Category: Books Page 54 of 164

This prompt was submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer:

What review rating system do you employ?

I’m just copying and pasting my About My Ratings page for this answer—why reinvent the wheel? I did take the opportunity to rephrase a couple of things a little, correct a typo or two (and I’m trying really hard not to think about how many years those typos existed without me seeing them), and generally brush it up for this answer and on the page. So, I’m glad this question made me look at the page.

I will talk about my love for Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe/Archie Goodwin books at any excuse I get. As an alternative to the ubiquitous 5-Star schema, I’ve thought about adopting Wolfe’s Rating System (or Archie’s take on it). From Plot It Yourself:

I divide the books Nero Wolfe reads into four grades: A, B, C, and D. If, when he comes down to the office from the plant rooms at six o’clock, he picks up his current book and opens to his place before he rings for beer, and if his place was marked with a thin strip of gold, five inches long and an inch wide, which was presented to him some years ago by a grateful client, the book is an A. If he picks up the book before he rings, but his place was marked with a piece of paper, it is a B. If he rings and then picks up the book, and he had dog-eared a page to mark his place, it is a C. If he waits until Fritz has brought the beer and he has poured to pick up the book, and his place was dog-eared, it’s a D. I haven’t kept score, but I would say that of the two hundred or so books he reads in a year not more than five or six get an A.

If I knew how to portray that graphically, I still might adopt it. Seriously, if anyone reading this has any ideas—I’m open.

Actually, I’m of a mixed-mind about rating books, it seems demeaning (and pretty subjective) to grade them like this. But it’s also handy to be able to tell at a glance what someone thinks of a book. So, here’s my approach. For now, I’ll stick to the seemingly standard star ratings, but I regularly think about replacing it.

= Grade: A. I loved it. Blew me away. Knocked my socks off. The stuff that dreams are made of. Get thee to a bookstore/library and put this on the top of your TBR pile!

= Grade: B. Highly recommended. Very entertaining (where applicable), well-written, and whatnot. More than worth the time to read.

= Grade: C. I liked it. It’s good. It gets the job done—entertains/educates/keeps your interest/whatever the job is. The book as a whole might not be dazzling, but it’s worth your time. I’d continue the series/reading books by the author. Recommended. I want to stress this word here: Recommended. I suggest you read this book.

= Grade: D. Don’t bother. It’s not bad per se, it’s just not good.

= Grade: F. This is not a book to be lightly tossed aside. It should be thrown with great force.

I also use half-stars for something that’s almost the next whole number, but I can’t quite justify it for this space (but will round up for places like Goodreads/Amazon/NetGalley).

Comments, quibbles, suggestions?

This prompt was submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer:

What questions would you ask any author if you had the chance?

This question got me going in a few different directions—if we defined “any author” as a particular one: what would I ask? Like what do I want to ask Jim Butcher about? What would I ask Lisa Lutz?, and so on (although we do know what I’d ask Nick Kowlakowsi, K.R.R. Lockhaven, Noelle Holten, etc.). Or are these generic questions you’d ask any author you found yourself talking to?

Then I started thinking—is this for publication or for my own benefit? (in other words—can I get into spoilers and further details?)

I think if I started coming up with fantasy questions for a particular author, this post would be too long to finish (for you or me). Once I got past the Chris Farley stage with Seanan McGuire, for example (You remember that time that Toby got stabbed in Rosemary and Rue? That was cool…Remember that time Toby got stabbed in [virtually any other title]?…) I could go on for hours with her.

So let’s go with the questions I find myself asking just about everyone—because I like hearing the variety of answers (not because I’m lazy*). I know authors get tired of answering, “Where do you get your ideas?”, even if most of them don’t react as antagonistically as Rachel Wallace does, so I ask, “What was it about the idea behind [insert title here] that made you want to spend X months with it?” I also like hearing answers to, “What challenges did you experience in writing [insert title here], and are those particular to this book, or is it the same stuff you struggle with all the time?” I borrowed those notions from Anton Strout’s podcast, the answers he got from those were some of the more interesting in the interviews. Honestly, at the end of the day, just sitting down and talking to an author about any/all parts of the process would be rewarding. I’ve done it once outside of the Q&As I do for the blog and had a great time.

* Well, I am…but it’s not applicable here.

I’m not sure I actually answered this week’s prompt, but I talked around it a lot. Good ’nuff.

What would you ask an author?

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

When you write your reviews which do you discuss more – the plot or the characters?

I’d liked to say it’s about 50/50—and perhaps overall it is.

My initial reaction to this question was, “It depends on the book.” There are some books where the plot is the star—because of the inventiveness, the intricacy, the unexpected X + Y of the ingredients, the hook, or whatever. When it comes to other books, it’s all about the character—the protagonist, the antagonist, or best friend/sidekick are what’s captured my imagination.

But after a little reflection,* I think I typically talk about character more than plot. There are two reasons for that—first, it’s easier to be spoiler-free when talking about characters. But the second reason is the big one—it’s characters more than story, setting, magic, science-y fiction bits, gross murders, or whatever that we connect to. We want people we can connect with, relate to, and live vicariously through—and it’s those characters that draw a reader to a book. Obviously, we all want great plots and the rest—don’t give me a P.I. novel without any action or plot, or a fantasy novel without some sword-play or spell-casting or whatever. But give me people I care about doing those things. I think most readers are the same way, so that’s what I write toward.

* Not much, because I have the feeling if I think about this too much, I’m going to spend 3 hours doing an audit of 10 years worth of posts and be able to give hard numbers.

Do the scales balance in your reviews?