Alright kids, gather ’round. Grab your coffee, wine, grain alcohol, and let’s chat.
I wanted to take a few minutes and talk about my book reviews, *their* book reviews, just book reviews in general.
Many times I’ve read great reviews of books and think to myself, “Why didn’t I think of that?” “I wish my reviews were that good. They’d be so much more useful to people.” As I’m writing reviews, there’s always a voice inside my head wondering if my review is “right”. Well, you know what?
Fuck that noise.
I read a lot of different book blogs, and I’ve come to the conclusion that no two people read the same book. Therefore, no two reviews will be the same. Some reviewers will write detailed overviews hitting on character development, plot points, story pacing, etc. All of this is awesome, and I enjoy those reviews.
But it’s so not me.
I’m not a book critic, I’m a book reviewer. I’m a book promoter. I’m a grown-ass fangirl. When I “review” books, I’m all about the feels. I talk about books on this page (and all over the internet) the same way I would talk about them with my real-life friends.
Which means I’m a total spaz. I’m fangirling, I’m babbling incoherently. Hey, it’s what I do. The inside of my head is one crazy-ass place to be, and I’m zealous about my books, and that kind of erupts all over the page (screen?)
I hope that my tens of readers, and even some authors I write about, enjoy my reviews. And if not?
I have been DYING for a reason to use this gif!
To Star? Or Not To Star?
I also waffle back and forth on the whole “star” concept. You’ll notice that I don’t always assign stars when I write book reviews. My issue is that I have a hard time assigning a numerical value to a book and the way I experience them. Now I know you’re saying into your screen right now, “Ummm…Mo?? Aren’t those STARS all over the books to the right?” Why yes, yes they are.
Those are really more to give people a general idea of how I feel about a particular book without actually reviewing it. Not to say that I *won’t* review that book, but I like to give people the “essence” of how I feel about that book until there is a published review here.
In summation, I may never be seen as a “professional” book blogger, I may never be one of the big dogs. Let’s face it, I DO tend to overuse the caps lock, and I say fuck. A lot. But that’s cool. At the end of the day, I’m all about talking about books with my fellow word nerds. If someone falls in love with a book I recommended, then my day is MADE.
To me, book reviews are an expression of the experience we have when we read a book. It’s personal. It’s individual. And there’s no wrong way to do it. Unless you end a sentence with a preposition. That shit just ain’t right.
Words to live by. (See what I did there?)
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