"Outside a dog a book is man's best friend, inside a dog it is too dark to read!" -Groucho Marx========="The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid." -Jane Austen========="I don’t believe in the kind of magic in my books. But I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book."-JK Rowling========"I spend a lot of time reading." -Bill Gates=========“Ahhh. Bed, book, kitten, sandwich. All one needed in life, really.” -Jacqueline Kelly=========

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Friday... Dec. 2

AlisonCanRead and Parajunkee
Follow Friday Question: What is your biggest pet peeve when it comes to books?


I admit that I have a few pet peeves when it comes to books and writing.

  • Really whiny/angry characters, unless, of course, the anger is justified.  I think it is a fad right now in YA Lit to show growth in characters by having them start out as super angry and obnoxiously whiny and then come to some revelation which brings them back to a regular level of emotions..  Enough already!
  • Authors who purposely don't use correct literary conventions, like not using quotation marks for dialogue or writing all text in lower case.  Ugh.
  • Books where every ambiguity is tied up in the conclusion, especially those where everything is neat and tidy.  I want to have some ambiguity remaining so that my brain can work out how I think things will resolve.

What are your pet peeves when it comes to books?


Congratulations to Fiction Book Reviews for being the featured bloggers of the week.


GReads.

TGIF Question: Writing Reviews 101: What's your process for writing book reviews? Any tips or suggestions you would recommend to other bloggers?

Oh boy.  I am looking forward to reading your answers. I have a lot to learn when it comes to writing book reviews. Here are a few things that I do, or try to do, when I write a book review.

  • Provide a VERY short summary with a teaser but no spoilers.  Long summaries drive me crazy and I won't read them, so I won't write them.  I want to know what the reviewer thinks rather than a detailed summary of the book.
  • Review books that I liked or loved,  avoid reviewing books that I don't.  I really struggled with this decision when I first started blogging but I feel good about it now.  My goal in starting my blog was to provide reviews for my students and I don't want to bias them against a book before they give it a try.
  • I try to share some interesting insight about the author, the writing style, the story line, and if I feel moved, a quote or two. I want to review to be from me, but I want to enhanced if I've done a bit of research. I like learning new information and sharing what I've learned.


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