One thing I like about Romantic Advances, a database of books by readers, is that it has NO reviews, just the blurb. At my last chapter meeting, every writer there said she didn’t pay attention to reviews. This was brought home to me on Saturday. Our local film critic gave THE NANNY DIARIES 3 1/2 stars out of 4. He said “finally a smart comedy”. That got to me. For years I’ve been moaning that the majority of the comedies are aimed at junior high school boys. I’ve yearned for a smart comedy. So after a side trip to the library, we went.
Forty-five minutes into the show, we left. It was bland and boring. We didn’t like the passive heroine and kept wanting her to stand up for herself. Halfway through the movie we didn’t see any change, and I kept thinking about the library books in my back seat that I could have been reading. During this time, I heard the audience laugh only once, which makes me wonder what the critic was talking about.
About the only time I pay attention to book reviews is when I’m on the fence about a book. There are authors who were once on my auto-buy list, but whose recent books have disappointed me. If I buy them despite bad reviews (hey, I loved these writers; it’s hard to walk away from true love), I’m usually disappointed. 
Tastes are so subjective, which is a good thing. Otherwise only tall, blonde, skinny women and men with washboard abs would get married. Yet the rest of us manage to fall in love and procreate. Awhile back, I blogged about a RITA-winning author I admired, including a passage from a book of hers. A couple people bought the book (seduced more by the quoted passage than my blog) and didn’t care for it. I thought the book was great!
We only give positive reviews on Magical. If we don’t like a book, we don’t review it. One of my co-bloggers recently posted a glowing review of a book that disappointed me. But I know the reviewer loved the book.
I’m going to say two names: Danielle Steele and James Patterson. Always on the Bestseller lists.
Need I say anything more about tastes?
So what do you think about reviews? Do you pay attention to them? Or like me and Tink, have you been burned by reviews and vow to ignore them?
Hey, Edie, I adore Tinker Bell here. You knew I’d smile on that one. Too cute. Okay, the ones that get my eye are when a favorite author of mine has a quote on someone’s bookcover. Seriously,that gets my attention. Basic reviews, not so much. It’s subjective and we know how that goes. So, as a reader I have to be captivated by the storyline in some way. Then seeing a, “You’ll love this book”, by Miss well-known and adored author, I’ll go for it. But only if the storyline interests me. I’m picky these days, and not easily lead.
LaDonna, I love looking at Tink in a tantrum.
I used to feel the same way about quotes from a favorite author, but I’ve bought a few that made me think “wtf was she smoking?” Now I’m cautious about trusting those too, although I will read the blurb and the first page. So the famous author quote gets my attention if not always my money.
LOOOOOOVE the Tinker Bells, Edie. Well done.
I rarely pay attention to reviews … whether they’re for movies or books. I go with my own gut reaction (which has been known to be wrong). I’ve seen so many movies that were panned and thought they were terrific. Same with books. But, like LaDonna, I do give a second glance to books which has authors that I admire giving a plug.
Edie, guess what I planned to blog about tomorrow?
You guessed it. Reviews and what they mean–or don’t mean–to me. Actually, I wrote it earlier this week, but I’m not posting it until tomorrow. 
I believe scaled systems need to be based on facts and not opinions. Like the new SPF scale they plan to use for sunblock. There’s hardcore evidence in those numbers that can be backed up by tests. Opinions cannot.
A while back, I read the blurb on a new upcoming author’s book and thought, “Gee, that sounds like something I’ve read before.” Sure enough, I went to a popular book review site where they reviewed the book. It wasn’t the rating that stuck with me, but the fact that it confirmed my suspicions. There wasn’t anything “new” about this author’s book that hasn’t been done before, so I decided not to it.
Liz, your animated smiley last week inspired the Tinkerbells.
The same reviewer who praised The Nanny Diaries movie panned the Wild Hogs, which I found hilariious. Granted, it wasn’t a “smart comedy”, but it was a funny one.
Marcia, I’m glad I posted my blog on reviews first. I’d written mine earlier too.
As far as plots being similar, that happens all the time and wouldn’t stop me if I loved the writing. (I’ll definitely check out your blog tomorrow.
) OTOH, it is nice when I read a book with a plot that’s fresh and different. That’s a whole ‘nother blog that I’ve been thinking of writing.
Edie, I read The Nanny Diaries years ago and disliked it for the same reason you mentioned you disliked the movie – the heroine was passive and never stood up for herself. Even at the end she jsut let things happen to her. When I heard the book was being made into a movie, I rolled my eyes, then figured the movie had to be different from the book. (They always are. And the previews totally play up a romance which, in the book, is nothing more than a very, very, VERY minor romantic element – nearly non-existent.) Hearing your review of it though, I think I’ll easily skip the movie.
And no, generally I don’t give reviews much of my time, but if a friend gives me a review or opinion on a book, I’ll generally listen.
Regarding movie reviews (warning – I haven’t gone to the movies since the first Pirates flick), I pay attention to the reviewer. Example: Gannet News reviewer, Jack Garner (retired now) gave the best breakdown of the movie, and his writing was superb. When he gave a 10, nine times out of ten it was a great movie. That said, Jack knew/knows what’s good, or maybe his tastes and mine line up.
