Book Review Resources

I think that book review publications should have honest reviews. Granted, people have different tastes in books, and they won’t have similar thoughts on the same book. Book reviews affect collection development if the purchaser isn’t using a wide variety of resources for their reviews. If they are only looking at Kirkus reviews to purchase books, they might miss out on books that might not have gotten great reviews, but would be a great fit for the community they serve. They might also miss out on certain genres such as ebooks or romance books, just because they aren’t reviewed. This can also cause an issue with reader’s advisory, because someone might not want to recommend a book due to it’s poor review, or they might recommend a “bad” book because it got a good review.

I don’t necessarily feel that blog reviews or Amazon reviews are super reliable in a professional sense, but I do like to read them for personal gain. I might trust the blog a little more than an Amazon review, just based on my own biases. I would consider buying this, but I would need to look at how well Christmas romance ebooks circulate, or if we even have them. If we don’t have much in that genre, or if it circulated well, then I would absolutely purchase it. If we already have several similar books or if they don’t go over well, then I would hold off on purchasing it. I don’t think this would be a romantic suspense book. I guess it would be suspenseful to see if they wind up together or when she is up for bid. Overall it doesn’t seem suspenseful.    

These reviews make it seem that Angela’s Ashes should be in every collection, if not multiple copies. It is obviously a classic, and I know it’s required reading for multiple classes. I would say that I would have this book in my collection, without a doubt.

I think it is important for all different types of books to be reviewed. Libraries are supposed to have something for everyone, but if they only use a handful of review sources to get their books, then they are going to be missing out on countless books. I generally like to read reviews for books, especially if it’s an author that I haven’t read before, however, if there is an author that I really enjoy, I probably won’t read the reviews of their newest book. I use indiereader.com, BookPage, Kirkus, School Library Journal, and  New York Times to read book reviews.