Do Book Reviews Influence You?

Books reviews, particularly positive ones, are something author's are hoping for.  But as a reader do they help?  By that, do they influence you in your decision to read or to ignore a book?

As a reader I'm always looking for book reviews that give a bit of an overview of what the book is about.  This allows me to decide if the subject of the book even interests me.  Generally speaking, though, the rating that the reviewer gives it doesn't overly sway me.  If a book sounds interesting to me I want to read it regardless of what the reviewer might say.  And if the subject doesn't appeal to me than no matter how highly it's touted it won't get me to read it.

However, the reviews (opinions) that do sway me the most are those from people that I know.  One good friend of mine has praised a couple of books so that, despite my reservations, I did pick them up and read them.  Sadly, I didn't like them as much as my friend.  I'm not sorry to have read the books, and there have been many that this friend has recommended that I have enjoyed quite a bit.  Conversely, there have been some novels that have peaked my interest and when a friend has criticized it I have listened to that as well. 

When getting book reviews from those you know you can question them and find out specifics about why they liked or didn't like a book, something you obviously can't do when reading a review in a magazine or online. 

So my question today is, do book reviews influence you?