Time Out For Book Hype

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?