Choosing Your Books Online

Given the rise of online reviews, fewer people are aware of the differences between good reviews and bad ones and as a result they may make poor choices based on insufficient material from the reviewer. Most writers would agree on a few components of a good book review and the challenge lies in the reviewer's ability to observe them. Reviewers should avoid giving a way too much of the story.

Many reviews may have put people off reading a book because too much has been given away by the reviewer. In the example of a good fictional book review, should ideally comment on the author's style and how they have developed the characters without giving too much of the plot away.

Marie is a keen reader and reflects on her experiences of reading recommended books before I joined my reading group, my friends used to recommend books that I usually didn't like but was too polite to decline because I knew, that they would follow their recommendations up with a series of 'How did you find it?' questions.

However things have changed for me since I joined a book club and it is a perfect excuse for me to say that, I am still reading my book club recommends maybe when I finish it. I am now able to have my say on the reading guide and I have been introduced to interesting books that I wouldn't normally have read.

We are able to discuss relevant areas like the setting, the themes, the characters and the overall flow of the language and how the book has made us feel. These discussions are always exciting for me because rarely do we express similar experiences and perspectives on a particular book. I like the fact that I always come away enriched with other people's understanding of a book, besides my own.

I have also since learnt that choosing a book club to belong to is not as straight forward as I had envisaged. In my experience I joined three clubs before I found the one that I could relate to."

Some people are quite specific about the type of books they want to read and these would most certainly have an influence on the type of club they choose to join. However if you are open to all types of books whether they are seriously funny, factual or oddly inspiring stories that are either fictional or non fictional, there are many book clubs to choose from, whether in your locality, or online.