I’m not avoiding them, but “rando probably-just-ok new thing” versus any of hundreds of major classics I haven’t made it to yet… it’s tough to pick the new thing very often.

[edit] or, hell, not even major. Odds that a recommended-by-people-online got-some-hype-in-review-rags new book is gonna make me happier to have read it than, say, a 2nd-tier Maugham or Faulkner or something? Not great.