Thanks for responding. What you’re describing has always been my own philosophy of reviewing. I figure that if people have gotten to know me, that will help them evaluate why I like or dislike something about a book, and that, in turn, will help them decide if they want to read the book.

For the most part, though, I rely on recommendations from family (hi, mom!) and friends and the back of the book summary to find new material. The folks I’m closest to know my buttons well enough to turn me on to something without writing me an actual review. I’m predictable enough that a “If you like dystopia stuff, try X!” will get a book in my TBR pile without me ever checking a review.

When I do seek out for reviews, I’m usually iffy on something, so I’ll be looking at a large number of reviews and reading them to see how readers react to the things that make me a little gunshy about the book. Which brings me back to preferring the autobiographical reviews. They help me get a feel for both the content of the book and the tastes of the reviewer, and both help me figure out how I might react to the book and if it’s something I’d like to read.

I don’t normally comment on blogs but your post was a real call to action. Thank you for a great read….

Your topic ” The Edgar Award . . . was interesting when I found it on Thursday searching for sue grafton books as I also have articles and information posted on this subject. Thank You… Steve Noel Sr….

~Mary