Book Meme - Day 18

Do you feel pressured to read the latest book or are you more of a backlist kind of person? Why?

I'm definitely a backlist kind of person. Paperbacks are cheaper than hardbacks, and used books are even cheaper. Which is important given my reading habits. But more than that, sticking to the backlist helps me keep my to-read list to a reasonable length. New book always get a lot of buzz, which has more to do with the advertising campaign than the content of the book. But if people are still talking about a book 3 or 4 years after it was released, it's more likely to be good.

That said, there are a few categories where it makes sense to favor new releases over the backlist. I talked about this in romance - where the newer books are more likely to reflect current sexual mores. Political books are another category that can get outdated quickly. And there are a handful of authors who I like enough to pick up their books soon after the release, especially if those authors do a local book signing.