CHAPTER FOUR: DO YOU BELIEVE THE HYPE?
Chrissi,The hype about books is all around us, especially since we both joined the blogging world! What I was wondering is if you get taken in from the hype surrounding certain books? And then what happens if the book doesn’t live up to your expectations? In my case, usually bitter disappointment. I think the advertising around books is quite strong with the amount of media we have at our fingertips, and as I commute a lot to work, I often see books on the billboards around the tube which catch my attention. One that stood out for me recently was The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes. As soon as I saw the poster, I knew I just had to read that book, and luckily for me, it lived up to the hype. What do you think?Beth xBeth,Oh my God, I know! I seem to have learned about so many more books that I NEED to read since starting book blogging. It’s nice, but in a way, I start to feel a bit overwhelmed with it all. There are so many series that I see so many of my favourite bloggers raving about that make me really want to read them. My TBR pile really did boom in 2013 and I don’t really see it decreasing any time soon. Don’t you ever wish that they could stop publishing books for a while so you could catch up?!I did have a few books in 2013 that I just couldn’t get on with. I think sometimes books do suffer from being so hyped. You imagine them to be amazing and unfortunately go into reading it with massive expectations. I hate being let down.I do sometimes get pulled in by billboards, but it tends to be bloggers that influence me the most. I’ve mentioned before I feel pressure to read what’s popular and spoken about. Do you feel that way too?
Chrissi x
Chrissi, I agree, it can be very overwhelming! I often feel like I shouldn’t go out the house, go on the internet or watch television because I often seem to see another book that I want. You know the state of my bookshelves as it is, packed to bursting with books I haven’t read and am desperately trying to get round to. If they could stop publishing, just for a year, I might be able to catch up a bit, hehe. I also agree with you that books can suffer from being over-hyped. An example of this for me was The Passage by Justin Cronin. VERY hyped and a nice thick hardback that I have had to give away to the charity shop, as I was so disappointed by it. It has a fairly good rating on GoodReads, so I know there are people out there who do love it, but it just fell so flat for me and felt too “busy.” I haven’t even bothered with the second book in the series, that’s how let down I was by it! I know you’ve done a post recently about feeling pressure in the book blogging world, and I think that bloggers can have a lot of influence, (my TBR pile is shocking!) but I’m trying not to feel bad if I don’t manage to get as many books read as I wanted. There are a few books hyped for this year I think. I know a few of the YA series have books coming out and as ever I’m looking forward to reading as much debut novels as I can. Have we become a bit wiser to hype do you think or will it still affect you? Beth x Beth,We definitely don’t need anymore on our TBR piles.. that’s for sure. I know I’ll add to mine though, I always do!I think I’m somewhat wiser to the hype now, and I definitely approach a hyped book with caution. I’m starting to realise that it doesn’t matter if I don’t like a certain book as there are plenty of books for me to dive into that I will like. I read for me, not anyone else at the end of the day.Chrissi x
What do you think? Do you believe the hype? Have hyped books ever let you down? Please leave a comment and let us know your thoughts!