Today's topic: books I loved but never wrote reviews for. The answer: almost all of them, if I'm to be honest.
Until we started the businesses (Long and Short Reviews and Goddess Fish Promotions, I never realized how important reviews might be for an author. I read reviews of other things before I buy them... but rarely do I read reviews on books. Part of that is that, to me, the enjoyment of a book is kinda nebulous. It's an amagloration between the actual words on the page and my mind at the time. I've often started a book and just wasn't feeling it.... but.... pick it up at a later date and the book's gotten a lot better.. lol. Obviously, the only thing in the equation that changed was me.
If someone I trust comes to me and says "you have to read this book" (or watch this show), then I will give it a shot. But... just the average review on Amazon or Goodreads? Nope... I'd rather depend on my feelings with the cover and the blurb.
That being said... if I finish a book and was just "meh" about it, sometimes I WILL check the reviews to see if it was just me.. lol. But not beforehand.
I have the same reaction to some books and will occasionally love them if I reread them later on in a different headspace. :)
ReplyDeleteI get where you're coming from. Also, art is so subjective. Even if you read a million reviews panning a book, 'you' might still enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteLike George said, reading is so subjective. The reviews swing from loved it to hated it and everything in between. Like Lydia, I might be in a different headspace when I read a book again and then my feelings change about it. Still, I love sharing my thoughts so that I can capture them. Thanks for sharing your point of view, Judy. Enjoy your day.
ReplyDeletehttps://thebookconnectionccm.blogspot.com/2025/07/wednesday-weekly-blogging-challenge_0245470896.html
I completely get where you're coming from! Not to mention all the sketchy stuff going on with Goodreads and reviews these days.
ReplyDeleteHere is my post.
I think the test of a good system for displaying reviews is that people try to abuse it. In some ways Bookshop's better than Amazon/Goodreads, except that Bookshop handles reviews ONLY of books currently being marketed by a company they use, which certainly misrepresents my collection and does not seem to be drawing much traffic.
ReplyDeletePris cilla King