 | 15 Jan 09 |
I am a reader.
I love books. I’ve been known to stroke books, lovingly, as I read the pages. I’ve never really enjoyed the whole e-book thing, and maybe it’s because to me books are very much a sensory experience.
Even now that I spend a lot of time writing, I still read extensively. I’ve heard some authors say that they don’t read other books while they are writing, because they don’t want to be influenced. I’m not sure I’ve EVER been influenced as I read, because I lose myself in the books. I am not thinking, “Hey, I should write this way!” At Thrillerfest one year, I heard Brad Meltzer said he didn’t ever read any other books. I was stunned by that.
Not read? How could he STAND it? What kind of a writer doesn’t read? I guess it works for him. But me, I can’t stand NOT to read.
I love books.
Of course, I don’t always love A book, and sometimes I even want to throw it across the room. Hey, I’m human. But I still read as much as I write. (Timewise. Obviously, I have not written as many books as I have read.)
Back before I was published, I didn’t really find myself bothered by reviewing, although I tried to adopt a “positive” review policy. In fact, I have never trashed someone else’s book. If I couldn’t find something nice to say, I didn’t say it. At all. I just didn’t review the book.
But after I had my own books out there, I stopped reviewing books. I still willingly RAVE about books I love, but I don’t review, and I will not review again. And the reasons for this are very logical, at least to me.
First of all, I know, have met, drank with, ate with, and chatted with many published authors. I consider many of them friends.
I do not publicly trash my friends, even if I don’t always love what they do.
Secondly, as a fellow author, it almost seems unethical of me to review someone else’s work, especially if I might point out what I think are flaws. Not only is it only my opinion, as all reviews are, but do I stand to gain something if someone else’s book is portrayed negatively? Perhaps not literally, but it could be interpreted that way.
And if I didn’t really like a book, why would I want anyone to know that, except my close friends? The publishing world is small, and harsh, and I sure as hell don’t need any enemies.
Thirdly, the real truth is I DON’T love every book. Because that’s subjective, too. My opinion. But I don’t want to share that with the world. I know how hard the author had to work to WRITE that book. We all hit and miss. Even the best of the best.
But if I tell you something good about a book or someone’s writing, it is sincere. I do not say what I don’t mean.
So, that’s my take on it, and the reasons I stopped reviewing books. I have no idea why I was thinking about this, but thinking about it I was.
So what do you think? Should writers review the work of other writers? It happens all the time.
Ever been put in a spot where you didn’t feel you could write a good review, and if so, how did you handle it?
Natalie R. Collins was born in Logan, Utah and attended the University of Utah. She worked for eleven years at The Salt Lake Tribune, Utah's largest daily newspaper, before leaving to devote more time to her family. During the ensuing years, she wrote five novels. She also worked for the 2001 and 2002 Sundance Film Festivals as an editor. Natalie is a member of the International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America, and Romance Writers of America.
Subscribe to Posts 
I feel exactly the same way you do, Natalie. And there’s the ‘well, you reviewed XX’s book, but not mine, so you must not like mine.” Or worse — “you must not like ME.”
On my blog, I mention whatever book I happen to be reading. If that plugs the author, great. But I don’t comment on how much I do or don’t like the books. And maybe I’m still afraid of the ‘spite’ factor. I’m new enough and insecure enough to worry about that as well.
by Terry Odell January 16th, 2009 at 5:56 amNatalie, now this a question that got me in trouble once before!!!! Yikes! We all certainly have our own tastes and are definitely entitled to our own feelings. But I believe that compassion and respect for others should be our guide when speaking publicly about anyone. When I read a book, even if it turns out that it wasn’t a story that I particularly liked, I appreciate that book for the author’s unique style or approach to a scene or a character. Whether you like a story or not, there are bound to be things you do like about the writer’s way of doing things. I do the same with movies. I might see one that doesn’t go the way I thought it would or end the way I’d hoped, but I appreciate that movie for the moments of entertainment it did give me. And when I speak of it, same with the books I read, I mention those parts I thought were great or different.
But that’s just me. I had that firm “If you can’t say anything good, don’t say anything at all” upbringing. This is a tough call because reviewers and bloggers draw attention to the work (whether good or bad) and that’s free publicity. But the answer to your question is: if I had nothing good to say, I would say nothing. BUT, I do not have a problem with those who do decide to review–good, bad or indifferent. Books are part of the entertainment industry. Just like the celebs who have every aspect of their careers (even their private lives) dissected and discussed in the media, writers have to be willing to take the bad with the good. You put your work out there, people have a right to say what they think. Sometimes it’s painful, but it’s a part of the business.
by Debra Webb January 16th, 2009 at 6:45 amI used to review for Fresh Fiction, and sometimes it was tough. I ended up asking only to review books by certain authors who I felt confident of enjoying, but even that got to be troublesome. I don’t think it’s wrong of a writer to review other writers, but I didn’t personally enjoy doing it.
