Good Books

Good books are so hard to find. I often pick up books that look appealing and find them horrible. Contrariwise, I less-often pick up books that look unappealing and find them good. How do you know a good one from a bad one without reading them straight through? Sometimes you can tell from the first paragraph or page, but sometimes books get better the farther into them you get, and sometimes books with great openings go sour. Sometimes, a book is great until the very end, which ruins it utterly. Sometimes the end can redeem an otherwise dull book. I've tried reading books recommended by fans of books I like, but more often than not, I disliked their recommendations. It baffles me how people can have tastes so close and yet so far. I don't have a ton of time to read books, so I often just read the first paragraphs, and they're usually not up to snuff, so I let them be. Therefore, I go through life longing for good books and afraid that I'm missing out on them because I lack time and frustrated both at the lack of time and the lack of good books, books I both long for and miss out on. Tell me if you can make sense of that.