Good evening! Well it has been a busy day today in our house entertaining the kids. It has just thrown it down all day with horizontal rain and after getting caught in a deluge at school pick up at noon we stayed home today to dry out and warm up!
As I am a self confessed book nerd I aim to read at least one book a day with the kids. No easy feat when you have a lively 4 year old and a very wiggly 18 month old too! We managed to read a book together today and granted it was the 101 things to make with Lego book but when you are a boy and only 4 there isn’t much else that holds your attention so well! Being 18 months old, all your really need are pictures and this book had plenty! Glad tomorrow is a full school day though, I love reading but my Lego building skills are notoriously bad!
I’ve also been busy today drafting reviews for some of the amazing books have read over the last couple of years. I’ve always been very good at leaving a star rating but until recently haven’t had much time between feeding and nappy changing to actually leave written review. As well as that I’ve always wondered if there was some kind of unwritten code of conduct or etiquette when leaving a review.
Although, as I mentioned in yesterdays post, I personally don’t base the appeal of a book solely on its reviews or ratings. In fact I rarely read them for reasons I will explain in a mo. My opinion, however, probably does no reflect the majority of readers or bloggers and I am aiming now to leave a written review for every book I now read. I also understand and appreciate why we need to leave reviews. One simple reason. The Authors. Its our way of showing our appreciation for all of their hard work and in a way its our little bit of “Hell yes that was amazing so go read it” publicity that these hardworking people need.
I have spent some time today on Goodreads and Amazon and was initially surprised to see that their review policies are almost an afterthought to their sites! Both policies have printed out on one side of A4 paper and are (quite possibly) intended to be very vague. It basically says unless you are an internet troll, attempting to use a review to advertise or are slating authors or other reviewers personally any review that is relevant to the book and its contents is acceptable.
I am not going to blather on and on about the rights and the wrongs of this (search the internet – there are plenty of opinions to read!) but will say that with both sites there must be an horrendous number of posts made daily and each allegedly offensive post that is reported will take time to investigate. So some are going to slip through the net and also I guess the discretion as to the appropriateness of the posts is a subjective thing left to the discretion of whichever admin is dealing with that complaint. I do believe that review sites shouldn’t be to rigid as this will detract from people being honest. Isn’t that what it is all about?
I know a lot of people can be swayed by good or bad reviews. Book reviews can be controversial and bring unwanted negative attention (but attention nevertheless). These slating reviews are often unjust but everyone is entitled to their own personal opinion. I’ve read numerous articles over the years on other blogs and in trashy UK tabloid newspapers about reviews becoming personal attacks on Authors and other reviewers but surely this isn’t the essence of what a book review should be. I have also been commenting on a post today on Facebook where a deeply religious comment has been made with a one star review of a book. I object to this, not because I’m some religion hating atheist, but because the reviewer has left a comment, based solely on their religious beliefs, on a book they have never read nor intend to read. In my opinion thats not right. If you don’t like the subject matter, simply don’t buy the book.
Now I have digressed a bit I will get back to the main purpose of my blog tonight. My own personal review criteria!
My written reviews will be based loosely on the following (self imposed!) criteria:
Did I enjoy the book?
Why did I enjoy the book?
What would have improved my reading experience of this particular piece, if anything?
My star ratings will be as follows:
5* Blew my mind
4* Really enjoyed it, but (there is often a but..!)
3* Good book, few areas of improvement
2* worth finishing but not the best read I’ve had
1* ok so I took the time and finished it
0* DNF! (Never happened yet and I’ve read a lot!)
I really don’t think a review needs to be any more complicated than this! And even a not so great review does not have to be scathing or derogatory. Constructive criticism is worth a bunch to someone making their living out of writing and in my opinion even a bad review ought to be made into something positive.
My main gripe with relying too much on needing to read reviews is for several reasons. I sometimes get annoyed at reviewers who need to recite the entire book as a commentary (Im sorry but I’ve read the synopsis already!) and feel that sometimes have had a book totally spoiled because of reviewers who have basically laced their reviews with spoilers. I know authors do not have any control over the content of reviews and some posts do make it clear that they contain spoilers but a lot don’t. Even simple comments like “Oh that was sooooooo the HEA I was waiting for!” may not seem to be massively controversial but it effectively shouts at me THEY END UP TOGETHER IN THE END ANYWAY! I want to read the book and find out for myself, thank you. And that annoys me. A lot.
Another minor gripe is from those people who post a DNF review. I again think its unfair to put out a public review and slate a book and author with a bad star rating if you cannot be bothered to even make the effort to finish it. If its really that bad don’t finish and even ask for your money back (you can!) but for goodness sake don’t review it until you have read the entire book. There have been some books I’ve waded through and its been as bad as running through treacle to finish them but I don’t feel I can give an overview of my particular reading experience until the book is finished. Personal gripe maybe but if you are going to put in the effort of writing a mini novel of how crap the first 10% of the book was before you put it down surely you could have ploughed on and maybe realised what others have been raving about?!
Anyway, the main point of this blog is to say Im working on some reviews which will be on their way shortly!
G’night!
