TGIF is hosted by Ginger at GReads! In this weekly feature, Ginger poses a question to her followers and then asks everyone to link up at the end of the post, sharing their responses.
This Friday's Question:
The Reviews We Don't Write: Have you ever read a book and not wanted to review it? Are some books too personal that we want to keep our thoughts our own?
Well, I try to review everything I read on Goodreads, even if it's just short and succinct, but I'm definitely less likely to post a review on my blog for a book that I did not particularly enjoy or that I just couldn't get into. It's hard for me to say anything negative about a book when I know how much effort, how much of themselves, authors put into their books. It's one thing to be constructively critical but something else to completely bash a book you didn't like, though I'm ashamed to admit I may have done so in at least a couple of instances when I first really started reviewing what I read.
For the books I couldn't read fast enough (read: 4 or 5 stars), the reviews come easily enough, though sometimes it is difficult to find just the right words to describe why I loved the book so much. Even the 3-star reviews come relatively easy. It's when I get to the books that I rate 1 or 2 stars that I find myself questioning whether I should even post a review. Sometimes I delay the review, just to see if reflecting on the book longer will change my opinion, maybe help me see something clearer that actually made the book better than I originally thought. I don't think that's actually happened yet, or it's rare enough in any case that I don't remember a specific instance, but I write the review anyway. Because maybe there are other readers out there with similar tastes, and my review may help them choose a book better suited to their own tastes. And truthfully, I enjoy reading a good, honest review that highlights the negatives in a book but doesn't brutally abuse the author.
As for a book being too personal, I don't think I've ever come across a book that affected me that way. I relate to a lot of characters or situations in books, but never so much that I don't want to share the experience.
Sometimes it is tough for me to review something that I really didn't like so I usually don't. I really would hate to hurt someone's feelings.
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to let you know that I nominated your blog for a Liebster Blog Award! My post is at: http://rachelreader.blogspot.com/2011/08/liebster-blog-award.html