Hello Geeks.
Shannon Hale (author of Austenland and The Actor and the Housewife, as well as many other books) recently posted on her blog about reviewing books. Take a moment to go read her post, in which she talks about going beyond saying simply whether or not you liked a book when writing a review.
For this week’s Weekly Geeks, we challenge you to respond to the questions Ms. Hale asks in one of three ways.
1. Find a negative review that you have written. In your post, link to or include the original review and then rewrite it to answer these questions:
- Why did you react negatively to the book?
- What was it about the story or characters or style that hit you so strongly?
- Are you reacting to any fears or insecurities?
2. Write a new review about a book you loved, keeping in mind these questions:
- What was it about the story that resonated?
- Would you have loved this book as much ten years ago? Five years ago?
- Will you keep loving it in the future?
- Where are you in your life that this is the story you wanted and needed?
3. At the end of her post, Ms. Hale posed six questions for those who review books on their blogs or other sites. Write a letter to Ms. Hale explaining your position on each of these questions, then return to her post and leave a comment with a link to your post. And remember her request to speak freely, but kindly and respectfully!
- Do you find that the anticipation of reviewing the book has changed your reading experience?
- Are you rating the book even as you read? Or do you wait until the end to sum it all up?
- Does knowing you'll be reviewing it (or rating it) publicly affect which books you pick up in the first place?
- Does the process of writing the review itself change how you felt about the book?
- What is your motivation to assign a rating to a book and declare it to the world?
- If you review a book but don't rate, why not? What do you feel is your role as reviewer?
Thanks to Rhapsody in Books and Word Lily for the inspiration for this week’s post!