Book Reviewing 101

It's hard to write about Book Reviewing. 

Yes, it's subjective. You can't love everything!

Yes, it's difficult deciding which books to review. Should we review books written by people we know (using know in the broadest sense)? 
Writing about reviewing books is a tricky topic.

Hats off to Virginia McGee Butler for this objective and thoughtful blogpost, her personal take on book reviews.

I've written often about the subject. Click HERE to read what I said about a terrible review of a Eudora Welty short story. Shame on you, most-likely-a-student reviewer!

Note: I wrote that in 2011. 
When it was still a bit of a novelty for students to trash books.

Writers work very hard, getting the words just right. 
If they're not right for me, they could be perfect for somebody else. 

As I said, it's tricky.

 From Library Way, near the New York Public Library, 

photographed on a sunny summer day.

(And thank you very much, Virginia, 

for my very first blog review of THE WAY TO STAY IN DESTINY. )

Blogging About Books.

True Confessions? I would have to read all day to get through every book I'd like to read.
Those of us who receive an endless supply of brand new books to review, titles we Must Read, books from friends, books from smart people we've never met, occasionally ignore our To Do piles.

 (An Older To Do Pile, featuring Rocky the Wonder Dog giving me a dirty look...)

Or at least I do. Perhaps if I don't see that ARC that's been sitting on my desk for a week, it will magically get read? It's even worse when you start a book and just can't get into it! Others rave, but it's not grabbing you right now.

And even when I read a great book, sometimes it gets lost in space before I find time to post a review. Even short reviews, if done properly, can be difficult to write.

(Thinking guiltily about at least three great books at the bottom of my stack right this minute, awaiting my comments.)

So when somebody takes the time to write a thoughtful, articulate review of your own book, thanks are in order.

That's how I feel about this blog I stumbled upon this morning.
(Okay, true confessions, my google alert stumbled upon it.)

Thank you, bookpeepwonders, Mom and Teen reviewers.

http://bookpeepwonders.blogspot.com/2013/07/glory-be-by-augusta-scattergood.html

ARCs: a Quick Story in Pictures

This morning I'm thinking about ARCs.
No, not the character or the plot kind, though goodness knows I've been worrying over those lately. Fine-tooth combing the heck out of a few wandering Plot Arcs.
But that's a story for another blogpost.

These are the ARCs I'm talking about.

For those of you who get these Advanced Reading Copies of forthcoming books, you know what I mean. This is a TINY stack that happened to be within rolling distance of my desk chair this morning.

Many are unrequested, sent via mail or UPS by publishers, agents and authors.
Some are picked up at ALA, BEA, or any of those other initial shows you may be so lucky to get sent to.

To learn how a professional chooses from her much taller stack than mine,
check out what the fabulous Professor Nana says HERE .
Great list of ways to pick your next book, BTW!

Click to read what Wikipedia has to say on the topic of
 ARCs, AREs (Advanced Readers/ Reading Editions) or even galleys.

(What I think of as a galley doesn't look much like a book and somehow seems not as much fun to read. See below, the big one in the middle...)

(I took this picture on my deck early this morning and titled it Arcs On Deck, for identification. Then it occured to me. Yes, three of them are On Deck, next up, ready to be reviewed!)

They are not meant to be sold. I try to pass mine along to new readers if I don't want to save forever.
Most publishers- all publishers?- make it very clear that they are NOT FOR SALE...

(An aside. Although the ones I've read have been amazingly kind and positive, I try to stay away from Goodreads/ Amazon, etc. reviews of my own book. But last night someone sent me a pretty funny review of Glory Be via Amazon. The reviewer, who actually is a person I knew as a child, mistakenly bought an ARC and gave the book a "1."
My only Amazon #1, which is not good. 4 and 5 are good...
:)
She was disappointed that it wasn't a "REAL book." Though she loved the words inside.
About three people commented and set her straight. Thank you, whoever you are, nice people who commented.)


My most recent review for the Christian Science Monitor was a collection of YA Summer Reads and I got to include a book whose cover made me open it the day the mail came! Love, love, love the cover of Michael Northrop's new book, Rotten, not to mention the words inside.

Next up, one of the most delightful books I've read in a while. That fabulous mouse tale from Richard Peck.  Newly arrived, with publicity info from the publisher. Also cracked open upon arrival. And read in one sitting.

