Books Are A Girl's Best Friend

I've decided to take part in the blog meme, Musing Mondays, which is run by MizB over at  Should Be Reading. The idea of this blog meme is that there is a new question asked very week that book bloggers answer and get a good discussion of opinions and views going. If all goes to plan, this should be a regular post as I rather like the idea and creativity it brings so look out for more in the weeks to come! :)

This week’s musing asks…


What do you think of books that receive a lot of hype? (think of the “Twilight” saga, or “Harry Potter”, or “The Da Vinci Code”). Do you read them? Why, or why not?

I'm one of those readers who thinks that part of the enjoyment of the book is finding it first although I think that recommending books to friends and through blogs and the Internet is great.
Usually I tend to shy away from books that are 'the hype' as the question calls it, mainly because if everyone is reading it then some of the magic and the special bond that sometimes feels like it is building between you and characters is gone. For example, I haven't had a go at reading the Twilight saga yet, even though nearly everyone my age was reading and talking about it. However, that could be because the theme of the books don't appeal to me.

I have always tended to read books that were the 'hype' a long time ago for example all of Enid Blyton's books, children's classics or the Chalet school series. I think that reading those kind of books is really nice because you can hug the characters to yourself a little more (with a few recommendations!) but you also know that many others before you have loved the same book and you are carrying the love on.

Overall, I don't think that 'hyped' books are an altogether bad thing but I would say that readers should be wary not to listen to much to other people;s opinions before they have read it so they can form their own personal interpretations.

So, if  I thought that I would like a book that is really popular at the time, I would definitely still read it but try and avoid some of the talk about it so it is not spoilt for me.

What do you think about this question?