 1 person unhappy and they lose business they otherwise might not have lost.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Even if 25% were romance, 25% mystery/thriller, 25% SF/fantasy, and 25% other then more people would be happy. There are a lot of people who read who do not read romance and Kobo should cater for a wider variety of people.

If I'm that one, I'll tell people I know (who do not read romance) about this and they might not join. Thus, Kobo makes more than 1 person unhappy and they lose business they otherwise might not have lost.

I will give you that, but if 10 romance readers tell 1 person each that Kobo is great. We still have more happys than unhappys.

[bgalbrecht]

Originally Posted by shalym

The Night Parade doesn't look too bad--granted, I'm not a man, but I am "grown" and I like science fiction. Or were you talking about "manly" military sci-fi? If so, what about Broken Glass?

Either of those would be appealing to me, but again, I'm not a man. Just a woman who likes Science Fiction (and mysteries, and thrillers, and horror, and biographies, and history, and almost anything else I can read)

Shari

I picked up The Night Parade as my free book, and I thought it was pretty good horror novel. End of the world apocalypse by disease, with a little daughter who might be immune (and then some). Also, the selections do change during the year. When I joined there were a few Lonely Planet selections, and I'm pretty sure there were other additions and subtractions.

[tiltowait]

Honestly, I'd be happy just with the ability to filter out romance novels. I'm never going to buy one of those books, and they likely keep me from buying other books! I'm sure I've missed out on deals on books I'd like, simply because they were nestled in between two books whose covers were simply the bare chests of shirtless men and I skipped over them.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Byrdie

Long on romance maybe but they're all hetero romances. Not for me -- yes I have tried and they still either bore me to tears or else are wall bangers.

In this instance, I don't understand the usage of 'wall banger'. Considering the genre we're talking about, maybe ignorance is bliss

...and I don't think there's a western in the bunch. Not real westerns anyway, not talking about the sort that seems to have overrun my library's Western category on Overdrive. :shudder:

What do you consider 'real westerns'? I read westerns from time to time and am always looking to expand my horizons.

I've found I really enjoy the books written by a group known as the Piccadilly Cowboys (British writers in the sixties who wrote books that had the grit and tone of the spaghetti westerns). I also like some of the modern western writers, Peter Brandvold, Charles G. West.

I've never read a Louis L'Amour or Zane Gray book.