Book reviews are another story because there’s so much more to a great read than there is to a great movie. Books have more substance to be objective/subjective about. There’s writing style, sentence structure, plot building, etc., great imagery and prose.
For me books rule over movies. They’re cheaper, expand knowledge in more ways than one, look nice on my shelf, and if the power goes out, they provide quality entertainment.
P.S. I only pay attention to one movie reviewer, and now he’s retired, so I’ll never gamble $8.50 ever again, lol.
I can’t pay attention to reviews. Mostly because if I did I’d miss out on some great movies and wonderful books. I think many reviewers take their jobs too literally. As in this movie or this book didn’t meet their certain standards. God forbid they were simply entertained!
Elisabeth, I tried to read The Nanny Diaries too, and didn’t get far. I can remember wondering what all the fuss was about, lol.
Unless I know we have different tastes, I’ll listen to a friend’s recommendation too.
Kath, I don’t think I’ve ever read a Jack Garner review. The nice thing about books is you can usually read a little before buying them and see if the writing works for you. Even Amazon has excerpts now. And some books we get from the library — or conferences.
My husband and I like going to the movies — usually, lol. I’ll see the one with Jodi Foster in a couple weeks. That looks good.
Karin, I agree. Our local movie critic is a snob. And if it’s a chick flick, it’s always a thumbs down with him. I can remember being furious with him years ago for saying Goldie Hawn was too old for a role when she was about 42 (the movie she made with Mel Gibson) because Mel was 10 years younger than her. At 42, Goldie looked 32. I’ve never heard him say anything about an actor teamed up with a woman half his age, something that happens all the time. Grrr.
Ooooh, Edie, I feel like boppin’ that guy on the noggin’. Seriously, don’t bad-mouth Goldie in front of me is what I’d like to tell him.
If someone recommends a book to me, and I like the sound of it, I’ll generally get it. Reviews are not something I read often. To be honest, I often read them after I’ve read the book, just to see if someone else thought the same about the book as I did. The chances of agreement are about 50/50
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Hmmm, good question. I’m so sorry to say this, LOL, but I kinda tend to disregard sites that give all positive reviews. (So sorry! I love you guys!)
Reviews sometimes sway me, but the reviewer has to have earned my respect, and have proven that I agree with a good percentage of his/her opinions.
I really love reviews that teach me something about storytelling or craft, that tell me why a certain thing works, or why a certain thing doesn’t.
LaDonna, I wish I would’ve complained to the newspaper. I was pretty incensed, and should have said something. I didn’t have email then. Email makes complaining easier.
Michelle, I’ll do that sometimes too. Usually when a book is apparently selling great and I couldn’t finish it. I wonder if other people thought it sucked like I did, lol.
LOL, Spy, that’s okay. I prefer to do my storytelling/craft ideas in the regular blogs. Sometimes.
Besides, what I think might not work, you might think does work.
Ignore! Ignore! I tend to have unusual tastes too, so it’s rather difficult for me to gauge whether or not I’ll like a book based on the opinions of others.
Catie, so true. In the end, I’m more likely to go with the blurb and reading the first page. Even my closest writer friends have different tastes in reading than I do.
Edie,
I don’t bother reading reviews either. Basically, I go off the word of friends who have similar taste. Sometimes I might check out a review to get an idea of the plot, but I don’t buy the book on the reviewers like or dislike.
Theresa, I’ve been reading a lot more books lately. I think you’ve heard me rave about a few writers, lol. I’m reading a nonfiction book about writing too that seems good. When I’m done, I’ll let you know.
Spy, we don’t give good reviews to a book even if we didn’t like it, we only review the books we’ve read that we did like. If you don’t see a book reviewed here, we either didn’t like it, or haven’t read it yet
. I think that’s different to only giving positive reviews, no matter what you personally thought of the book.
See, I agree with y’all on posting regarding only books that you love, and I’ll tell you why…if I didn’t love it, I don’t finish it, ergo, no review! LOL. My TBR pile is too big for me to waste time and attention on something that doesn’t send me over the moon.
The same goes with my newsletter. I feature an author every month, and I only ask authors whose work I’m ga-ga over. I think it’s a trust issue more than anything else, at least when it comes to recommending something to people, y’know?
When it comes to reviews in general, when I first started writing, I was over the moon about the good reviews I received, but in the end, it doesn’t really translate to sales. Word of mouth, be it through blogs or person-to-person contact, seems to be the driving factor for mid-listers and folks pubbed through smaller publishers.
As a reader, I’m more apt to pick something up off of Amazon (for a new author) that has a mixed bag, because that tells me the writing was good enough to generate real emotion, one way or the other.
Terri, I’m the same way about not finishing books I don’t like. Even if the book is “okay” in the beginning, I won’t read on. It has to be good. Like you said, that TBR pile is waiting.
Buzz is a huge seller of books, especially new authors. There are so many new authors, but if there’s a lot of buzz you’re more likely to stand out in a crowd. What’s really nice is when booksellers start hand selling a writer’s books.
Terri, I agree. I think there is a big difference between posting positive reviews no matter what you thought of the book, or posting reviews only of books you loved. We do the latter here. If we decide to review a book and it turns out we didn’t like it, we find a book we DO like to review. It isn’t a coincidence we sometimes review old favourites on this blog
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