When to read newspaper book reviews?

[Adrian]

I bookmarked this Cloud Atlas review page (http://www.reviewsofbooks.com/cloud_atlas/) that some other BGO'er (B Goer? BGooner? We should work on that) posted before I read the book, and have now read it and all the reviews from newspapers all over the world.

My question is, do you read a book's review before you read the book?

I like to start a book "fresh", and wouldn't like to have read the above CA reviews without reading the book first. But, if you don't read reviews, how do you know which books to read?

It impacts upon my choice of BGO book club choice. Do I want to read a book I've read (and posted) about in other forums, or start with a book that's new to me. Saturday or The Count in this case?

[megustaleer]

With so many books out there, how do you choose one to read if you don't have some sort of 'review', whether it be a 'professional' reviewer's opinion, or a recommendation from a friend?
You certainly can't rely on the blurb on the back cover! Sometimes the inaccuracies there are breathtaking...do the people who write them actually read the book first?

[Slowreader]

I generally prefer to read the book and then the reviews as I then have a fairly open mind about what I'm reading and I'll have avioided most spoilers.

[Darkstar]

I tend to use reviews as one way of choosing books to read - a good review may prompt me to add the book to my Amazon wish list so I don't forget it. It may be several months before I get around to buying the book so I have usually forgotten what the review said apart from the fact that it was good.