Category: Book Blogger Hop Page 6 of 7

This prompt was submitted by Heather @ MM Romance Reviewed:

Do you post negative reviews?*

* I don’t see 99% of what I post about books here as a “review.” I still see Reviews as something that a professional does, in a professional manner. I’m an amateur who writes in a very casual manner. But I know I’m pretty much alone in this point of view, so for the sake of this post, I’ll use the commonly accepted usage.

There are books that are bad. Those need to be recognized as such. There are books that don’t appeal to a reader for whatever reason. Those should be acknowledged and discussed—hopefully with an eye to the positive as well as the negative. It’s okay not to like things. I personally think it’s a little strange how much some people enjoy not liking things, but that’s not for me to judge. I tend to prefer liking books, life is more enjoyable that way. But sometimes I just can’t. And that’s good. That’s the way it ought to be in this world of differences.

If I invest the time to read something, then you’d better believe I’m going to write about it—I need stuff to write about to keep this thing going.

Less pragmatically, I write to help me think about a book–and if those thoughts end up in a negative place, then I’m going to write a negative post.

But more importantly, if readers of my posts are to take me seriously when I say, “I think this is good,” or “I recommend it.” They should know that there are things I don’t think are good, things I don’t recommend. It’s easier to gauge how much weight to give a positive take on a book when you know how they react dimly to something.

Sure, I get that some bloggers don’t want to do anything negative—either because they’re inherently or deliberately encouraging, they think there’s too much negativity in the world already, or they’re firmly in the “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all” camp.* I get it, I understand it, and support their decision. Still, when deciding if I’m going to read a book I’m on the fence on, they’re not likely to sway me.

* Back on my personal blog years before I started this one, I posted a response to the Spider-Man “One More Day” storyline that consisted of 3 pages of line breaks to make it very clear how much there was that I couldn’t say anything about. Sticking to the letter of the law, but trashing the spirit.

And, as almost always comes up in a discussion like this—sometimes someone will read a negative post that I or someone else writes and say, “I can see where they might not like X, but it sounds interesting to me.” I know I’ve read books that other bloggers have trashed because of something they said.

Do you promote those reviews if you post?

I’m not sure that I promote posts at all—I know I ignore Facebook’s repeated suggestions to pay for promotion. Do I share them on social media sites? Sure–I tweet the links and post them on Facebook. I post the reviews to Goodreads, StoryGraph, Hardcover, LibraryThing, and whatever other bookish sites I’m using/trying. If that counts as promotion, then yes I do. Why wouldn’t I?

What about you?

Book Blogger Hop

 

This prompt was submitted by Elizabeth @ Silver’s Reviews:

Do you finish reading every book that you have slotted for a review?

Step One in answering this is determining what the question means by “slotted.” Really, every book I pick up I plan on blogging about—the whole point of this endeavor is to keep me from treating books like disposable items and to think about them.

Once or twice a year, though, I just can’t finish a book because of time or interest. But those are books that I’ve told myself I’d blog about, so I’m not sure that counts as “slotted” (I don’t count them like that).

On the other hand, there are books that I’ve told others I’d blog about. If we’re talking about a NetGalley or Book Tour book, then yes, I finish it (sometimes I sacrifice sleep or mood to do so, but yeah, I’ll finish it). If it’s a book I agreed to blog about that an author/publisher/publicist sent me, then yes—that’s the deal I make with them: if they provide it, I’ll read it and talk about it. No matter what I think of it.

There’s been one exception to that—an author sent me a Space Opera trilogy. I read 2.3 (or so, I don’t remember exactly) of the books, and had pretty positive things to say about the first two. I wasn’t crazy about the third, but I was curious about where the story was going to end up and had faith in the overall plot. Then everything fell apart and I just had to stop, I couldn’t force myself to continue.

That was almost five years ago, however, and I’ve been doing this for about 9 years. I figure I can make one exception to my rule. I don’t have real numbers, nor do I have time/inclination to get them–but I figure I’m north of 99% on completion.

This, I guess is just a long-winded way of answering, “Yes.”

What about you?

Book Blogger Hop

This prompt was submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer:

Do you prefer to leave book jackets on or off while reading?

Obviously, we’re talking books that I own or borrow from a friend, right? Because I absolutely leave the dust jackets in that film (plastic? polyester? mylar? whatever) wrap the library uses on all the time. I’m no vandal.

But if we’re talking about my own books, those jackets are off when I read (or, before I loan it out). And I treat a borrowed book the same. I’m the biblio-equivalent of the person that makes you take off your shoes before you enter their house. I try, for reasons I don’t care to examine, to keep those as pristine as possible–if I’m manhandling them the whole time I’m reading, they’re going to get torn, creased, frayed, etc.–and that would drive me batty.

Now, I used to know a guy who hated dust jackets. The first thing he did when he bought a book was to throw it away. His shelves were full of hardcovers, too. I never understood that. The cover design is all in the dust jacket (well, almost all of it).

What about you?

Book Blogger Hop

This prompt was submitted by Julie @ Stepping Stone Book Reviews:

Are you able to choose your favorite books?

Um, er…yeah.

Sure.

