Booking Through Thursday: Book Reviews

 It's almost the weekend, which makes today another round of Booking Through Thursday.  Today's Booking Through Thursday question:

Do you read book reviews? Whose do you trust? Do they affect your reading habits? Your buying habits?

Of course I read book reviews!  Mostly on blogs, but I will research books I think I'd either like to read or really loved to read in newspapers like the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, or the UK papers.  Generally they're reviews of books I've heard of already or books which cover/subject matter strikes me as something I may be interested in.  I'll also check out the reviews on websites like Goodreads to see if my friends on there liked the book or if the book gets tons of positive/negative reviews. 

As to whose reviews do I trust, it depends on what else I've seen the reviewer read or what my relationship is with the reviewer.  I've had someone people tell me that Twilight is amazing (I disagree), but that doesn't mean that their liking The Hunger Games saga means that I should stay away from that series of books.

What others say affects my reading and buying habits just a tiny bit.  It may help push me away from reading a book.  As for purchasing a book, I usually try to (at this point) just buy books I really want to read and normally also keep permanently for my own personal library.

Currently, I actually do have a pile of to-read books that I bought from sales and bookstore closings that resembles that photo...so if I'm going to buy a book it better be something I'm pretty sure I'm going to already like!