What's the Point of Reviewing?

A few comments on a few different blog posts during this whole mafia kerfuffle have called into question why an aspiring writer would even want to write reviews. Why, as someone who wants to be an author, would you spend your time reviewing books (time that could be spent writing your own stories), why would you be upset if someone tells you that you shouldn't be reviewing or sharing your opinion on the internet? Really, what's the big deal with giving it up and where's the merit in reviewing anyway?

Looking at books critically, thinking about the different aspects of a work and finding out why it did or didn't work for me has always helped with my own writing. When I conscientiously notice how vital and wonderfully-written the setting in Daisy Whitney's The Mockingbirds is, I can also look at how she did that and how I can do the same thing with my novel. It's been said that the only apprenticeship writers have is reading and I would argue that reviewing takes that one step further by looking more deeply at a book. It's like taking a book apart, looking at all the pieces, finding out what makes them fit together the way they do, and then trying to build your own book. For this analogy to work you really must imagine books as clocks.

So yes, reviewing does take time that could be spent writing. However, that time could also be spent eating, watching television, going to the grocery store, doing laundry, or a hundred other things that don't help writing the way reviewing does.

I reviewed books because I love them. It's easy to ask why on earth I'd want to both write and review others' writing, but my love of books doesn't stop at writing them. I love reading them and I love talking about them - blogging and reviewing allowed me to do this. Though my friends and family read, almost nobody reads the same genre as I do and none of them can endlessly discuss books the way I love to. I don't have reader friends and it was nice to be a part of a community (YA bloggers) that are similarly passionate about books, about the YA genre, and like discussing the same things that I do.

Blogging about books, either through reviews or discussion posts, is something that I loved. Giving up something that you love or being told that you should give up something that you love or that it conflicts with something else that you love -- that's hard.

*I'm cross-posting this on my former blog, Ten Cent Notes.

The Good & Bad of Not Reviewing

THE GOOD:

• I no longer feel so required to finish books I'm bored by or don't like. In the past I would often continue reading a meh sort of book, knowing that I was going to read it, after the point that it ceased to be interesting to me. Now I don't feel as obligated to keep going with these books and it's easier to put them aside earlier.
• More time. Writing reviews is time-consuming. Now I get to spend that time doing awesome stuff like watching Friday Night Lights and Cute Win Fail videos on YouTube.
• I don't have to think about how someone might respond or react to my reviews.
• I get to focus so much more on those books that I absolutely love.

THE BAD:

• I miss it; I really liked reviewing every YA book I read, in spite of the time it took.
• My blog is unfocused. This, in case you haven't noticed, is something that really bothers me. When I was reviewing I knew who my target audience was - other readers of contemporary YA and MG - but without reviews I honestly don't know if I'm blogging for readers, fellow writers, or just to hear the sound of my own keyboard click-clacking.
• Less blogging material. Just like I don't know who I'm blogging for, I'm also still trying to figure out what I'm really blogging about.

Stealing Time for Reading

I read very often. I read while eating, while online, between classes, and while watching television. Because apparently I think my mind can multitask like that.

But I hardly ever just read. Without doing something else, without paying attention to what time it is or what else I should be doing or anything else.

Last night though, I was so tired. I meant to come home and study and watch Friday Night Lights but I was too tired to even get my computer out of its case. I was like well, I'd have to plug it in. And then I'd have to go to Netflix. And I'd have to take all these books off my bed to have a place to put the computer... aw, forget it. So I just curled up among all those books on my bed and, because I was too tired to do anything else but didn't want to go to sleep (it was like eight o'clock) I started reading.

I don't know how long I read for. I know I got up eventually, took a shower, then came back and finished the book.

It was so much fun. I rarely take the time out to just focus on reading without having any other distractions and doing so reminded me of how great reading really is and how much I love it. So often I feel like I should be doing something else, usually schoolwork or my own writing. Honestly one of the reasons I loved reviewing books was because I felt that obligation to reading, like it was something else I had to do instead of feeling like it was taking away from other things.

Without that, I often feel like I'm "stealing time" to read (That said, I do steal a lot of time) and I'd like to get away from that viewpoint. I'd like to be able to devote even a little bit of time to reading without feeling like I should be focusing on something else instead.

What about you? Do you often feel like you should be doing something else with that time you spend reading? Do you tend to multitask read like I do or are you better at focusing on reading and nothing else?