Writing book reviews
August 7, 2011
My apologies for being tardy with posting on my blog. The main problem has been my laptop which is on its last legs and too unreliable to use. So I bought an iMac and found myself, as an old Windows user, beginning a new learning experience. It's been a challenge, and a happy one. I now have things figured out sufficiently to get back to my novel, book reviewing an blogging.
Now for the subject of reviewing books, something I've done in tandem with writing poetry and fiction since the early 1970s when my reviewed appeared in a local weekly newspaper in southwest Minnesota. I review books because I'm an avid (and eclectic) reader of books and I enjoy sharing my thoughts about them. As you'll find if you follow my book blog (www.tostadaspeaks.blogspot.com), I have eclectic tastes in what I read.
In writing reviews I follow two simple basic rules: Be fair and don't trash a book. If I really dislike a book, I won't review it. Why? Someone else might love it, and I don't want to jeopardize a writer's reputation (and possibly career) by writing a damning review. I recall a writer friend showing me a damning review in People Magazine of her second novel. She was devastated about it, feeling that the reviewer had ruined her career. The reviewer reduced the novel to its skeleton, and then proceeded to damn it. The novel wasn't the best I'd read, but it was far from being the worst. "Reduce anything to its skeleton, and it looks bare and ugly, Terri (not her name). She went on to a successful career as a writer and professor and published several more novels, plus several volumes of poetry, which were well-received.
Only once have I given a book a one-star review, and that was a book by a political scientist/historian about Palestine in which the author blamed all the troubles on the Arabs and portrayed the Zionist agitators as innocents. It was so blatant that I dismissed the book as propaganda disguising itself (rather poorly) as history. I've had some rather interesting (and some testy) conversations about that review.
So ... if you ask me to review a book, I will give you a good, fair review. I think one of the things I like about reviewing books is promoting their authors. And, as in the case of the one negative review I've published, occasionally put an author (and myself) on a hot seat.
Now for the subject of reviewing books, something I've done in tandem with writing poetry and fiction since the early 1970s when my reviewed appeared in a local weekly newspaper in southwest Minnesota. I review books because I'm an avid (and eclectic) reader of books and I enjoy sharing my thoughts about them. As you'll find if you follow my book blog (www.tostadaspeaks.blogspot.com), I have eclectic tastes in what I read.
In writing reviews I follow two simple basic rules: Be fair and don't trash a book. If I really dislike a book, I won't review it. Why? Someone else might love it, and I don't want to jeopardize a writer's reputation (and possibly career) by writing a damning review. I recall a writer friend showing me a damning review in People Magazine of her second novel. She was devastated about it, feeling that the reviewer had ruined her career. The reviewer reduced the novel to its skeleton, and then proceeded to damn it. The novel wasn't the best I'd read, but it was far from being the worst. "Reduce anything to its skeleton, and it looks bare and ugly, Terri (not her name). She went on to a successful career as a writer and professor and published several more novels, plus several volumes of poetry, which were well-received.
Only once have I given a book a one-star review, and that was a book by a political scientist/historian about Palestine in which the author blamed all the troubles on the Arabs and portrayed the Zionist agitators as innocents. It was so blatant that I dismissed the book as propaganda disguising itself (rather poorly) as history. I've had some rather interesting (and some testy) conversations about that review.
So ... if you ask me to review a book, I will give you a good, fair review. I think one of the things I like about reviewing books is promoting their authors. And, as in the case of the one negative review I've published, occasionally put an author (and myself) on a hot seat.
Posted by George Polley. Posted In : Art of writing
I'm an author, fiction writer and poet. My recent publications are "The Old Man and The Monkey" and "Grandfather and the Raven", both published by Night Publishing (UK); a collection of short stories, "Fernandez' Tale and Other Stories", and a poetry collection "Seeing: Collected Poems, 1973-1999", published by Tortoise & Hare, both out of print. I love telling stories, so drop by from time to time for updates.
My Book Blog is www.tostadaspealks.blogspot.com. This is where I post reviews of books. Drop by and take a look at what I've been reading and leave your comments.
