Tuesday Thingers...Most Popular Book

Marie at The Boston Bibliophile hosts the weekly Tuesday Thingers. 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?

First off I'm admitting I'm a bit late this week because it took me until yesterday to figure out how to get this fact. I was pretty sure I'd seen this somewhere on Librarything so I went searching when all the time it was right in front of me, literally. So as I guessed any of the Harry Potter books lead my collection. I've decided those shouldn't count as they are such a phenomenon. So moving past the HP books next up would be:

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

Have I read it/what did I think: Yes but it took a second start to get through it. The first time I read 50 pages and put it down. People kept telling me to stick it out. So I did eventually pick it up a second time. Not only did I finish but I ended up liking it much more than I thought I would.

How many other users have it: 23,352

Most popular book I don't have: Thanks to Marie at The Boston Bibliophile I can now answer this question. The Hobbit is the most popular book I don't have in my library.

How does a book's popularity figure into your decisions about what to read? I usually shy away from books that are wildly popular or receiving a lot of attention. On more than one occasion I've found myself very disappointed and wondering what all the fuss is about. I suppose I set some sort of expectations for a book getting an unusual amount of hype and then find once I've started reading wondering why? A couple of recent examples would be: Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. I struggled and struggled with the abuse story lines and finally said "enough" and didn't finish. I still to this day don't understand the popularity of this particular book but so be it. Another fairly recent one would be The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue. It had received critical acclaim and good reviews. I finished it but didn't enjoy it. For me it was a torture to read. That's not to say I don't read popular books I do. My LT library is packed with popular books. I pick a book that appeals to me and settle in for a good read. If over time it becomes popular thats a good thing but I don't let it influence my decision to read or not.