On Reviewing

I've been meaning to learn how to review a book better. You know how I usually talk, I liked it and will be reading more by this author or I did not like it and I will never read another story by this author. Well that last blip is not entirely true I tend to be mum on the stuff I don't really like. I figure even if it is not my cup of tea, it does not mean it is not someone else's favorite book. I actually feel this way about one of my sister's favorite books, but I don't have the heart to tell her I hated it. Actually hate is too mild of a word to describe my feelings for the book. And now that I have you wondering which book it was I am going to revert to my normal self and not tell you. I can tell you plenty of other people adore the book. Does that make me a weirdo?

So I've been meaning to learn but had not yet got around to it. Then the other day I was forced to take the bull by the horns. In my post about Gus I talked briefly about Gus liking the sound of my audiobook. I continued on with my standard, I liked it and will be reading more by this author. Only to find out based on my blog stats that the author had read my post and referenced in her own blog.

Craptastic! I was excited to be noticed by someone famous, but really that was my writing that got pointed out to the world? Sadly I must point out now my reaction to having my blog highlighted was to run out to the Hubby who was mowing the lawn saying something like It's so cool, it's so cool. Then I proceeded to email a couple of my close friends and tell them. Sigh, I can go all fan girl like anyone else.

Anyways back to my point, how the heck do I learn to do a decent book review? Google it of course and see what the internet has to tell me. I found a few sites and condensed them into my plan. Ideally here is what I will tell you.

1) General information including; book title, author, genre, and plot outline. They also want the publisher to be listed but since it has never impacted my life who publishes what I will not include that. I have never looked a book up by their publisher. And now I sound all snotty but so be it.

2) Personal reactions; what sticks in my mind, any personal connections, or misconceptions. That one seems pretty loose and in need of refinement so I will work on it.

3) Recommendations; did I like it or not like it and why. This seems familiar to me, I may be able to do this bit. I will of course need to work on the why bit.

So if my posts about books seem a bit formal for a time it just means I am still working on things. Now I'm not trying to be a professional reviewer but I figure if I am going to do something I may as well work on improving myself at the same time. I even joined Goodreads.com to see if they have any suggestions on how to write a book review, if they do I can not find it. I have not reviewed any books there other than by the 1-5 star system but I plan to dig around more to see what I like and don't like.

Here is a bag of wool from a festival last year just cause I thought we needed a picture of wool!