Maybe?

I need some parameters, or we’re going to be here for a while. Quite a while.

How many can I pick? My desert island, all-time, top-five? Favorite Books in _____ Genre? Favorite Books from a certain year/decade/century? Favorite books by an Author?

And even then…an hour or so after I gave you my list, I’d have to revisit it.

And then a month later, and….you know what?

No. No, I am not able to choose my favorite books. I even tried to come up with a partial list, 2-3 books, with a few alternatives and I just quickly realized that I was going to spend more than an hour on the joke. A not-very-good joke.

Rats.

What about you?

Book Blogger Hop

This prompt was submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer:

Do you ever get burnt out from reading?

Theoretically, yes. It’s been years since it happened, though–I honestly can’t tell you how many. At least 5, maybe 10. This blog has kept me from it, I think, I just don’t have the opportunity for it.

At the same time, for 40 years now, reading has been my escape, a haven from whatever is going on in my life. Even when life is good, I need a way to disengage from it all and recharge. My need for that seems to be increasing, too. I’m not sure if that’s a commentary on my life/mental state or the world around me (a quick glance at headlines suggests the latter is likely). So getting burned out is difficult–how do you need a break from your break? (ask anybody at the end of a long vacation, and they probably have some ideas)

Now. I do get burnt out with individual books–or reading for the purposes of blogging (i.e., for tours or because I’ve accepted a book from a publicist/author). If I do too many “obligation” reads in a row–no matter the quality (but a string of “how do I say something nice about this?” books makes it harder)–it starts to take a toll on my attitude. This is the major contributing factor for my cutting back the last couple of years. Even with these reads, however, within a couple of minutes of starting a reading session, the psychological effects kick in, and I get over it. It’s really the effort to get started where I notice the burnout/”blah”-ness/Carter-esque “malaise.”

Usually that burnout lasts no longer than a book or two (if I scheduled smartly, I don’t read two of those in a row).

What about you?

Book Blogger Hop

This prompt was submitted by Heather @ MM Romance Reviewed:

Do you have a threshold on books where you will offer the author feedback but won’t review?

No. It seems arrogant* to hit up an author with “you need to hear what I have to say about your book” and then list issues/problems/complaints. I write for other readers. Period. If an author reads what I have to say, especially the negative/less positive, that’s on them. I love to hear when an author reads my stuff–it’s even better when they appreciate what I had to say. But an author has editors/publishers/beta readers, etc. to give them feedback. That’s not my role.

* I’m sure some people can do this without coming across as a jerk–more power to you if you can, I’d also love to see how you do it. It’s just not in my wheelhouse.

What about you?

This prompt was submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer:

Have you ever attended a book signing? If so, who was the author?

Not as many as I’d like to–my corner of the world doesn’t really attract many authors I’m into, alas. But there’ve been a few:
Lance Olsen, who was then Idaho Writer in Residence, at Borders bookstore. This would’ve been somewhere around 1996, I think.
Cherie Priest was at Rediscovered Books in November 2011 for a reading/signing.
John Scalzi did a reading/signing here in ’15
A couple of weeks later, Shane Kuhn, did, too.
I’ve been to a couple of signings/book releases/etc. for Devri Walls books.
Craig Johnson was really entertaining when he did a reading/signing in 2018.

All in all, these are great ways to hear writers reading their work, hear their stories, and get your book squiggled in. Also, they are fantastic opportunities for me to fail at basic human interaction, you know, just in case I forget that I can’t handle that.

What about you?

This prompt was submitted by Elizabeth @ Silver’s Reviews:

What is the average number of books you read per month?

You’d think I’d know that, wouldn’t you? I had to do a tiny bit of research for this. I could’ve gone back about a decade in coming up with this number, but that felt like overkill. I figured a look at the last three years would fit my current habits best (and was easiest to get the data from, which helped). But just the raw number looked boring, so why not make* a chart?

* Have my spreadsheet make a chart, after it did the math for me.

What about you?

This prompt was submitted by Penelope @ The Reading Devil:

Do you have any bookish posters or artwork on your walls?

Yes, some. I should really have taken photographs here, but it’d be better to go look at the art at the links instead–I know what my photographs look like 🙂

On my walls are:
a pair of Dresden Files prints by Mike Kuloda
a print from Bearded by Jeremy Billups
a print by Gene Mollica of Atticus, the Iron Druid (signed by Kevin Hearne)
I also have a nifty print from No Country for Old Gnomes> signed by Delilah S Dawson, Kevin Hearne, and the artist (but I can’t read their name)
a print by Chris McGrath of The Brightest Fell (October Daye) cover art
and a mash-up of things like The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, To Kill a Mockingbird, Ready Player One that my daughter painted for me a few years ago.

I’d get more, but I’m about at the point where I have to decide between space for bookcases and space for art. So something’s gotta give. (although I saw three prints while getting links for the artists I almost bought today, so…)

What about you?

This prompt was submitted by Elizabeteh @ Silver’s Reviews:

How many books have you read this year?

Well, as of last night, I’ve read and/or listened to…

290

books in 2021 but I’ve got another 15 days, so I’ll probably work in a few more.

What about you?