Happy Sunday, everyone! And perhaps most importantly, Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers out there! I hope you get lots of pampering today from your families. :-)Lately I've been thinking a lot about my reviews -- everything from the general style on my blog, the way I approach writing them, and how I read to ultimately review a book. I think this has come to mind in part because while I was on my big blogging hiatus, I continued to read books even though I wasn't writing reviews. Now I would actually like to review a lot of them, but I didn't take any notes while I was reading, so I am not left with strong impressions that create a worthwhile review for many of these books. Of course, there are some I do remember quite well and plan to review in the coming weeks, but I rather regret not taking some notes to stash away for reviews, even though I've never been a note-taking reader in the past. I have been thinking that I might change my approach going forward and at least jot down a few thoughts either while I am reading or right after -- particularly because I am not necessarily reviewing books right after I read them these days, in order to catch up on reviews of older reads.
I have also been thinking about the content of my reviews here on the blog. I tend to lean heavily towards writing about my overall impressions and how a book made me feel, more so than getting into some of the more technical aspects. Of course, if I find something to be particularly bothersome or incredibly outstanding with respect to writing, plot, editing, etc., then I do generally make mention of it, but that doesn't seem to happen with regularity. I also always do my best not to write "spoilerish" reviews, which I think creates the tendency for my reviews to really focus more on how a book made me feel. Anyway, my point here really is that I think I'm going to strive for stronger content in my reviews, without making them too much longer. I admit to being a fan of fairly concise reviews -- I don't like to drone on and on, whether it is to gush over a book or berate its weaknesses. So I will probably continue to try to keep my thoughts to 3-4 paragraphs. We will see what I ultimately come up with :-)
As a brief aside, I am also in the process of changing my rating system -- and by that I simply mean changing the graphic. I am going to start using my butterflies instead of stars, though for labeling purposes I'll continue to use "stars," as "butterflies" is just such a long word for that label cloud, haha. Of course, Blogger is being obnoxious and giving all of my images with transparent backgrounds a white background on my posts, so the effect is currently not as lovely as I would like for it to be. (If anyone has any advice on that, I'd really appreciate it. I have Googled the heck out of it and tried many code tweaks and CSS add-ons, but to no avail.)
But back to the point of this post, this leaves me with my parting questions for you all... How do you approach your book reviews? Do you take notes as you read? After you read? What do your reviews themselves tend to focus on? And lastly, if you have any thoughts or words of advice for me as I look to modify my own approach to reviews and how I write them, please feel free to share!
As always, Happy Reading!
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I have been thinking about changing my review strategy too. Here's a link to the last review I published on my blog: http://womanwithanopinion.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/book-review-luminous-life-of-lily.html. Like you, I tend to concentrate on how a book made me feel to avoid spoilers. Also I need to brush up on technical aspects of writing so I can comment on them through my reviews.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was doing Dewey's Readathon, I did take some notes after I finished reading books. That was more to give my brain a break but I'm starting to think it's a good idea. I may not do it with fiction but I might start doing it for the non-fiction books I read. I'll be interested to hear what you come up with (and what other people think).
I think that was a great review! I like that you ask and answer the question about whether or not you would recommend the book, as well. I'm not really well-versed in a lot of the technical aspects of writing and plotting, myself, which is why I tend not to go into that as much.
DeleteYes, I've also wondered if I should be more structured in my reviews. I tend to just bookmark any quotes I like while I read and then review based on my overall impression. But you're right that that kind of review needs to be written right away, which isn't always easy.
ReplyDeleteUltimately I think reviewing form the heart, so to speak, is probably what is most important, as opposed to structure, format, etc. People really want to know honest opinions. I guess I ultimately want to know how books made people feel because that helps me decide if I want to read them. So reviewing based on your overall impression sounds like a good way to go! :-)
DeleteMy reviews have changed over the years. I first started reviewing on Amazon, and then I mostly talked about the story; later, I broadened the aspects I included. I then started copying the Amazon reviews onto my various blogs.
ReplyDeleteI briefly mention the plot themes, my thoughts and feelings about the characters, and sometimes I include an excerpt to demonstrate the writer's style or to illustrate a point about the themes.
Everyone seems to have their own style, which is great. I don't think it's necessary to really deconstruct the writing style of the book in any elaborate way.
I should take notes when I read, but I don't...however, I might bookmark the pages that I might want to reference.
