Dialogue Tags, Love Them or Hate Them?

I have to admit I love books that are written so well they don't need a lot of dialogue tags. What do I mean? Well, if you are good at creating a mental image in the mind of your reader, you don't need all the "he said" or "she said" tags on your dialogue. The speaker becomes apparent. Take this example from Lauren Hammond's FAMISHED:

She raised an eyebrow. "Thinking? About what?"

I let out a long winded sigh. "I don't know, Frankie, just things." I didn't feel like elaborating.

There really is no need for dialogue tags. We know who is talking. Now take a look at what happens if we add the dialogue tags in:

"Thinking? About what?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't know, Frankie, just things," I said, letting out a long winded sigh. I didn't feel like elaborating.

If you're like me, you'll think the way Lauren wrote the lines without the dialogue tags reads much better. I feel more a part of the story the way Lauren wrote it. In life we don't have dialogue tags. And quite honestly, I find them a little annoying sometimes. I think if you can convey dialogue without the tags, then do it.

Funny sidebar, when my daughter (4) plays with her dolls, she adds dialogue tags to their conversations. (It's possible that we read a lot in my house.) Maybe this is what made me realize how silly tags can be. But consider a child, playing with her dolls, saying, "Let's go to the store, Aurora said." It's kind of absurd. But she's used to hearing dialogue tags in the books we read. I actually had to explain to her that we don't need to identify the speaker when we talk in real life.

Now, don't get me wrong. Every book has dialogue tags. And there are definite times when they are needed. But when they can be omitted, I think they should be.

What do you think about dialogue tags? Do you want them every time someone speaks, or can you do without them when the narration clearly identifies the speaker?