Today I would like to share with you something I’ve been thinking about for quite a long time – it’s about reading reviews of books I haven’t heard of (and here I include also reviews of books written by authors I haven’t heard of). In a nutshell, if I do not recognize the book nor the author, there are (very) low chances that I read the book review.
Phew, I said it out loud.
I was inspired to put my thoughts on digital paper about this topic by Sofi from A book. A Thought, who wrote a comprehensive discussion post about book reviews in the blogging community.
Why do I write reviews in the first place?
Let’s start from the core – I started writing reviews of books I read for multiple reasons, just to name a few:
- to keep track of the books I read in my own space
- to document my thoughts regarding the books I read
- to “enforce” myself to reflect & research on what I read
- to share my thought with other book lovers
- to have my recommendation at hand when someone asks me about a book I read (my reviews do not have spoilers)
I think I write more for myself than for others.
How about reading reviews written by other bloggers?
Well, this question has a tricky answer – I realized that I mostly tend to read reviews of books I read or books I want to read, and reviews of books written by authors that I’ve read before.
If I recognize the book or the author, I read the review.
Does it sound familiar?
For example, I see the review of a book I already read, no matter whether I liked it or not, I am curious to see how others perceived it, and I might join the discussion sharing my own experience.
Comfortably staying in my own bubble.
Another example – if I see a review of a book by Margaret Atwood, there are high chances that I will read it, as I already read “The Handmaid’s Tale” and I also saw the “Alias Grace” TV series, and I am interesting in reading more by Atwood.
Maybe expanding my bubble a little bit.
There are cases when I read reviews of books / authors I haven’t heard of if the review is written by a blogger I know has similar reading taste as me.
Whoa, expanding a bit more my bubble.
You might be thinking – so what?
From an outside perspective, I think that reading only book reviews from the above-mentioned categories can be limiting and it might reinforce the bookish bubble I’m already in.
Of course, we all have a limited time for blog hopping and I think it is natural to be attracted by something that’s already familiar … but that means that I might be missing out on discovering some really interesting books.
Do you read reviews of books you haven’t heard of? Looking forward to hearing (actually reading) your thoughts on this topic!
‘Till next time … happy reading!
Georgiana
Readers' High Tea 
So funny, I am the polar opposite! I pretty much avoid reading reviews on books I am already familiar with, unless the review it written by someone I specifically seek for their opinions. I generally like finding new books and authors I haven’t heard through reding strangers reviews! Haha! 🙂 I guess everyone is different.
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It’s interesting to see how different we are! I usually find new books to read from the blogging community from lists / favourites posts, and if a book draws my attention I might read its review as well (if linked).
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I definitely read reviews of books I haven’t heard of – that’s how I find a lot of the books that go on my TBR list. I think it’s a matter of finding a blogger with similar reading tastes to you and then seeing what they enjoy/did not enjoy.
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I do have some blogs from where I read all book reviews they post … but I can count them on the fingers of one hand. And still I have a loooong TBR list 🙂
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It makes me SO SO happy to have inspired you in some way to write your thoughts, I LOVED the post and I think all your points are super valid. I love it when you say you like to join the discussions, even if you loved a book or not, to see how others think about it, I think that’s one of the most interesting parts, right? to see the different points of view, I love it. 🥰
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Thank you for the kind words, Sofi! I also think that reading about different opinions on the same book / topic is one of the most interesting aspects of the blogging community.
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Thank you for the shoutout, Holly! I think this type of post is a great way to increase awareness in the blogging community! I personally discovered some new-for-me bloggers from your list 🙂
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I’m quite the opposite: I read reviews of books I’ve never heard of, or by authors I’ve never heard of, to help me decide whether to invest the time in reading them.
I write reviews only of books that I really loved or really disliked, in order to help others make the same decision.
I read or write full reviews, mini-reviews, or what I call micro-reviews. Also Facebook posts about books on the First Edition books group there. And I browse the shelves of my local libraries looking for books I’ve never heard of to take a chance on them. If I love them, or scorn them, I’ll write a review. If they’re worth reading but not particularly engaging, or at least pleasing, I probably won’t.
I’d say about one-third of the unknown books I read are really very good, one-third are dogs, and one-third are good enough to read but not good enough to bother writing about. I’m happy with that.
I really strive to find something different from what I’ve liked before. Do the Whitman thing and grow to fit the universe, and all that.
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Thank you for sharing your review process, it’s interesting to see how differently we approach reviewing books. For example, I write reviews for almost all books I read (since starting blogging), and mostly full reviews. Rarely I write mini-reviews, it happened only for non-fiction books ‘till now.
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