On the subject of book blurbs: I've spent years noticing which blurbs are genuine and which are professional courtesy, and the distinction is visible if you read carefully. A genuine blurb is specific — it tells you something about the book that the blurber found surprising or important. A professional blurb is generic — adjectives that could apply to any literary novel.

'Devastating' and 'luminous' and 'urgent' appear on blurbs for approximately every book published in a given year. 'The funniest and most heartbreaking examination of ____ I've read since ____' is attempting a genuine comparison, even if the comparison is sometimes strained. The blurb that quotes a specific line from the book is almost always written by someone who actually read it.

I've started using blurb quality as a loose signal about whether a book is worth my attention. It's an imperfect signal and I've been wrong in both directions.