SOCIAL MEDIA

Something to make you think...

Monday 7 April 2014
Okay, so a thought has just struck and, while it's fresh in my mind, I need to blog about it.

The primary role of a book blogger is to review books. We all know this, of course. It's not exactly a theory. But, if you think about it, book bloggers, though they can enhance a reading experience, can also taint it.

Once you've read a review of a book, parts of it automatically go into your subconscious. You may not realise it but, during the time you're reading that particular book, you're picking up on the little things bloggers spoke of in their reviews. Whether good or bad. Small things which you might not have picked up on otherwise. Sometimes you can be grateful for it - it may make you appreciate the novel in a different way or help you understand a particular plot twist - but, horrifyingly enough, sometimes it can affect the way people enjoy the book.

It was rather slow paced to begin with.
This character got rather irritating after a while.
I didn't get the instant attraction.

I have more or less said these things - as well as numerous other comments - in my reviews at one point or another. Does that mean that I'm responsible if, after reading my review, that person also found the start of the story slow-paced or thought the romance was too much like insta-love? Maybe. Maybe not.

We all know about the hype monster. When the blogosphere just blows up over a particular book. Everyone raving here, there and everywhere. This book's incredible. This book's AMAZING. This book's perfection! Those of us who haven't yet picked up this 'fantastic' book instantly have high expectations. More often than not, for me, personally, anyway - and I'm sure for a lot of other people as well - the book falls short. You simply expected too much from it.

Quickly flash-back to when you didn't blog or when internet wasn't as popular. You opened up a book with no expectations. Nothing. And you loved it. You loved it a lot. You loved it because you, and you alone, read it through untainted eyes. You perceived it the way you did. There was nothing niggling away in your subconscious. Sometimes I miss that feeling. Knowing you really did love it, it wasn't because someone said this or someone said that. It was all you.

I don't quite know where I'm going with this post. This isn't an indirect way of telling you I'm not reviewing anymore. I will continue to review books because I love doing it. This also isn't a dig at book bloggers - I will also continue to read other book blogger's reviews. It just strikes me as interesting that a community such as our own can truly affect readers in different ways.

What do YOU think of all this?

Happy Reading,
Rachel xoxo


7 comments :

  1. To an extent, I do agree with you. I've read countless reviews before now and sometimes those reviews have put me off ever buying the aforementioned book. But on the other hand, I love writing reviews and also trust other book blogger's opinions on books. I'm sort of sitting on the fence with this.

    Holly x

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  2. I kind of agree, but I also disagree too. I think before blogging I hated more books than I do now, and I didn't have the motivation to finish books. Now, though, although I am more critical of books, I tend to enjoy them more and I think that's because I read reviews - I know people with similar taste to myself and I read books that I know I'll most likely enjoy.
    It's a great thought, Rachel! I'm going to think about it some more...

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  3. I do agree with you. I think when some books get so 'hyped' your expectations of them are really high and the book doesn't live up to those expectations.
    This exact thing happened with me and The Fault in Our Stars. I read so many views about it and how people cried and couldn't put it down some even saying it had changed their life. But the book didn't work for me at all. I could easily have stopped reading it, knew what was going to happen, and I didnt cry.
    I think the hype surrounding it ruined the book for me.

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  4. Everything you talked about is why I don't like to read reviews for books I haven't read yet. I wish I could figure out a way to separate those reviews from my own thoughts and feelings, so that I could actually read reviews for books I haven't read, but I haven't figured out how to do that yet. Even just knowing that people are talking about a particular book can give me high expectations for something, regardless of what people are actually saying. That's what happened to me with Side Effects May Vary; I've seen people talking about, I know it's getting hype, and even though I don't know how many reviews of it have been positive and how many have been negative, I was still disappointed in it.

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  5. i totally agree with you.

    once i read a review about a book featuring a young girl talking from the dead or something, and although it began promising the review quickly became rather negative. apparently the main character, lucy, was irritating and annoying to read from. this immediately put me off reading the book. however, a few weeks later i read another review on it and this time it sounded great. finally, i decided to read it myself. it was an okay book, nothing special, but the reviews had really clouded my judgement and i was just waiting for the part that would make me hate lucy. alas, it never happened, yet the book is just an average novel resting on my shelves now.

    great post!

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  6. YES YES YES. however i think it swings both ways. sometimes i love a book even more because if the hype etc. sometimes i.
    OH i just saw my blog button in your blog roll YAYAYAYAY <3
    anyway as i was saying, i try to be *unafraid* to DISLIKE a book even if there was a huge hype. because there are going to be people who liked it as little or as much as me so that's okay. for example. Half Bad, EVERYONE is raving about it both in the booktube and book blog community. I read it, but thought it was unspecial in that i have read many more amazing books that deserve that hype. so i think people need to understand that just because loads of other people like a book, doesn't mean you NEED to like it too. everyone started book blogging for one main reason - to share their OWN opinions on books, so people appreciate it more when someone is honest about a book rather than just following the trends..if that makes sense?
    DID THIS COMMENT MAKE ANY SENSE?

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  7. I don't think the primary role of a book blogger is to REVIEW books at all. Discuss them, sure. Review? Not necessarily. And while I understand your points, I think that book blogging has made me more critical in my reading which I definitely view as a positive thing rather than a negative.

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YOU ARE BEYOND AMAZING! Thank you for sharing your thoughts/opinions/feels! I'll be replying to your comment (hopefully) very shortly!