When I ran a book review blog one of the big reasons I didn't only review books I liked was because I wanted people to trust me. I didn't want to be fangirling all over books that didn't deserve it -- and I wanted to present a balanced view of even those books where all I really wanted to do was shout YES, THIS! THIS IS GOOD! BUY THIS! READ THIS!
I miss that. I miss the detailed, super-balanced reviews.
I miss it because I know, I know, the books I love aren't going to be the ones you love. Just because I think a book is super-fantastic-wonderful doesn't mean you will and there is a part of me that feels bad about essentially only presenting half of the story when it comes to books. Every book I feature on this blog will be one I love. One that I can wholeheartedly recommend, one that's good enough to reread, one that belongs on my Goodreads favorites shelf.
Now, when I tell you about a book, it's because I honestly love that book. It's worth reading. My recommendations will probably never be as in-depth as my reviews were, but they will still - of course - be honest. I'm telling you this because a lot of times when I see blogs where every review is glowing and they never mention the negatives of a book (because, let's face it, most books aren't perfect), I lose a little bit of trust in that reviewer.
But I'm not a reviewer anymore.
And I love the books that will be featured here.
And I hope you will too.
Anything that a friend of mine recommends, I'll consider looking into. Luckily, I can get an excerpt of a book and quickly determine if it's going to be the right "fit" for me within just a few pages.
ReplyDeleteLove your background!
ReplyDeleteI'd rather you talk about books you love than books you feel lukewarm about, though I can understand the want to provide a balanced view. But there is something about reading someone's excitement over a book that makes me interested in checking it out, even though it hadn't caught my eye before!