And then I write the review right after finishing the book. Otherwise, I'm afraid I would forget the points I want to make! lol
Good topic!
Here's MY SUNDAY SALON POST
You make a lot of great points. I guess that all of our reviewing styles change and develop over time as we grow as readers. I'm not sure there is necessarily a "right" way to review, but I guess I am looking for what is right for me :-) Thanks for the comment!!
DeleteMy reviews are not very technical at all. I am handicapped and unable to take notes while I am reading so I try to write the review as soon as possible after finishing the book. My reviewing has I guess evolved lately but I try to give just a normal everyday readers type of review. Why I liked or disliked, character development, setting choices. Just simple and easy to read and not too long. My followers seem to like it but I try to improve every day always trying to be a better blogger and reviewer. I find you post very interesting. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI think normal everyday readers' reviews are why I enjoy book blogs so much. I rarely tend to agree with the critics when it comes to moves, TV, or books. I'd much rather hear from people to whom I could better relate. Thanks for adding to the discussion! :-)
DeleteI have a hard time reviewing books. I am huge on spoilers, so I actually keep the details out of my posts. I always feel like because I do that it makes the post disinteresting, though. I find the popular bloggers are generally ones that go into great detail and have quotes, but I don't really read those posts if I plan to read the book. I hate spoiling things especially if I plan to read it myself.
ReplyDeleteWell, I don't find your reviews to be uninteresting! I'm like you, I don't care to read posts with spoilers -- or if I do, I try to skip over anything that is a spoiler. I don't want to ruin a book before I read it. Now, if it's a more negative review, I might actually read more of the spoilerish parts because I want to know if it is something that would make me enjoy the book less, as well.
DeleteThanks for leaving a comment :-)
I am pretty much the same as you; I give my overall impression of the book rather than things that stuck out to me. I am planning to take notes while I read, but sometimes its hard to do that, especially when reading on my way to work.
ReplyDeleteHope you had a good Sunday and that you have a good week.
My "problem" with taking notes is that with books I really am into, I don't want to stop to jot anything down. Of course, if I am able to write the review right away, it's usually not a big deal with the books I love. I really should be better about note-taking, though -- I think it would help with my reviews.
DeleteI hope you have a great week, as well! Thanks for stopping by! :-)
I used to take notes while reading, but that's fallen by the wayside. My reviews tend to be my general impressions of the book--and how they impacted me on a personal level. I'm not much of a critic, to be honest. Technical and academic points are sometimes lost on me unless it's obvious.
ReplyDeleteI find that I gravitate towards reviews that are similar--you know, more casual and personal. It's like sitting down for a cup of tea with the blogger.
Happy Mother's Day to you too, by the way! Enjoy your week.
I am really the same way -- like you, the more technical and academic points aren't always obvious. I guess perhaps because I was a math major? Lol. And I definitely like the analogy of just sitting down for a cup of tea -- why be so formal? :-)
DeleteThanks so much for the Mother's Day wishes -- hope you have a great week, too!
Melissa--I've been thinking a lot about your image troubles. Could it be that your image doesn't have a transparent background? I downloaded a free program called Paint.Net that I use to make my backgrounds transparent (like my signature). I just googled "how to make background image transparent in Paint.net" and use the tutorial that comes up--think it's a picture of a gorilla or something. Maybe this will help? Either way I know it's frustrating!
ReplyDeleteI think your approach for reviews sounds like a good one. I also went through kind of a blogging overhaul and there were several books that I just couldn't remember well enough to write about so I didn't. Makes me kind of sad but...what do you do?
Hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day!
Hmmm.... I should try paint.net and see if that will work, but the only reason I know my images are transparent is because they used to show up that way on my blog before I started changing the backgrounds, etc. when I got back into blogging. But what I did with the layout shouldn't have affected the image properties, particularly since I am usually just pasting the code from Photobucket. I even checked the source code on the page and when I hovered over the image it showed the checkerboard in the background, suggesting it was transparent. I'll see if Paint.net is Mac compatible and give that a shot -- thanks for the tip! Fingers crossed it solves my problems, maybe there's just something weird with my images :-)
DeleteI hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day, as well :-)
I tend to write a few notes when I finish a book, but sometimes I forget and have to do it from what I remember. It's okay until I suddenly decide that I want to review a book that I read a while ago. I decided a while ago that I wasn't going to review every book I read which took a lot of pressure off. I talk about whatever I want to talk about.
ReplyDelete