I placed a big book order from Amazon and Barnes & Noble on July 2nd.  These books are starting to roll in, and I can’t say that I’m excited by them.

cart o’ books

Thinking about the book reviews I read and by just eyeballing the cart, I can safely say that the majority of these books are dystopian novels, supernatural romances, and comedies à la Diary of a Wimpy Kid.  I haven’t cracked the covers of any of the books yet, and I’m already sick to death of them.

Why?

I think it has something to do with book reviews.  Specifically book reviews in professional journals like VOYA, The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, and School Library Journal.  It’s not that the book reviews are poorly written, it’s just very hard to get excited about any of the books after reading a couple of pages.

However, I am feeling some affinity for these guys:

I didn’t read about the above in the traditional library journals.  I read about them in Entertainment Weekly or heard about them on NPR or a local book seller raved about them.  The reviews NPR and in EW and the hand-sells stand out in a way that traditional reviews don’t.

Is anyone else having the same problem?  Where are you going to supplement the traditional reviews?