Week Five Prompt

It is my belief that the more information that there is out there on different genres of books, the more people will be pulled into the wonderful world of reading. If a person is seeing reviews for popular fiction genres that do not interest them, most likely they will not pick up those books. However, if a not as highly reviewed genre catches their attention, they may be interested in selecting that title. I do not think that it is fair that one type of book is reviewed over and over again while other types get little to no attention. I think that this type of book reviewing can make authors feel unseen and unheard, and can also make readers feel isolated from the review community. Tools that I use regularly, like NoveList and other review sources to find a similar read to a book I enjoyed, may not actually work for those who read not as popular genres. This can discourage readers from finding books they enjoy.

I think that this can greatly affect collection development. If there is no information out there on these genres, and if there is minimal exposure to our patrons who do not know to ask for it, then we will keep buying those over reviewed items without allowing room in the budget for the less popular genres. 

Personally, I do not agree with not publishing negative reviews. You're never going to make everyone happy with a review, so you might as well be honest with it. If a reviewer is clear about what they did not like in a book, that could be an indicator for someone who likes that type of thing in a book as well. A negative review can also save a reader a lot of time that they could have wasted on a book that was just not for them. I don't buy books for the library that I work in, but I feel that it is not appropriate to just give books good reviews so that people will buy them. I would actually be quite upset if I purchased a book that had rave reviews, only to find out that the majority of my patrons hated it and now it's going to wither on a shelf until it is weeded. As for personal reading, I typically hit up Goodreads and sometimes flip through School Library Journal to keep up with younger content. I actually really like Goodreads reviews because they give me a good mix of negatives and positives so that I feel that I can make an informed decision with all of the information available to me. Honestly, it's sometimes the one liners in Goodreads reviews that convince me to read a book if it is hilarious enough. 

For The Billionaire's First Christmas, I feel that both reviews are valid. An Amazon review by no means has to be formal and I feel that Deborah gets her point across and gives adequate reasoning to her review. The blog review is a bit more polished, but I do feel as though this one may have failed one of John Updike's guidelines about failure and making sure that it's the author's and not the reviewers. The reviewer said it is "too Christmassy," which confuses me because Christmas is literally in the title. However, the review is fair in my eyes (minus that remark) and the blogger gave a decent rating. I think both reviews taken together would warrant an ebook purchase for this title.

As for Angela's Ashes I do believe that this book would be worth purchasing at least a couple of titles for the library. The reviews are great across the board, especially the Kirkus review that says, "an extraordinary work in every way. McCourt magically retrieves love, dignity, and humor from a childhood of hunger, loss and pain."