Miscellaneous Musings about Books

[Eclipse]

I only trust reviews from Eclipse more than from strangers

Waves

[Alex Hormann]

I rarely read reviews of books I'm already planning to read for fear of spoilers. But if a book I haven't heard of gets reviewed a lot, I'll probably take a gander and see what the fuss is about.

[ScarletBea]

I only trust reviews from Eclipse more than from strangers

Waves

Waves back

[Yora]

I at least need to know what a book is promising me before I can get interested in reading it.

[Peat]

^ interesting though. I guess when you review a book, you focus only on certain elements, regardless of your experience.
That's why, in my opinion, you should only trust a review completely if you know the person and what they usually like.
That's why I trust reviews from forum people more than from strangers, and also why I only like to read 'external' reviews after I've the book (which completely defeats the purpose, hehe)

I don't think it does, although I would say that as I'm 90% the same myself. I read reviews to figure out if other people had the same experience, not to judge what to read.

[The Sword in the Tome]

I read reviews to figure out if other people had the same experience, not to judge what to read.

I use reviews for both.  Though if I had to pick one or the other, I would go with reviews after I've read the book.  When I finish an amazing story—or even an awful one for that matter—I want to discuss it.  And reading/listening to a review is about the next best thing. 

[S. K. Inkslinger]

Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, or something along those lines. I think we all just see what we wanted to see, based on our perceptions, preferences, and experiences on things. Despite that, if there were a thousand people saying that the book was great, or that it was terrible, I am biased towards the opinion of the majority, though. 

[cupiscent]

Yesterday I saw a very exciting sounding description of Crossroads of Canopy, and the things that were mentioned are really up my alley. And then today I looked it up some more and found out it's a coming of age story of a teenage girl who apparently spends a lot of time obsessing about boys and rebelling against her society. Now that's really not what I am looking for. 

I... honestly don't remember the heroine of that book doing much obsessing about boys at all. And she less rebels than she follows her certainty that she is the prophesised hero, even when society tells her she isn't. I remember it being much more a Hero(ine)'s Journey than a YA-coming-of-age. (Yes, it is a coming of age, but in the same way that, say, Star Wars is a coming of age. It's about growing out of childhood conceptions of life and into adult compromises and decisions.) Personally, I found Crossroads a little too "epic" and not enough "character-focus" for me--and we all know I enjoy a good YA girl coming of age.

[Yora]

Which just support me point. 

Praising books by mentioning the aspects that you enjoyed or disliked does not really create any kind of impression what kind of book it actually is. People not wanting to reveal plot is aplaudable, but it seems to be kind of important to say what the book is actually about and what happens in the first parts.

[The Sword in the Tome]

People not wanting to reveal plot is aplaudable, but it seems to be kind of important to say what the book is actually about and what happens in the first parts.

The back of the book blurb usually does enough of that for me.  This is especially true for fantasy books.

Speaking for myself, I almost never seek out a plot summary from a book or movie review. I am, however, interested in reading/hearing what specific genre it is, as well as what the tone of the story is. 

[Bender]

I'm the polar opposite. Read every bit online including reviews, plot summaries, spoilers.... everything. When I pick a book, I need to be sure I'm going to enjoy it. There are very few books I read that I  don't like. And not getting the surprise at climax is a price, I'm willing to pay.

[isos81]

I'm the polar opposite. Read every bit online including reviews, plot summaries, spoilers.... everything. When I pick a book, I need to be sure I'm going to enjoy it. There are very few books I read that I  don't like. And not getting the surprise at climax is a price, I'm willing to pay.

Interesting. I don't like spoilers. I never read back blurbs as they often lead to spoilers in Turkish translations. I like reviews but try to avoid spoilers.

Why did I use so many spoilers? 

[cupiscent]

Interesting! I rarely summarise books in my review because I assume people just read the blurb. (Unless I feel the blurb doesn't represent the book accurately.) Then again, I don't care at all about spoilers. It's partly because I feel that over-reliance on surprise makes a story weak, but mostly that if the story is great, I get so caught up in the experience of it that I just don't think about what might be coming, even if I already know what it is. (I mean... I know exactly how The Lions of Al-Rassan ends, and I still cry every single time.)

[isos81]

(I mean... I know exactly how The Lions of Al-Rassan ends, and I still cry every single time.)

It might not be the same IMO. Reading spoilers is like a friend of yours telling that you'll have a surprise party this evening. You cannot pretend that you did not know and you cannot enjoy the party as much as a real surprise So, why ruin the element of surprise even if a bad one it is

[Peat]

Some people don't care too much about surprises. Me, generally I'm not that fussed about surprises in stories. Sometimes I'll try to keep life spoiler free, sometimes I deliberately seek them out - I'm not always patient. And I'd always prefer a party I knew about to a surprise party, because I'll already have filled out the time people want me to have a surprise party in with non-social activities.

I've also got to say that while I'm frequently picky about books, I don't find book reviews really help me as the main thing I'm picky on is the prose and nothing beats reading it. A look at first chapter and the blurb is pretty much all I need 9 times out of 10.

Also, interesting on cupiscent saying she doesn't summarise books when she reviews. I never did, before feeling like everyone else did so I should do. But I really think its better to talk about what sort of book it is, not what the story is... but excitement over the story seems to gain more attention.