Book reviews: a review | Wednesday Reads

As someone who reads a lot, I read a lot of book reviews. Not all of them are that good or intellectual or deep, some are just a few sentences on why a book is amazingly brilliant that I must read it right away or why a book is appalling I may as well burn it and be done with it. For the record I would never burn a book no matter how bad it is - just before all you crazy book lovers try and hunt me down and kill me. 

Book reviews can be really great. Other people's opinions can be really helpful in deciding why or why not you buy a book or read a book. When you're as skint as I am other people's reviews have definitely saved me a few pounds in the past. Everyone has different reading likes and dislikes but if someone's found something in a book, such as a linguistic technique or the style of narrative voice, that you know you don't like in a book it can prevent you from wasting money that you may have spent otherwise. It can also push you into buying a book that you end up loving that you may not have bought without a review you read.

I think it's really important to read negative reviews as well as positive ones. Not only can they help stop you spending the last £5 you have to your name but they can help you look at a book more critically if you do buy it. Being critical of a book isn't a bad thing, but it's important to go into a book with an open mind. 

Reviews can also create great discussion among readers which is always positive. Discussions about books are a great way to make a reading an interactive, social thing which is something I am a great champion of. Anything that makes reading enjoyable for more than just one person has to be a good thing. Arguments in this case are good. You get to see other perspectives, and others often see things in books that you may not have done. 

Reviews have their bad side though. They can prevent you from buying a book that you may have loved and reviews can also sway you to buy books that you end up really disliking. That's why I always read more than the first three reviews for a book, especially when buying online. In fact only when buying online. Reading as many comments from other readers as you can means you get a better idea of how people are feeling towards it and what the general consensus is. However, sometimes too many reviews can spoil a good book and then there's no point reading at all.

If I'm buying a book in a shop it's often very spur of the moment in which case I won't read reviews for it apart from the ones printed by the publisher, which are obviously all positive. However, if I'm going into a bookshop to buy a book that I've been thinking about for a while I've normally done my research. I.e. read amazon reviews, read more critical reviews and also see if it's been reviewed or mentioned on BookTube, particularly by my favourite booktubers as I trust their opinions. 

So reviews have their positives and their negatives. I review books because I enjoy sharing my thoughts and hearing what others also have to say. Hopefully I'll get some book reviews up here soon but to be honest I prefer just having chats about books and book related things.

Let me know what you think of reviews and where you go for trusted opinions before buying a book?