Week 5 Prompt

The reviews of Angela’s Ashes each paint the title as an incredibly moving and worthwhile memoir.  It was a widespread popular success, and received many favorable reviews from informal sites, like Amazon, as well as these reviews from more scholarly sources.  Given these two factors, I would certainly add this title to a public library collection.  As professional reviewers from reputable sources believe the book to be of high literary quality, and the hype that accompanied its release, I believe many library customers would be interested in Angela’s Ashes. 

On the other hand, the presentation of The Chosen One was less clear-cut.  While the blog review only provides a plot summary, it does give the reader an idea of what they’re buying.  However, none of the other guidelines from the presentation are followed, as there are no quotations and no critical analysis.  This may be due to the fact that the review is posted on her own site, as many of the other reviews on the site are of higher quality, such as this one. 

The Amazon review provides a bit more detail, but is out of place in that setting.  The reviewer’s academic tone is unusual for an Amazon review, and does include many of the components of a successful review, but is unlikely to be effective.  If a review is meant to be published in an academic venue, then this tone would be appropriate, but if the review is published in a venue that is aimed more toward the everyman, a less sophisticated tone would be more appropriate.  The book reviews that you see published in People or Entertainment Weekly are much less formal than those published in Library Journal.  The need to write for your audience is something that a reviewer should keep in mind.  As it stands, the Amazon review from Dr. Rosemarin does not seem overly reliable, especially given that according to his own blog, he is also an aspiring novelist.  It is likely that his review is biased, and other Amazon reviews might be more helpful in determining if this book is worthwhile for a library collection. 

I think that library collections, as much as we don’t like to admit it, follow the trends set out by the publishing industry.  If a publisher heavily promotes a book, including lobbying for good or prominent reviews, then that book will likely be in demand at libraries.  Perhaps libraries do have a bit more freedom in selecting materials, but the fact remains that without marking materials in some way, it’s not likely that they will see much use, and will eventually be weeded.  I know that there are many excellent books out there that don’t get their fair shot, simply because no one knew to read them.  Likewise, I believe that it’s unfair to limit reviews to only those that are favorable – it leads readers toward materials that might not be worth their while.  Choosing to only publish favorable reviews is on par with publishing a biased review; if you’re not equally willing to present both the good and the bad, the review is of little use. 

I’m only in charge of purchasing materials for my small church library, and since we unfortunately don’t have a budget at all (even for tape – I have to bring it from home), I tend to avoid looking at reviews because it just makes me frustrated that I can’t purchase them.  I do have publisher’s websites and Christian book retailers bookmarked on my computer, but I rarely have the guts to visit and see what our library is missing out on. 

Personally, I rarely use professional reviews in making selections for reading.  I usually utilize reviews from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Goodreads to make selections.  I frequently have several browser windows open when selecting books from my library: one with the library catalog, and a couple other aforementioned sites that offer more in-depth reviews.  If the library catalog had the ability to integrate those reviews, or even better, professional reviews from reputable sources, it would be much easier to browse the catalog. 

I acknowledge that it makes me a bit weird, but I actually enjoy reviews that give away the ending a bit (so long as they’re marked with a spoiler alert).  I’m that exasperating reader that reads the last few pages if I can’t quite see how the book will turn out, and usually that gives me the motivation to finish it.  Same goes with reviews; if there is no mystery element to the novel, I like to know where it’s going before I commit to reading it.  Most recently, I confess I did this with Allegiant by Veronica Roth.  I'd heard so many mixed reviews about the way the novel ended, I needed to know what I was getting into (which, incidentally, was exactly what I expected).  There are so many wonderful books out there, I don’t want to waste time on a dud!