Week 5: Reviews and Review Sources

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In my own reading, I have often been won over by a single well-written review only to realize that when the book comes in on hold it is not really a book I want to invest time in. I need to read a sample of the book, usually through Amazon's "Look Inside" feature, or by reading over a bit of it before checking it out, before I can tell how likely it is to be a book I will enjoy. Still, I love reading reviews and use them to help me decide which book I want to take a look at next. 

When it comes to books that I would choose to recommend at the library, book reviews are absolutely necessary. I have always felt it is important to consult multiple review sources because it provides a better picture of the story and the content since I cannot possibly read all the books I will suggest for a book club or a teacher's classroom collection. 

I appreciate that Kirkus often makes a note of characters' diverse characteristics, it helps when trying to choose books to place on hold for a teacher's classroom. I always want to ensure I'm choosing books that show a range of characters with diverse backgrounds so that kids have choices and see variety. For this scenario, I also used to regularly check Common Sense Media reviews because I appreciated that it tracks violence, sexual content, language, etc. and it included examples from each book. This helped when kids, teachers, or parents had preferences for the type of content they want to avoid. 

I never realized that Booklist does not publish negative reviews until I read this week's prompt. I would personally prefer to see a review that's negative rather than none at all. However, with multiple review sources out there, it does not bother me to have one that wants to stay positive. 

I have been thinking about negativity in reviews because I recently read an article that was questioning if Goodreads should be posting reviews before a book is published ( https://bookriot.com/goodreads-pre-publication-reviews/ ). It is an interesting question. I have felt a few times that the amount of Goodreads reviews can be overwhelming and do not appreciate reading review after review that criticizes a book. Especially when the reviews rip into a book and it is clear that the reviewer does not like any books in this genre or of this style. It is not a helpful perspective for readers that do enjoy it. Even if I recognize that it just might not be the book for this reader, it can be hard to overlook the negativity if you read one after another like it. 

Similarly, the ebook reviews from this week's example do not seem helpful from a collection development standpoint. They are poorly written and do not reveal much information that would help a librarian decide if it fills a gap in the collection or is outstanding from similar types of romance books. Not having these ebook-only titles reviewed by professional review sites means that many libraries will be unaware of them unless or until they become popular enough that patrons will ask for them. I have always thought libraries could not get these titles because Amazon restricted them, but maybe it is just that libraries do not try?