REVIVING THE VALUE OF THE WRITTEN WORD. (thebookbag.co.uk)

Member Name: thingywhatsit

Product:	thebookbag.co.uk
Date:	15/05/06 (153 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Honest, easy to understand, and extremely encouraging.

Disadvantages: Small database, although being added to weekly.

For many years, I was an avid reader. I read at every opportunity and had a passion for reading. Somehow, when the Internet arrived, I stepped out of my shell, and instead of reading books, read websites. Recently, having stumbled across TheBookBag.co.uk, certain changes have happened to me, and I want to describe the experience, because to me it was a valuable one.

I realised upon reading the site, which has been made by two ladies who love books, that I had found a website that has an honest approach to reviewing books. In fact, here I would describe the Internet as paramount to my experience moving from the country to the town. Surrounded with places to look at, I was hopelessly lost. Websites giving details about books were not always as honest as I thought they should be. I had bought books through many websites, and their descriptions varied from mediocre to unreadable, and many of the purchases I made were based on reviews that were either too cleverly intellectual to actually understand, or lacking information that would have made a difference to my stance on a book, and found the experience disappointing. It was almost like picking out bits of reviews and piecing them together to get the full story and even then, I often made mistakes in my choices. Thus, I stopped reading.

I don't have unlimited resources. I cannot justify buying at will, and when I came across this site, was pleasantly surprised by its' simplicity of navigation and overall honesty in presentation. I had saved a review found on another website intending to purchase a book, although having read the review on this site, decided that the site merited further investigation, and actually saved me money on a purchase that I would have regretted.

I could equate the experience of this website with thinking of the Internet as a vast city of lost people, and there, it was akin to finding that old fashioned shop with bullseye glass windows, and assistants that actually wanted to assist and advise, which was indeed a rarity and amongst its' pages, I found the will to start reading again, switching off the Internet at night, and remembering the value of the written word.

The site's presentation is pretty simple, being started by two ladies that wanted to share their love of books with the public, with no bias towards selling certain authors, or what writing was the latest fashion. The writers on the site know how to present reviews on the books that they read, and here, they offer the visitor a choice that many other sites do not. On each page of each section, ranging from Fiction to Factual, Practical and Children's genres, you are presented with a full review, or for those with less time to read a description, a mini synopsis of what the book is like. There is also a star rating for each of the books which is self explanatory. Here again, the ladies have thought of the potential buyer of books, and books are categories as to whether they think the book worthy of purchase, or indeed of borrowing. This really does help, since many books that I have bought in the past have been disappointing ones that I have inevitably sold at a loss.

When commenting on a young writer's work, I was actually astounded by the information that the review imparted, in that the child was thoughtful enough to have outlined the age for which he would recommend the book and here, he had taken the time to explain why in a simple and understandable and logical manner. I commented upon this review.

Here, the site differs from many, and the next day I received an email asking if I minded if my comment was published on the website. This pleased me, because it felt like the ladies give very careful attention to detail and care about people who browse their site, a service that to me is otherwise lacking on the Internet, a vast place where individuals like me get lost, like a country girl on their first week in a huge city.

Navigation of the site is rather clever, and very quick. Whoever put the site together put a lot of thought into it. At the bottom of the page, there is a google search, and here you can chose whether you search the site itself or the Internet, and to me, this really was simple. It is almost as if the ladies are saying that if one does not find what they are looking for here, there are other options although I found several books to order amongst the pages of reviews that are added to regularly enough to hold my interest.

One of the best features of the site is that the owners are not looking for reviewers and do not advertise like other review sites do, thus keeping control of the integrity of the site, and the value of its' contents. In order to encourage “guest” writers, there is a monthly competition, and the competition that I entered on the site was one for a review on an autobiography or biography connected to film. My entry into the competition was acknowledged straight away, and the prize offered to the winning contestant was a copy of “The Time Out Film Guide for 2006”, which I thought an appropriate prize for someone interested in this subject. Their competitions are also listed on other sites, which makes access to it quite wide, and competition worth the effort, even if you do not list amongst the winners. I believe that the participation is worthwhile because trying to attain the standard of reviews shown on a site like this is a good standard to aim at.

The linking of reviews on books of a similar nature is also quite clever, because the reader is left with great comparisons between books on similar subjects.

My list all ready for purchase, I shall buy through a link provided on this site, because I really do not begrudge the small payment that the site gets from Amazon.co.uk for the purchase that I make, because what the site offers is rare and honest, easy to understand and accurate and buying my books through the link is my way of saying “thank you” for the information gained on the site. They do stress that whilst the links are available to browsers of the site, no one should feel an obligation to use them, although to me, they merit the small payment that they receive.

One of the downsides of the site is actually that the links to Amazon.co.uk are not obvious at first, although I developed a technique here of cutting and pasting the title of the book, going to the home page and clicking the Amazon.co.uk banner and pasting the title into the Amazon search field. It is relatively simple and easy to get used to. Having looked further into this, the link is actually on the right hand side of the review at the bottom, and I could have saved myself a lot of time had I seen it.

Little by little, the site is being added to, and my visit to it has rekindled my old love of reading and after I have finished the books that I have, I shall be taking the ladies' recommendations in my future purchases, and buying through their site, which is extremely simple and easy to do, and which costs me no more than had I bought the books direct from Amazon themselves.

Before leaving the site the last time, I mailed the ladies for news of new additions to the site, and believe that this will generate interest and look forward to news.

Tea cup in hand, I go to this site, which I have chosen to keep to favourites, and spend time with the ladies that have given me the opportunity to chose my books a little more carefully than I have in the past.

More tea anyone ?

Rachel X

Summary: A review site that keeps its' integrity.