Who Reads Book Reviews?

Whenever I choose a book to read, I almost always read multiple reviewers' comments before I purchase the book. To me, there's nothing more frustrating than buying a used book on Amazon.com or BarnesandNoble.com and not being able to flip through the pages and see if I like the writing enough to read the book.

I can be critical of the books I read, as most readers are. We're all looking for specific things from our reading experience. The clarity and cohesiveness of an author's writing is a major part of the reading experience for me.

Do you like to read book reviews before you read a book?

I know some people that don't. At first, I couldn't understand why they wouldn't want to read what someone else thought and evaluate whether they wanted to invest their time and money on a book. 

But after reading hundreds of reviews, and sometimes pausing mid-way through a book in order to read some, I can see how a review can unduly influence your reading experience. There have been occasions that I did not notice a character's flaws, or the over-dependence on clichés, etc., until a more discerning reader pointed them out in their review.

So when I'm looking for a book to read, I find thoughtful book reviews to be incredibly useful to save me both money and time. By "thoughtful" I mean reviews which pinpoint why they did or did not like a book, regardless of the star rating, not reviews that either praise or criticize with abandon.

When I read a review, I'm looking for several things. Those, more or less, correspond to what I notice when I read a book. This can be the quality of character development, or the uniqueness of plot, but also writing style, and anything that a reviewer points out about which strikes a chord with me. For example, if a writer uses too many similes to the point where a reviewer has complained about them, I can be certain that I'll probably notice, too. (However, there is the chance that when I read a review like this, then buy the book anyways, I will notice it now--whether or not I would have without reading the review.)

Do the pros of reading a review outweigh the cons?

For me, yes, the pros of reading a review far outweigh the cons. 

I want to know that the book I'm going to pay money for has many critical readers and that it can stand up under the weight.

The Best Sellers list is one instance where reading reviews really comes in handy for me. I poll a selection of each "star" rating. I'll look at a few 5 stars, a few 4 stars, 3 stars, all the way down to 1 starred reviews. Until recently, I've rarely read books on the Best Seller's lists. I find that when I do, I'm often disappointed in the quality, and I often agree with the dissenting reviewers. 

Reading a dozen reviews from discerning reviewers has saved me a lot of money. If it sounds interesting despite a few bad reviews, and I find myself still wanting to read it but the reviews have given me reservations, I'll check it out from the library instead of pressing "buy now."

The Fourth Fisherman by Joe Kissack, A Review

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book. But I knew that it was about a man and his marriage, and, somehow, how a group of fishermen had saved his marriage. Two seemingly unrelated incidents, and two incidents that I am still not quite sure complement each other.

When I began reading this book, I think I expected something between a Nicholas Sparks book and Moby Dick... But it fell short on both ends and pleasantly surprised me in the middle.

Joe Kissack had it all, a fancy house, expensive car, enviable job. He had it all, but something grave was lacking. A part of him always understood this, and he sought to fill the hole inside him with more stuff and more accomplishments. Eventually, alcohol, and then drugs filled that hole. It’s not an uncommon scenario: raised under a tough father, the man wants to please his father and so becomes an overachiever, until he finally realizes that nothing fills this hole and he needs help.

But for Joe Kissack, help arrived in the story of five fisherman who disappeared from the Mexican coast. It was a news story that went largely unnoticed in America, overshadowed by the confession of John Mark Karr to having killed JonBenet Ramsey. Kissack, however, followed a different story, a story about survival in the midst of overwhelming odds, a story of five men drifting in the ocean who had only each other, a boat and a Bible.

The story of the three surviving fishermen, Jesús, Salvador, and Lucio, does not parallel Joe Kissack’s much. The telling of their stories, narrated in alternating bits and pieces, is at times frustrating and other times slow. Although both stories are interesting, I found the fishermen’s story more so, and was disappointed that the fishermen’s story was not featured more prevalently past the first twelve chapters. 

For some Christian readers that suffer from depression and drug and alcohol abuse, Kissack’s dramatic salvation and easy abandonment of such demons could be challenging to read about. Although it is stated once that most Christians do not have a transformation like Kissack experienced, the story is more focused on the amazing aspects of his salvation. I do not mean to make light of God’s ability to change lives, and though this story is about that ability as much as about the fishermen, for some readers, this may not be an inspiring read, but one that leaves them unhappy with their ongoing battle with depression or drugs and alcohol.

The Fourth Fisherman was a book that I am glad I read. It was interesting and kept my attention throughout, but I would have liked to see more substance with the fishermen and how their ordeal changed their lives. That part of the story is glossed over and the brief epilogue is too brief, in my opinion. Despite my reservations, I enjoyed the read. Kissack has written an inspiring book, one that could encourage men and women to accept some harsh realities about themselves and get help, whether from God or from counseling.

