Shopping Woes

I've been on the computer way too much today, and here I am, still on the computer. At least in an hour my piano students will show up and I'll have to get off this thing. But until then. . . .

For my birthday, my sister got me an Amazon gift certificate. She knows I enjoy the online browsing and an excuse to buy something just for myself. So I spent a good deal of the morning searching through books and music and movies trying to decide just what I wanted. In a few cases I resorted to reading the customer reviews to try and get an idea of whether or not I would like a particular book or movie.

What a headache! I just shouldn't bother reading reviews any more. For every person that loves it, there is someone who thinks it is the most awful piece of trash ever made. I checked out some of the newer BBC Jane Austen movies, trying to decide if I would like the new Sense and Sensibility, or if I would only be disappointed because I like Emma Thompson's version so much. (After all, I have multiple versions of Pride & Prejudice and like things about them all.) But the reviewers (most of whom had seen the Emma Thompson version) were no help. Some of them raved about it, and some hated it. More liked it than not, but most of these people also pointed out that they despised the new version of Persuasion, which I happened to like. So obviously my tastes don't line up with theirs. . . .

I had this problem with other books and movies I looked at too. Now you can see why my whole morning was eaten up by this process. In the end I gave up and requested a bunch of the stuff from my library, so at least I won't have to pay for it. My gift certificate went to buy a trilogy of books from Shannon Hale, whose work I've really enjoyed so far. Fingers crossed that I will like this too!

I just wish I had my own personal reviewer who could look at stuff and just tell me, "Yes, you'll love that," or "No, don't waste your money," or "Sure, you'll enjoy it but not enough to want to own it" and hit it right on every time. Is that asking too much, do you think?