Thursday, May 28, 2009

Writing Book Reviews

A topic that makes the rounds on book blogs is negative reviews--what is a book blogger to do when she reads a book she doesn't like? Today, Avisannschild at She Reads and Reads went so far as to say that she WANTED to read some negative reviews.

If you've read this blog for any length of time, you note that I do criticise books and/or authors. My "niche" if you would, is reviewing Christian fiction, a genre generally written for and by Evangelical Protestants, from a Catholic perspective. As such, I'm quick to diss an otherwise good book for what I percieve to be unwarrented criticisms or poor images of Catholicism. Other than that, you'll note that my reviews tend toward the positive side. Why? Several reasons, of course. First of all, reading is a hobby, not a job. I don't solicit or accept review books that I don't think I'm going to like. Secondly, I realize the reason the authors and publicists send out review copies is to help sell book. If I don't like a book and I can just opt out of a review, there are times that is my choice. I'll publish some canned content and move on.

3 comments:

  1. Great points. I try to accept books that I think I'll like, as I don't relish writing negative reviews. However, I do believe in honesty. I do try to find something positive to say about books I don't like.

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  2. For me, sometimes it's a challenge to find the positive in a book. And I'm with you on the tending not to accept books I don't think I'll like. I don't have a big waiting list or anything, and I find I can keep quiet if I get a book from the library that I don't like.

    And sometimes, just not liking it isn't negative (let's call this a writing challenge, because that's how I view it).

    Great post and great points. Thanks for that!

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  3. Thanks for mentioning my post, RAnn!

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