Now you know a bit about ARCs. Hopefully enough so that you won't buy one by mistake, anywhere. But if you do- hey, you never know!  They could eventually be valuable.
Hang on to them if you love them!

 Now. Back to those pesky plot arcs...

Every Day

Writing book reviews is easy, right? Read a little bit, google the author, jot down your thoughts and Bingo! A review.

If only.

It's harder than it might look. At least for me.
The reading, the pondering, the writing. I agonize way too much over tiny word choices. Edit a zillion times for a 400-word review. ACK! But I love doing them.

And I mostly review books I love a lot. Almost all "Middle Grade" for the Christian Science Monitor and adult for Delta Magazine. Anything goes on the blog.

 That said, I couldn't resist this book marketed as Young Adult.  

It's not a long book. It's an intriguing one. Its premise, page-turning and fascinating.

Here's my review. 

EVERY DAY by David Levithan.

I love my job!

Or, I guess I should say my career. My avocation. 

My reason to fall out of bed and into my chair every day.

What am I doing on this hot summer day?

Reading a book to review that's so much fun, so quirky and odd and delicious, I can't stop filling it with stickie notes. 

 Next up, Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead.  Does it get any better than this?

More Thoughts on Book Reviews: The Art of Fielding

It seemed like a perfect book. Baseball, but literary fiction. High praises from every single reviewer. The New York Times review was long, intriguing, and included the phrase: slow, precious and altogether excellent first novel.

A baseball book that really wasn't about baseball.

So last night when I finally finished all my Required Reading (6 YA/Middle grade novels for review, 2 grown-up Southern books), I grabbed my Kindle (at over 500 words, The Art of Fielding seemed like the perfect e-book).

I read two sample chapters and liked it. I was poised to hit the "buy" button, but it was quite late and the book's still $12.99. Buy or wait? I scrolled through the 40+ reader reviews.

Okay. I know I've come close to blasting reader reviews on this very blog. But these were not only mostly articulate, they were signed! And almost all really slammed the pre-pub hype surrounding this novel.

I decided to wait. Maybe give it a try from the library. Anybody else read The Art of Fielding?
And I wonder if a lot of those reader reviews were from disappointed baseball fans. I suspect this book is about a whole lot more than sports.

Great Book Reviewing

Since I kind of trashed reviewers with an ax to grind in this recent post, I'd like to take my hat off to the professional writers and the lovers of reading who know good books and know how to write about them.

Here's one fine example, in my recent UNC alumni publication, ENDEAVORS. Click here for their review of Minrose Gwin's book, Queen of Palmyra.

My favorite line:

"Some stories burn hot, cooking down quick and clean to a tidy, well-timed end. And some, like this one of Gwin's, smolder like a pot forgotten on the back of the stove."

How's your summer reading coming along?

A few days ago-- okay it was a few weeks ago-- a friend asked what I'd recommend for her to read. She had some surprising time on her hands and was looking for something wonderful.  I promised I'd think about it, but I let her down. I never made that list.

Now the summer's halfway over. (Sorry, Sally!)

All I've been reading this summer so far is kids' books. Really good ones.

My friend has kids and she reads to them a lot. But that's not what she wanted.

So instead, I've been thinking about books I WISH I WERE READING. From what others have recommended to me.

And here goes:

1. Amy Tan's Saving Fish from Drowning

Another friend loved it. Here's a bit of what they say about it on Book Page:

... 2005 novel about an American group whose Asian excursion goes horribly, horribly wrong. Reading along as the travelers experience increasingly alarming misadventures will make any bumps in your own travel plans pale by comparison. ..Saving Fish from Drowning was a departure for Tan, and one that struck a discordant note for some of her fans, but I enjoyed every stop on this multicultural itinerary. —Lynn Green, Editor 

2. Jennifer Egan: A Visit from the Goon Squad

Almost embarrassed to admit I have yet to read this. And it's even downloaded on my Kindle. Oh, dear.

3. Ann Pachett  The State of Wonder

If I had to list a Top 10 Favorite Books of all Time, BEL CANTO would make the cut.

4. Geraldine Brook's Caleb's Crossing.

At least half my reading friends have said this is a terrific summer book.

5.  The list is already overwhelming me just writing it, but I really think I'll like this. It reminds me of my own grandmother's daring and my husband's grandmother's Wyoming adventures.

Nothing Daunted, a new book by Dorothy Wickenden.

