Early in life I learned the rule: If one person is a jerk, he's just a jerk. If you feel like everyone is a jerk, you are probably the one being a jerk.
The same is true of books. If you think one book is bad, it's probably the book. If you think all/most books are slow you should work on your attention span.
Shouldn't we take into account that the industry is also famous for being a monetization path for bloggers, pundits and grifters, for whom a book deal means jackpot; combined with a minimum word count pushing authors/ghost writers to pad their work to reach an average page volume ?
I mostly read non-fiction, so the landscape is probably grimmer, but actual good books aren't that many, and I feel that has been a common wisdom for centuries. Except we're trying push that fact under the carpet as already fewer people are buying books.
There are more books now than ever, and we've been producing books in vast numbers for hundreds of years. Even if the vast majority were garbage there would still be more great books available than could be read in several lifetimes.
Have you considered trying to optimize the way you discover your next read? It almost sounds like you're getting your recommendations from social media, and that it isn't really working out well for you.
"More books than ever" will be eternally true unless we actively destroy books (god no).
The book industry isn't in a good shape otherwise[0], revenue has recovered while unit sales is declining.
I actually don't get recommendations per se, I mostly read books from authors I already like (fiction), or books on subject I think want to read and will scrape the reviews to see what to settle on, or straight go through each book if it's at my local library (non fiction).
A surprising number of them are available in the Kindle Unlimited bundle or at the library, so I read a lot without per unit money involved, and without the sunk cost calculation.
> your next read
I think that might be the core of it. I don't see books as something that needs to be read continually. I already use my eyes way too much, so it's not a hobby and I expect value that can't be gained from other means.
> "More books than ever" will be eternally true unless we actively destroy books (god no).
You are right, of course. My phrasing was off. I meant to say that we produce more books than ever.
Although that is also a bit of a misleading statement. It is factually true that we produce more books per annum than ever before, but the average book now sells far less than 1,000 copies in it's lifetime (one source I found said around 500) and the growth in quantity has not produced a corresponding growth in quality.
> I don't see books as something that needs to be read continually.
Fair enough. There are only so many hours in a lifetime, and we all have to choose how we spend the ones allotted to us. Although, personally I feel that the world would be better off if people spent more of them reading fiction, and fewer on social media.
The same is true of books. If you think one book is bad, it's probably the book. If you think all/most books are slow you should work on your attention span.