Today I am going to take a break and post something other
than a review. I am going to try and get a little better at blogging and maybe
in participate in a few memes even. I am going to write out book related things
in between the reviews just to keep my blog fresh and new. You may also be
seeing some changes to the way my blog looks as I am due for a change.
My first post is going to be about book hype. What do I mean
by book hype? When a book is claimed to be the best book published and everyone
says you must read it and/or all the reviews of the book are top notch.
How do you feel when everyone thinks a book is the greatest
thing since sliced bread and then you pick it up to read and don’t like it?
I have had this happen to me more than one time. When this
does happen to me I feel really bad that I don’t like the book especially if it
was recommended to me by a friend. One
book that this has happened to me with is The Art of Racing In the Rain by
Garth Stein. Everyone I know who has read this book fell in love with it and
just raves about how it touched them and you gotta read it. Well I loved Marley
and Me by John Grogan, so I thought I would try this book too, I read the cover
and it sounded like something I could get into. Well I was wrong. I am sorry to
say I just really did not like this book. To me it was boring, very hard to get
into and kind of choppy. I finished the book though because I was hoping that
it would get better. I felt ashamed to say I did not like this book and to this
day (two years later) when someone mentions this book and how much they love it
I just clam up and don’t say anything. Of course I mean no disrespect to the
author or those who love the book, this is just my opinion and the book was not
for me.
What do you do when this happens to you?
Another thing I find myself doing with some books is that I
will build the book up so much in my mind about how good it is going to be
because I want to read it that bad, that when I finally start the book I feel
let down and struggle with reading it. In this instance I want so much to like
the book and to finish it that I try my best to plug away at it and hope it
lives up to my expectations. Sometimes I am able to finish the book and like it
and other times I just can’t make it thru it. I am having that issue with the
book I am reading now. I so wanted to read The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn by
Robin Maxwell. The book has good reviews
and I love all things about Anne Boleyn so I hemmed and hawed and finally
decided to get the book because the more I saw it the more I wanted to read it
as it sounded like a great book. While I do enjoy reading about Anne and
Elizabeth I am finding it hard to get thru the book. I know it is all in my
head so I keep plugging away at it. There have been a couple of times I have
almost put the book down but I am going to finish it. There are many parts of
the book I am enjoying but there are also some very dry parts and I think that
is why I feel I let myself down with this book.
Has this happened to you? What are your experiences with
book hype, whether it be your own or the public’s hype.
Have you ever not read a book because everyone else liked
it? I have because I know in my crazy
mind I will have myself not liking the book. I can think of a few I have done
this with – Harry Potter, Twilight, (they are not generally my genre either) and
50 Shades of Grey. What are some of
yours?
How often do you take reviews into consideration when
reading a book?
