if you suffer from an inflated ego

go and find a list of book reviews by papers like The Observer, The New York Times, The Guardian and then actually read the books they're worshipping. I understand that different people have different perspectives to different books, but i'm tired of borrowing/buying books that have raving reviews printed on their covers - "...a diamond in the rough!", "so-and-so writes with captivating intensity...", "...easily the most moving and disturbing book of the year" - and then wondering if its some cosmic joke as i plough through pages and pages of horrible complicated or supposedly symbolic prose, before either giving up or suddenly being confronted with a totally uncalled for and abrupt ending. it does wonders for your confidence.