All through the Fall Into Reading Challenge, Katrina, our hostess, will be asking an optional weekly question about reading. Why is she doing this you ask? Well in her words:
"Why am I doing this? Well, for one thing, I love reading and talking about reading with others. And for another, I thought it would be a great way to keep Fall Into Reading participants connected throughout the course of the challenge. Finally, I posted reading questions during Fall Into Reading 2010 and everyone seemed to really enjoy them. So let’s do it again!"
Sounds good to me! So here is this first week's question:
How much do book reviews influence your decision to acquire and/or read a book?
I love reading book reviews. As far as their influence goes, it depends on who is reviewing the book. I don't put a lot of thought towards the reviews by newspapers, authors or other reviewers that are actually written on the book cover. I don't know why, I just never have. Maybe because they are all raving reviews that I figure are there to sell the book. I like the reviews of the average reader. If it comes from a source I trust such as favorite bloggers or someone I know personally, I'm more likely to listen to their opinion. I always keep in mind, though, that we all have our tastes in types of stories and styles of writing. For example, what my friend usually really loves is spiritual toned thrillers and mysteries, and what she would highly recommend and review well is usually something that is not on my radar as far as wanted reading goes and my daughter would probably not pick up any sort of historical romance no matter what raving review it got from anybody. Reviews are more a tool for me to find out in a little more detail what the story is about and if that book actually piques my interest. I like to read several reviews on any title to get a balance of thought and opinion.
So do reviews influence what you buy or read?
7 comments:
I agree pretty much 100%! I much more trust the average reader than anyone from an official source like a newspaper or ad.
I just answered this at Katrina's -- should probably make it a blog post next time. But yes, reviews from people I know or bloggers I've read for a while tend to sway me more than the book jacket or a newspaper or magazine review. Sometimes I look at Amazon or CBD reviews too, but I don't assume that someone else's not liking the book will mean I won't like it as well.
I am like you! I don't have time to do this question into a blogpost of my own today.....super busy with the house and I worked at the school a little bit longer today....I tend to read YOUR reviews and have had good ideas of what to read from them, as well as what other friends of mine say about a book. I use our city paper to see what is on the bestseller list and I like to check the B&N hits of the year...usually i've read quite a bit of them and never realized they've made some top list! lol....
I agree that reviews often give more insight into what a book isa bout and are helpful for that reason as well!
I like to see what other people think of a book I'm currently reading. So when I seek out reviews, I see if that person also likes to read the same kinds of books I like and then add them to my Google Reader. Actually, I need to stop finding more books as the list has gotten a bit out of control! Have fun with your stack, Susanne.
I probably have about 3-4 people who can recommend a book and I know I just HAVE to read it! If one of them mentions a book, I'll likely buy and read it at some point. When the second person on the list reviews the same title and gives it a fantastic review, my speed in getting to the book is revved up. Anticipation builds with each positive review. =D
Just found you through the Fall into Reading challenge, and I thought I would follow you. Very nice-looking blog! I do tend to go with reviews from normal people more than the critics.
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