Welcome to Thoughts for Thursday! This feature is our outlet to talk with you about whatever we currently have on our minds. It might be bookish, it might not! Now for this week's thought:
I am a Follower of Trends
Something I’ve noticed about my reading choices is that they are pretty significantly influenced by popular opinion. If a book starts getting a lot of attention, I am pretty quick to bump it to the top of my TBR. Mostly because I want to know what all the fuss is about but also because I trust the masses. If a lot of people are enjoying a book, there is a good chance that I will too and I obviously want to spend my time reading good books. Conversely, if I book is getting a lot of negative attention, I likely won’t read it and it would take A LOT of convincing otherwise. This is usually because I get so discouraged and am very risk-averse. This also leads me to be very selective in my review requests and to only request books I am pretty confident that I will like. I know this is not the best of habits – I am probably overlooking books that I might love - but I do enjoy the majority of books that I read so I guess it is a tradeoff that it is mostly working for me.
Now, most of the books that I read are still in my comfort zone but I will go out of my comfort zone for a book that is getting a lot of hype. This is a benefit of my trend-following-nature because it encourages me to pick up books that I might otherwise have shied away from. And then there are books that I pick up without a clue as to what it is about because I so blindly follow the hype [and because I don’t read synopses]. Basically, I set myself up for a lot of surprises, but this can be fun too.
To give you an idea of some of the books that hype has led me to, here is a small list of some that have worked in my favor, some that haven't and some that are coming up!
To give you an idea of some of the books that hype has led me to, here is a small list of some that have worked in my favor, some that haven't and some that are coming up!
Hype that has steered me well:
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Hype that has steered me wrong:
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Hype that I am currently buying into:
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How does hype/trends/popular opinion influence your reading choices? Are you more likely to pick up a book, or do you tend to avoid books with a lot of hype? Has this been successful for you?
