I almost forgot about today’s Booking Through Thursday!
How much do reviews (good and bad) affect your choice of reading? If you see a bad review of a book you wanted to read, do you still read it? If you see a good review of a book you’re sure you won’t like, do you change your mind and give the book a try?
I make up my own mind about the books I want to read, but I use information from reviews to aid me in doing so. I.e., I’m not going to avoid a book because someone else didn’t like it, or read it because someone else did, but I’ll look at the reasons why they liked or didn’t like it and use that to help me figure out whether I’m likely to enjoy it or not.
This is the same philosophy I use when writing reviews. I firmly believe my reviews should be just as useful to folks who don’t share my tastes and views as they are to those who do. I think someone should be able to look at my gushing review of a book I loved and get enough information out of it to know they probably wouldn’t like it, and vice versa. I’m sure I don’t always succeed at this, but I try anyways.
Speaking of which, today’s review is of Elizabeth Falkner’s Demolition Desserts!
I too feel somewhat similarly..
Same here. Everyone has their own tastes and preferences.
Exactly my thoughts. 🙂
I follow your principle: I make up my own mind about the books I want to read, but I use information from reviews to aid me in doing so. I.e., I’m not going to avoid a book because someone else didn’t like it, or read it because someone else did, but I’ll look at the reasons why they liked or didn’t like it and use that to help me figure out whether I’m likely to enjoy it or not.
I think you do a very good job of meeting your objective when it comes to review writing. I think it’s a very practical style to have an I certainly appreciate it!
I think far more readers make up their own minds than authors & publishers give credit for. A negative review is never the end of the world in my mind—there are plenty of people who, judging by our Amazon stats, have bought things I didn’t like after reading my reviews of them, and I think that’s great. I don’t think it’s ever a reviewer’s job to convince someone to buy or not buy something. If anything, it’s a reviewer’s job to help someone make up their own mind by giving them the information they need to do so. I’m always happy when I see reviewers who seem to follow that philosophy.
Feline: Thank you! I know it sometimes makes my reviews less entertaining than the snarky or wild ones, but I think someone has to write the practical ones. 😉