If you’re a reader, chances are you take a gander at book lists. You probably even look at a weekly best-seller list, whether it’s in the Sunday paper or via your favorite online book-seller. 

Now maybe you’re the type who reads a best-seller list and zips right out to the grocery store to see if maybe they have a few copies left of anything from the top five. Maybe you’re in a book club and you’re taking notes so you have some ideas for your next read. Maybe you already OWN those books because you like to be in the know. Maybe you and your friends have such awesome taste in books, you had a hand in a book appearing on the list. 

Or maybe you’re a rebel. 

Yep. Some of you look at that list and decide you won’t be reading any of those books on the best-seller list. You’re going rogue. Maybe you’ll search NetGalley for an obscure sounding author and hope that your future review will boost a new author into fame. Or maybe you’ll hope it won’t, and you can keep the awesome new author all to yourself. 

Hey, maybe you’ll just stick to your favorite authors… the best-seller list be damned. And if one day your personal fave appears on the list, you can say “I read her when… .”

You might be the reader who looks at the list and thinks you’re better than pop culture. You’re above it all! You can find better books, whether or not they make it onto The List. Bring ye to the library, or Overdrive, or your best friend’s blog, or the water cooler. You’ll browse and ponder and find a title you’ll love. 

I like to think of the best-seller lists as a guide for Everyman: if you’re not entrenched in the book world, you need some sort of direction when looking for a monthly read. The best-seller list can do that for you. 

As for the rebels, we keep searching for what fits us, and we hope it’s not on a list. 

-calliope