I’m just curious what you think about book reviews – I’ll be honest, I started writing them a while back just so I could win free books from LibraryThing. It wasn’t until I started this blog that I really started to think a little more critically about the books I read. In the past, it was like “I loved it!” or “I don’t know, it was okay” or something along those lines. Now and then I still find myself unable to articulate what it is I like or dislike about a book (though I find it easier to pick apart a book than it is to praise it), but for the most part, I can at least write a paragraph or two about my thoughts. I enjoy doing this….
…but! I realize it’s not for everyone. Obviously, there’s some demand for reviews out there, or none of us would ever write them. But I know there are plenty of people who don’t enjoy review blogs and who aren’t interested in the opinions of others. Where do you stand?
If you don’t write your own reviews – do you read them?
I’m weird for many reasons shutup because I’m really inconsistent when it comes to reading reviews. I don’t typically read reviews on books I want to read – yet I follow other review blogs and read people’s reviews on Goodreads. Does that sound strange? Okay, sometimes I read reviews for books I want to read, but only if I’m unsure if I want to purchase the book. At times I’ve been talked out of a purchase because of too many bad reviews, other times, I’ve been talked into a purchase. I suppose that’s the whole point of reviews! But generally, if I’m really looking forward to a book, I don’t read any reviews so that my expectations aren’t altered and to avoid possible spoilers. I do like to hear people’s opinions though, and as I talked about before, I love witty reviews…especially negative ones! I also tend to read reviews for books I’ve already read so I can compare my thoughts to those of others.
Just curious where other people stand on this. Let me know how you roll!
Milliebot Reads 
I read reviews of books I’m interested in. I also read ones of books I’ve read to see what other people thought of it. Whether it’s useful or not seems to depend on the review/ reviewer.
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I think honest consumer reviews are incredibly valuable in the book market. You are taking your time to say how a piece of art made you feel, and you aren’t being pressured one way or the other by any outside force, so it just comes from the reviewer. Even if the review is critical, or poorly written, it signals like minded people what someone like them thinks of a particular piece.
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Well said! You’re right, regardless of how it’s written, a consumer review is an outside source, rather than just a writer or publisher saying “read our book, it’s great!”
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