Describe one of your reading (and blogging) habits.
I think I’ve discussed hype and how it affects my reading on here before. (Maybe?) Lately I’ve been thinking about how certain books, especially those that are recently published, get so much hype from bloggers around our section of the internet. I know that most bloggers get review copies and/or follow new releases closely, so I’ve come to expect this. It has me thinking about review variety around the blogosphere.
What books to people want us to review?
I want people to find my reviews valuable and interesting, but I also want to read what I LIKE to read. I will definitely honor any reviews for books from publishers, but more than likely they’re books that I think look interesting or I requested. Do people dislike reviews of older books? Do you only want to see reviews for new releases?
Frankly I’ve been a little bored when checking out my feeds. I see the same reviews for the same few books every week. I’m happy us bloggers are here to promote new releases to the world, but I also like reading about books I may have otherwise missed. I like reading some books that have been on my shelf for a while. Are those posts less interesting?
No offense for anyone out there reviewing new releases, because I do it too, but I’m just MUSING about what kind of reviews people care about.
Musing Mondays is a meme at Should Be Reading, where we respond to one of these questions: describe one of your reading habits; talk about a book you recently bought (for yourself or for someone else) and why; discuss the book you’re currently reading and your thoughts on it; talk about a rant or complaint about the industry, books, or reading in general; or discuss anything else related to books. My archives can be found here.
I agree with you. Sure I like reading about the new releases, but I like reading reviews of older books too. Sometimes it does get a little frustrating when everyone is reviewing the same big name book the same week and that’s about it. I review a mix of newer and older.
Exactly. I prefer to mix things up too. It can be tiring to see the same book over and over again, but it is kind of nice seeing the different opinions that come up. Unfortunately it does sometimes force me into reading a book I wasn’t otherwise interested in. So many people reviewing the book can make me feel “left out” so I end up reading it, even though it wasn’t on my TBR at first.
I’m a new blogger so most of the books I’ve reviewed have been past releases, but there are a few newer releases, at least from the year. I actually don’t mind reviewing older books, other than I always feel like I’m “behind” when I eventually review newer books.
Like you, I see reviews for the same book multiple times on my feed and I’ll probably only click one or two of the reviews to actually read. Because of this, I sort of feel bad for reviewing “newer” books, like Falling Into Place for example because so many people have already reviewed that, so it’s like “What do I have to add to my review that hasn’t been said”? You know? I’d love to see older YA books being reviewed.
This is a great discussion.
Thank you!! I second your thoughts haha. One of my goals when starting my blog was to learn about other books to read… it doesn’t help much when most people suggest the same book I could see on the shelf of the bookstore that week!
You’re welcome. Haha, well that’s not to say I don’t recommend recent releases, like We Were Liars and Falling Into Place for example, because I really do like those books.
I’ve found a lot of books to read, the only problem is…finding reviews that aren’t those same books being reviewed a hundred times.
It does seem the bookstore shelves usually contain most of the books bloggers talk about, for good reason, but, you know.
I definitely agree! While I do like to read about upcoming releases, I also like to read about other books too! In fact, I think it is almost more entertaining when someone posts a review about an “older” book, because more people have likely read it and there is a lot more room for discussion. Great topic!
Thank you! I love reading about older books (even just older within the same year) – it adds a little more variety