Does the NYT Book Review influence your reading choices?

I've only ever bought one book based on an NYT review, and that was Caleb Carr's The Alienist back in the early 1990s ('93 or '94.)

I'd say, no.

We don't get the NYT here (or nowhere I've seen)..so no. Not really.

I do look at fantasy review sites. But papers, not so much.

Not me. I am pretty picky about fiction, and what I really love reading is great YA and brilliant fantasy stuff. NYT tends to stick with literary stuff and contemporary fiction with really really really wide appeal, which I usually don't enjoy.

I would a million times rather read the blogs of writers I like and get recs from likeminded writers around here

Absolutely! New York Review of Books (I have a subscription thanks to my American brother in law), NYT, TLS, the reviews in Atlantic monthly, the Paris Review - it doesn't mean I go out and buy every book mentioned, but it adds a lot to my enjoyment of what I do read. I also like to read the reviews after I've read the books - to see what I've missed, what translates differently, where I think they've gone wrong.... I love that kind of thing.

We have some excellent reviewers down here too - but more is more, yes?

I voted "yes," but the real answer is "sometimes." I get the NYT delivered and read (or skim) the Book Review every week. I usually buy either literary or women's fiction. I buy probably 40-50 books per year for myself.

Much of the time, I'm not so interested in the fiction they review. Off hand, I can think of a couple I've picked up after a review: The Ten Year Nap by Meg Wolitzer and one of Jhumpa Lahiri's--Unaccustomed Earth, I think? I've read some nonfiction after reading about it in the NYTBR, and also bought gifts (which, now that I think of it, were all for men.) IMO, the fiction does tend to skew a bit male. Which is funny, because my husband buys ZERO novels per year.

ETA: Now that I think of it, there are a lot more I've picked up after reading a review there. But I don't always go out and buy it right then.

ETA2: A friend's (nonfiction) book went from relatively obscure to the bestseller list one week after his very positive NYT review. So *someone* is reading it.

In the US, many librarians read the NYT Book Review avidly, and use it as one factor in the selection process. That's a big market that is potentially affected by this venue.

... don't really trust the nyt these days. They've become too much a commercial enterprise: "All the news that's fit to -- sell a subscription."

I've only bought one book due to a NYT review, but I enjoyed that one immensely, and am very grateful to the NYT for introducing me to that author. I might use the review more if I didn't already have such a massive backlog of books to read...

Nope. I have never read a NYT review. I don't read literary fiction and the only reviews I trust would be from my close friends.

Ken said:

... don't really trust the nyt these days. They've become too much a commercial enterprise: "All the news that's fit to -- sell a subscription."

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?? The New York Times has always been a for-profit newspaper, and, like every other for-profit newspaper, has always relied on advertising to pay its bills. Newspapers want high circulations so they can charge more for advertising; subscriptions and newsstand sales are a minor percentage of the bottom line.

... just my own impression. No one need subscribe.

Nope.

Nada. The NYT is too enamored of literary fiction written by disaffected WASPs. Yawn.

Leah Raeder said:

Nada. The NYT is too enamored of literary fiction written by disaffected WASPs. Yawn.

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^This.

I've always found that NYT reviewers (whether it's for books or movies or anything else) are a little too enamored of themselves. They always seem to be more focused on being clever than on actually delivering a decent review indicative of what actual readers/viewers/etc. might think. Their movie reviews are even worse than their book reviews, though.

I usually base my reading choices on either the author, an analysis of a book in something like Mental Floss or other magazine, a friend's recommendation, or coming across it at the store. I might look at the NYT best seller list, but I'm so far behind in reading the books I already own that it doesn't make sense to look for more just because it's on the NYT list.

Jersey Chick said:

I've only ever bought one book based on an NYT review, and that was Caleb Carr's The Alienist back in the early 1990s ('93 or '94.)

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A novel I read (knowing nothing about the NYT review) and found pedestrian in style and disappointing. But, hey, it was set in NEW YORK CITY and written by a NEW YORKER. So how much does that matter in a NYT review?

For the record, I've never even read an NYT review. I choose books largely on the bases of friends' recommendations (not always reliable), or book jacket + initial page or two looks at a bookstore or library (more reliable, but not perfect). I don't look at published reviews, or seek them out.

No, but the Guardian Review has introduced me to plenty of authors.

NYT what now? We don't get it over here, so it features on a scale of 'very little' to 'not at all' in my life. Same with things like the Booker Prize - I just don't care. I think the only publication I really take any note of when it comes to reviews is Fortean Times... I've not been steered wrong once by them. Their taste of weirdiness matches my taste for weirdiness, so we make good company.

Not at all. I find books to read by recommendations or by reading several different book review blogs. Or more rarely, random browsing on Amazon. I don't buy from them but they do have the best browsing options for books, I've found. I don't think I've ever read a NYT review.

Nope. The NYT is totally irrelevant to me because I don't live in the states.

The NYT bestseller list affects my reading, and I rea dmost of the books that make it to the top twenty. But the NYT reviews don't affect my reading because I don't read reviews of any kind, anywhere. I simply do not care what any reviewer has to say about a book, including one of my own.

Never read the book review section, though I have occasionally read the quoted NYT reviews actually printed on/in the books. But, honestly, since I don't know who these people are and what their agenda in saying what they're saying is and I don't know how their taste compares to mine, I don't give any review(er) credence.

Nope, I read science fiction and fantasy, plus whatever my teachers tell me to.

No. I do not read the NYTBR. I choose by going to booksellers and looking at covers, subject matter, and scanning first and scattered pages. Then I go on line for the best price or back to the store for a purchase.