*I received this review copy from Blogging for Books.

My Rating: 

3.5/5 stars

It would provoke interesting discussion in a book club, but simply for the way the parallel stories are approached, I don't feel that I can rate this book higher.

The Shack: A book review

I just finished reading The Shack by W. Paul Young, and although I found the book thought-provoking and deep at times, at others, I thought the book dragged on to a disappointing degree.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, as I’d heard that this book was good but not really what it was about. That said, I’m glad I only listened to it via my iPod, as I think, had I been physically reading it, I might have gotten tired of it, put it down and not picked it up again. 

This novel centers around a man, Mackenzie Allen Phillips, whose daughter, Missy, was abducted while the family camped in Oregon. It appears that the daughter has been brutally murdered by a serial killer who targets young girls, and the girls are never found again. This plunges Mack into a long depression he dubs “The Great Sadness”. When he receives a note in his mailbox three years later from “Papa”, the name which his wife has for God, asking Mack to meet Him at the shack (the scene of Missy’s abduction) Mack reluctantly heads out to meet God for the weekend. Not knowing what to expect, possibly that this is a trick of the killer or a cruel joke, Mack travels to the shack while the rest of his family goes on a weekend away. There, he meets God and is transformed by the experience.

Young’s writing was eloquent and the plot well developed. I could believe the progression of Mack as he went from angry at God to forgiving God (and others), and, although the book was a bit predictable, it was refreshingly so. My issue was the tediousness that began to develop for me towards the end of the novel. In fact, it became so--forgive me--boring, that I had to put the book (iPod) away for several days and come back to it later. I’m not sure why I felt this way, other than that the “theology” of the book got a bit repetitive and dragged on for too long. I understood the challenge the author faced in not being cliché in converting Mack to his belief in God, and not jumping into this faith with both feet after being so hurt. I was glad that Young did not prematurely wrap up the ending, and took his time in “converting” Mack. However, there came a point in the novel where I just got bored. It became a chore to listen to the book, and I couldn’t finish it at that time.

Overall, the book was an interesting read, and thought-provoking at times, but not a book I would reread or buy.

The Albatros Bookmark Part II

Now that I've had a little bit of time to use my Albatross bookmarks, the verdict is in.

I'll start off with the things I've noticed about this revolutionary bookmark.


Pros:
1. It's simple to use, just peel from the paper backing and stick;


2. no more losing your place!


3. it's novel (pun intended)!


Cons:
1. If you do remove and reattach one end of the bookmark, the end may not stick very well and actually come off when you're not expecting it. Although this doesn't lead to an immediate loss of place, it can be irritating or frustrating while reading;


2. if you're reading a book that is more than an inch thick, and you're at the beginning (or end) of the book, the middle crease (which is supposed to follow your place) does not reach your page and you'll have to crease the bookmark elsewhere for those sections;


3. price--at £8 for 6 bookmarks, and assuming one-time use of all six, it increases the price of your book by £1.33.


Verdict:
I like it. I'll probably savor them and use them on books that I know I'll read again--that way I can get the most use out of each bookmark. But it's definitely better than losing your place when your bookmark slips out of the book.


It'd be a good birthday or Christmas gift for a bookworm, and the novelty has yet to wear off! Provided ebooks don't completely take over the world, I think the Albatros bookmark will stick around for awhile yet!




Order here.

The Albatros Bookmark

They're here.

You can just see on the white paper behind the bookmarks the visual instruction guide for situating the bookmark in your current read.

I've only placed one in a book so far--the top one.
As I'm not too far into the book, it's awkwardly placed at the moment.

I found that in order to get the bookmark to sit flat on top
early (or late) in the book, I must fold a crease that does NOT
correspond to the actual fold on the bookmark.

So I haven't really gotten a chance to read with one of these in place. Unfortunately, I didn't pick up my mail until nine o'clock last night, and reading wasn't on the agenda. However, I did take the time to put one of these babies in my current read (Perpetua by Amy Peterson).


First application is just a hint on the confusing side--but there's handy little instructions on the back of the bookmark sheet. (I referred to it a couple of times.) Thankfully, when I misplaced the bookmark, I was able to lift it up without any damage to the book pages and reapply it where I wanted. It took me a couple of applications (because I'm that AAA-personality). 


Other than having to read instructions for a bookmark for the first time in my life, it's a handy little device, and I look forward to using it later today! 


Aside: I'll be updating this blog when I have more fully experimented with this bookmark.


And here's the link if you want to find out more about the Albatros book mark. Who needs eBooks these days?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/27/albatros-bookmarks_n_1304850.html?ref=books&ncid=edlinkusaolp00000008