Tuesday Thingers... Thursday thoughts on Friday

Ok, so I've decided I should title these posts "Tuesday Thingers ... Friday Thoughts." It's been my intention to do this on Thursdays but that plan has been led astray these last few weeks. That aside I did travel through the Tuesday Thingers comments today and didn't find any big surprises. So here we go...

First: the details ~ Marie at The Boston Bibliophile hosts Tuesday Thingers every week. Second: this week's question: What's the most popular book in your library? Have you read it? What did you think? How many users have it? What's the most popular book you don't have? How does a book's popularity figure into your decisions about what to read?

What's the most popular book; have you read it; what did you think?: No surprises here or at least there shouldn't be: The phenomenon better known to the world as Harry Potter leads the way. Out of 31 responses the overwhelming majority had at least read this series, some several times, or own the series. In some cases LTers own multiple versions of the series. Seems that Harry has taken over. All seven Harry Potter books lead the Top Books listing at Librarything. Now we're a bit divided on the what did you think part . While some absolutely loved the boy wizard others thought it was merely a good read and there were a few that wondered what all the fuss was about, hadn't read the series and didn't intended too.

What's the most popular book you don't have: There seemed to be a majority here too. Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code was the next most popular book that most people didn't have and didn't have any interest in reading. Like some others I made a start and stop before I got through it. While it's been read by some in this group no one seemed to be ranting and raving about it.

Lastly: How does a book's popularity figure into your decisions about what to read? For most of us, me included, our reading selections are driven by personal preference. Yes, the most popular or talked about books tend to make it on to best sellers lists, TV & radio talk shows, book selection sites (Amazon), book blogs and eventually into movies. That in turn means that we're more likely to have heard about it, checked it out, seen or read the hype and made our own informed decision. Maybe something will induce us to give it a try, maybe not. We appear to be a group that trusts our instincts when it comes to picking a book that will interest us and don't necessarily jump on the bandwagon or follow the crowd.