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hmm... I'm an 'average reader,' and I like to think I can tell shit from shinola. But my shit may be someone else's shinola. Obviously, it must be, if I can judge from many of the books I've read that received 5 star reviews, and I thought the book to be mediocre at best.
When I look at movie reviews, I don't always agree with the "top" critics. They may think a movie is incredible and life changing, whereas I thought it was convoluted mess that tried to hard to be artsy or important. I read fiction for the same reason I watch movies- for escape, a glimpse into another world, a chance to live in someone else's imagination for a little while. Books that fit the bill for me may not fit the bill for others. Maybe other are looking for the next War and Peace. I'm not. Maybe my shinola would be shit to those elite critics. I don't care.
I think it works best if everyone is honest about their reviews, and, as others have said, you find other reviewers who have similar tastes and you trust their reviews to be somewhat true for you as well.
I don't need any sort of 'special' reader to weed books out for me. I'd rather find average readers, like me, who have similar interests. Or, better yet, I'd rather have the author offer the first book free on smashwords, so I can read it and decide whether to purchase other books. I do purchase books by authors I've found to be good, but I don't always take chances if there are no free books to try. I never really look at the samples/excerpts available. I dislike sampling pieces of books. I want to either dive in or forget it. And if I dive into some crap, well, I got burned and maybe it's my own damn fault, and maybe it's not.
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