6. Come to think of it, I have started my summer reading.

I read Shanghai Girls on an airplane trip because Book Club diva Kathy Patrick interviewed Lisa See about the sequel and it sounded like a perfect summer book. And because it was on my shelf as I dashed out the door to the airport. I liked it enough to read the sequel now.

7. And I'm reading Swamplandia! by Karen Russell. Because I needed a little eccentric in my summer, I also downloaded this one to my Kindle.  I'm actually enjoying it, in a weird and wacky way. 

So I guess I can say I've officially tackled my Summer Reading list. And it's not even August yet.

Hope this helps, Sally and all my friends who've asked. I know it's late- but better July than December? 

Anything that's an absolutely Not To Be Missed book that I've overlooked?

New York Times Book Review

Often a book review appeals to me more than the book. With good writing and an interesting topic, I learn all I need to know just from the review. That's the case with Ben Yagoda review of The Tyranny of E-Mail. I may or may not look at the book, but I learned a lot from the review.

1. The "average corporate worker" gets about 200 e-mail messages a day.
2. 62% of Americans read and answer work e-mail on vacations. (Bet it's more than that!)
3. E-mail is highly prone to being misinterpreted. (Oh, really?)
4. Don't "debate complex or sensitive matters by e-mail." (Again, this shouldn't be news to anybody.)
5. E-mail is an instantaneous, demanding, borderline addictive medium.

That's what the author of the book has to say.

Yagoda has some thoughts on the topic also.
E-mail has "flaws and limitations, but they have also served as cleansing agents for prose..they may disinhibit inappropriate declarations, they also inhibit dull, abstract wordiness."

Took me a minute to work that out, but I think I agree.

The review concludes that "every day I get a half-dozen or more fine e-mail messages: short, (often) witty, (usually) pointed, (sometimes) thoughtful, and always written in that correspondent's particular register."

I suspect I get a few that are just as witty, pointed, thoughtful, and certainly written in a way that there's no mistaking the writer.

Maybe not all bad, this addiction of ours?

Book Reviewing: Write about what you know (Books!) or what you want to know more about (More Books!)

When I first left librarianing to set off on a writing life, my friend Beth Jacks offered up a suggestion. I could write book reviews about southern books, on her fun website USADeepsouth. Great practice and a good way to read new, interesting books. I love the South, I love reading. I accepted her offer.

About this time, I heard writer Betty Hicks at a New School panel on Writing for Children in New York City. I love these evenings and always take away a gem from whoever is speaking. Betty Hicks mentioned writing reviews as a good excuse to read all the latest kids' books, a way to keep up with the industry. Now that I'd left my connection to kids and books (said job as a school librarian), this seemed like a perfect fit for me. I followed her advice and applied to review books for a Children's Literature website.

Then I discovered Crescent Blues and Jean Marie Ward, editor extraordinaire. Jean Marie would force me to think about verbs like I hadn't thought about them since Mrs. Effie Glassco's senior English class (that would be Cleveland, MS. HIGH SCHOOL senior English). Too many "wases" and she'd reject. And forget that contrary helping verb "has." Passive voice= sinful! So I learned to write tight reviews that were interesting to read or I would be dismissed from the job. Crescent Blues is no longer publishing book reviews but I learned a lot there.

Did I mention the job of book reviewing is no way to earn a living? Just free books, free exposure, and a terrific way to read and think.

Sometimes getting a foot into a book reviewing door can be elusive. I just missed a connection to my local newspaper when they changed Book editors. I've had other near misses, which shall remain nameless. I queried the Christian Science Monitor's editor a couple of times before she accepted one of my favorite new books. Greetings from Nowhere.

So, like most other writing gigs, persistance pays off. It also pays to make deadlines, write well, be honest, stick to your word count, and watch out for all those "to be" verbs! Thanks, Jean Marie.

What I've learned along the way about book reviewing:

1. Read the book, maybe more than once.
2. Sticky notes are your friend.
3. If you review a book by someone you know, or by a publisher/agent/ publicist you are courting, be honest or don't write the review.
4. Book reviews, other than the short evaluations for industry pubs, should be well written and worth reading, even fun/challenging/ eye-opening, just like any good writing.
5. A good review contains a sentence or two about the author, mention of the plot, something juicy about the characters/setting/ style- Is it humorous? laugh-out-loud funny? Snappy dialogue?

Final piece of advice- When the pile by your chair teeters precariously higher than the dog, you have too many books to read.