I was looking through books yesterday at the shops and saw all the Twilight books, which I know basically nothing about. What I do know is that I’m beginning to feel like I’m the *only* person who knows nothing about them.
Despite being almost broke and trying to save money, I almost bought the expensive book (Australian book prices are often completely nutty) just because I felt the need to be ‘up’ on what everyone else was reading.
Have you ever felt pressured to read something because ‘everyone else’ was reading it? Have you ever given in and read the book(s) in question or do you resist? If you are a reviewer, etc, do you feel it’s your duty to keep up on current trends?
I can understand the pressure to feel "up" on current trends, but I generally won't read a book if I don't think it will be interesting. There are definitely some where I've made an exception though. For example, I don't like stories about the circus, so when I heard about Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen, I ignored it. But then I kept hearing more and more, so I decided to try it and ended up liking it.
Usually though, if I read a book that's been really hyped up, I end up disliking it. Not necessarily because it was a bad book, but because I have such high expectations going in that really, nothing could live up to it. I had this problem with The Time Traveler's Wife - I read it after every single person and every review I'd read told me how amazing it was, and I just didn't think it was that great.
As a reviewer, I feel a need to be cognizant of current reading trends, but not necessarily to have read the books involved, if that makes sense. To take Twilight as an example (which I have read, but let's pretend I haven't). I think it's important to know what it's about, and very generally, what people like about it. But I don't feel like I should necessarily read those books unless I want to. I know there are probably a lot of different opinions on reviewing, but to me, it's important to introduce my readers to books they haven't heard of. Of course, I review plenty of really popular books, but I try to find relatively obscure books as well that people aren't talking about - or at least that's my goal!
Ok, I hope that response made sense - what do you guys think about it?
12 comments:
Good answer, I agree - mine's here: http://lyndasbookblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/booking-through-thursday-4908.html
Absolutely. I love to be the first person I know to "discover" a book. Sometimes I just can't read them if I have waited too late and they've had too much press. I want to form my own opinions.
I like it when I'm sent a book to review that not everyone else has waiting; I agree that it helps me feel I'm getting something new out there!
I actually felt exactly the same about The Time Traveler's Wife. I'd heard so much about it and it sounded just like my kind of book. Then it let me down when I read it and I actually re-donated it to the charity shop I bought it from.
I know what you mean. You can't be a book blogger and not know who Stephenie Meyer is. You'll absorb the info by osmosis anyway. I've never read the books but have mentioned her on my blog.
I often find myself in this position. The more a book (or movie, or TV show) gets mentioned, the less I want to read (or see) it if I haven't already picked it up on my own. I usually end up being disappointed after all the hype.
I still haven't read Meyer or *gasp* J.K. Rowling (though my 68-year-old dad kept pressuring me to).
I also agree with the original post. Australian book prices are ridiculous. The last (okay, only) time I was there I bought a paperback for close to $20 Cdn when the same book was selling in Canada for $10-12. I was reeeeeeeeeally hard up for my book fix.
I thought Time Traveller's Wife was terrible. I agree with your answer and in response to your note on my blog, yes, being a librarian does present some unique pressures to at least be aware of things like you said. But so many people seem to expect me to have read everything- it's a lot to live up to! :-)
I had the same experience with 'Water for elephants'. I ended up loving it.
As far as Time Traveler's wife goes, I had such high expectations. I am not saying the book is bad, it's very good, but not AS good as the reviews.
Interesting answer. Come visit to see mine.
I agree that as reviewers, we should be aware of what book trends are and what people are reading. But we don't necessarily have to read them ourselves. I'll admit, I did feel pressure to read Harry Potter, but more from a desire to know what people were talking about, rather than I really cared. I didn't really enjoy the books until the 4th book, but I certainly don't regret reading them.
I work at a bookshop, and I like to keep up with what customers are reading, so yes, I read books because 'everyone else' is reading them. I do, however, find that I often have the same experience as you. When a book is hyped, I am often disappointed, because I am expecting too much. I am currently having this reaction to Eat Pray Love. I also agree with you that, as a book blogger, it's helpful to keep up with what other readers are saying about books, but you shouldn't feel pressured to read them yourself if they don't interest you. For me, I like to jot down titles that many people seem to enjoy, but I don't feel the need to read books while they're popular. I'm fine getting around to them if and when the mood strikes, or never.
I do like to keep up to books others are reading but I also like to find one that nobody else seems to be talking about that I loved. I understand what you're saying about The Time Traveller's Wife, although I loved that one but just the other day I tried reading The Gargoyle. My goodness everyone seems to have loved that one and I just couldn't get past pg 35. So, you just never know.
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