Book Reviews Prompt

 Week 5 Prompt – Book Reviews

 

            It’s interesting to me that some book review publishers will not publish negative reviews. I guess the way to deal with that is to write a less than enthusiastic review for a book that you thought was not good (if you want your review published in that kind of publication). From a collections standpoint I would want to know what the publisher’s rules are. If I know that Booklist doesn’t publish negative reviews then I will have to “read between the lines” in considering a book for the collection. I would prefer to read reviews from somewhere like Kirkus that I know will give an honest review. A question I have, though, is what does a group like Kirkus do if there are some reviewers who like the book and some who do not? As far as I can tell they just publish one review. Surely some books get mixed reviews?

            I think it’s a problem that ebooks don’t get a review if they are only in that format. I don’t yet know about cost differences, but in terms of building a collection I would be less interested in having ebooks that aren’t well vetted. I feel like in my library there are many more ebooks than physical books, so I think it’s easier to have more and that may be why the review of them is less rigorous.

            Looking at the ebook only reviews you provided, they both are very weak in my opinion, and neither compels me to suggest the book for my library. Just thinking about the review, they focus on plot, though I like that the one review mentions it’s a “clean” romance (referencing our last prompt assignment!). That information is helpful. But I don’t get a sense of character development or writing quality.

            The reviews of “Angela’s Ashes” are compelling. I have not read the book, but based on those I would certainly suggest we buy it for my library. I do think there is disparity in that well known authors and bigger publishing companies get more attention and so will more likely get included in a library’s collection. There are several authors for whom our library always has multiple copies of their latest books. So where does that leave us for getting new and aspiring authors? I think my library will always be one that gets books that are from “tried and true” authors. While that disappoints me a little, every library has limited space and has to make the best use of it for their patrons.

            I don’t work in collections so I’m not involved in that process. As for myself, I don’t usually read reviews of books before I read them. I do use Goodreads to keep track of my reading, and I usually read a few reviews AFTER I read the book. I guess I don’t want to bias myself before I read it. I usually get suggestions from friends – either on Goodreads, or just in conversation. I am currently reading a novel that I don’t really love, and I looked it up on Kirkus and laughed because the review was spot on. Would I have gotten this book if I had read the reviews first? Maybe not. I should add that it’s a library book – I didn’t spend money on it. But I won’t be reading the rest of the series! This whole idea of book reviews is new to me!