Romantic Suspense ebook reviews: While both reviews offer their opinion about The Billionaire’s First Christmas, I felt the blog review went into more detail. I liked how they included a blurb from the book in addition to their thoughts. The amazon review was helpful in that it explained there would be a second book about these characters. The blog review felt like a friend was talking to me about the book - it had a very conversational tone.
I do not currently work in a library, so I am not sure of the process for buying titles. The Billionaire’s First Christmas seems to me like a Hallmark Christmas Special - cheerful yet cheesy. If I was going to consider purchasing this for a library, I’d have to take a look at other books in the current collection to see if similar titles were popular among patrons. If so, this one would be nice to add to a holiday display.Angela’s Ashes: The provided reviews do a great job of depicting Angela’s Ashes. I’ve read this book, and I remember it being incredibly depressing, while also compelling at the same time. Because I’ve had the benefit of reading it, I would want to add it to a collection. However, even if I hadn’t, I think the reviews make a strong case for the book, especially this line from the SLJ Review: “He [McCourt] recounts his desperately poor early years, living on public assistance and losing three siblings, but manages to make the book funny and uplifting.“
Fairness of reviews: I don’t think it’s fair that some books get zillions of reviews while others get none. I think this is especially unfair to authors just starting out. If they write a book that isn’t getting reviewed, it greatly decreases their chances of people hearing about it. I’ll admit that before this class I didn’t know anything about Booklist and how they won’t print negative reviews. That seems like a strange policy to me. I would want to know if someone liked or did not like the book. Whenever I purchase household items on amazon, I always read the reviews. I like having feedback that doesn’t feel forced to help me make decisions.
Reviews for personal reading: I don’t read a lot of reviews before starting a new book, mainly because I don’t want to come across anything that might contain spoilers. I rely almost exclusively on the spreadsheet my sisters and I make, along with word-of-mouth recommendations from family and friends. I’m also part of a Facebook book club where people recommend books (without giving too much away). My local library in South Bend also has reviews in their online catalog that I check out from time to time.
Thursday, February 18, 2021
Week 5 Prompt Response
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Week 15 Prompt Response
For me, books and reading haven’t changed that much since I was a child. I loved to read then, and I love to read now. Even though there are...
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Sara,
ReplyDeleteI liked your idea to use circulation stats on similar titles to determine if the romantic suspense novel would be a good addition. Many libraries have reports that can be run or go into the "Item Status" page for a certain work and see how popular it is, at least with the Evergreen system my library has. Reports are truly under utilized and was a great suggestion.
Also, can I ask about the spreadsheet you mentioned? That seems like a fun way to share titles with friends while also not getting spoiled. I know I have to ignore some of the Facebook groups I am a part of after a new release so that I can be completely surprised.
Hi Taylor,
DeleteThanks for your comment. The spreadsheet I mentioned is a google sheet that my 2 sisters and I started a few years ago. Each row is for a different book, with columns for us to mark when we've each read it, write our thoughts about it, etc... It's a great way for us to keep track of books we want to read, and to let the others know about them. It works well for us :)
I appreciate your comments on the fairness of reviews. You mention that it seemed odd to you that Booklist does not allow negative comments, and it seemed odd to me too! I think there is a fine line between only stating that a book was good or bad and stating what they believe the authors intentions were and whether or not they were successful in meeting that goal. I believe that is the intention of not having "negative" reviews. If you are looking for honest and direct opinions, it is probably best to look at sources like Amazon or Goodreads for those reviews.
ReplyDeleteGreat insight - full points!
ReplyDelete