by Louisa Edwards January 16th, 2009 at 7:53 amHi, Natalie! I’m a part of group blog, Magical Musings, and we do one review a week. We decided not to review each other’s work. And the upshot is that we only review books we truly love. They’re all positive, and we avoid the downside to the business. There’s enough professional reviewers out there doing their job, and God bless them because it can’t be easy.
by LaDonna January 16th, 2009 at 8:36 amLike you, I can’t imagine not reading. I do tend to stay away from certain genres when I’m writing something in that area so ideas and styles don’t bleed over. My TBR pile is from ten to twenty-five books at any given time. On Mondays, I have a segment on my blog called “Armchair Reader” where I share what I’ve just read or series/books that I’ve read and enjoyed. They aren’t reviews so much as “Hey, I really liked this one, it’s a keeper” or “This was a good read” or “I’ve liked others better but not disappointed I read it.” If I don’t like a book, I just don’t bring it up.
As an author who just made her first sale, I’m not about to throw stones at established writers and my tastes are rather narrowly defined anyway. (Though I do tend to “pimp” books by writers I know when I read their new releases.)
This is an interesting and thought provoking topic. I do know that I could never actually “review” for real.
by Silver James January 16th, 2009 at 9:19 amI just can’t read like a reader anymore, so I don’t think I can be a fair reviewer. When you start writing, it’s almost as if you give up the pleasure of “pure” reading – at least it has been that way for me. I notice every choice the author makes, and consider it. Would I have used that word? Would I have the heroine make that move? Would I end the chapter here? I have to tell you, I hate it.
But every once in a while, a book transports me so effectively, that I forget the writing, the voice, the choices, and the style. It’s so rare, but when it happens, I make a point of telling everyone who will listen and I often write to the author because I now know how much that means to me. (I wouldn’t have dreamed of writing to an author before I was a writer.) Most of the time, the books that do this for me are totally out of the genre of romance. The last one was EAT PRAY LOVE and before that, THE MARKET, a YA I absolutely adored.
Therefore, I don’t really review, but if I gush, then I truly, truly loved the book. I do judge contests, however – and that engages my writer brain nicely.
by Roxanne St. Claire January 16th, 2009 at 9:32 amHey Natalie, I agree with what you’re saying. It’s up to each author, but I don’t want to get into trashing anyone else. Additionally, for myself as an author, I have a rule about reviews I try to follow–stay out of it! Let the readers talk (many blogs have a loose reader review sort of format). Now if I have something I can answer or clarify, I’ll do that. And I might pop in and say, Hey thanks for reading my book! Something like that. But I don’t want to intefere with the readers freedom of discussion.
Also, I cringe at the idea that as a reviewer I might criticize something in the book, then realize later that I do the same thing!
Interesting topic!
by Jen Lyon January 16th, 2009 at 10:10 amI don’t have a problem with authors doing reviews. It’s a free country. For me personally, I tried doing it on an old site of mine. Only positive, because quite frankly, I would never give a book a bad public review. Every author gets and automatic A for effort from me, then I score down accordingly. It’s hard enough in this biz to sell books, I’ll be damned if I’m going to trash a fellow author’s book, whether deserved or not. And not because I’m afraid or think she’ll get her friends after me, puleese, but I just can’t in good conscience trash a book, *any* book when I know how much work goes into one. So, I don’t. Even if I wanted to review, I don’t anymore. Mostly because I don’t have the time or the inclination.
All of that said, reviewers, trash away. It’s your First Amendment Right, and I’m all about rights!
by Karin Tabke January 16th, 2009 at 11:28 amYeah, I’m kinda in the “it’s a free country” sort of mode right now, but on a personal level, I don’t review. Like you said, Nat, I’ll rave about something I love, but I don’t see the benefit to pointing out the flaws publicly. Like Karen said, I know too much now what goes into writing a book and there’s no way to write something without a flaw. Plus, what is a flaw for one person may work for another.
by Toni McGee Causey January 16th, 2009 at 3:03 pmI’ve reviewed a couple books for Katherine Stone’s “Writers Are Readers” website. I keep meaning to write more, but I haven’t had the time.
I will not publicly trash a book. Ever. I might be critical of major bestselling books if they hit a sore spot (such as Clarice Starling is TSTL, but it’s still a great book!) but I don’t diss books.
I made a mistake early on in my career telling an author why I couldn’t blurb her book. I will never do that again. I was pained by it, I still think about it, I still hate myself for saying anything, but I was pushed and I can not lie (just ask Karin–she’s constantly trying to get me to lie, but I can’t do it.)
But I can refrain from opening my big fat mouth.
If I blurb a book, I read it and really enjoyed it. I don’t know if other will love it too, but i did, and that’s all I can do. But if I don’t blurb a book, that doesn’t mean I didn’t love it–it likely means 1) I didn’t have time to read it 2) I started it but it didn’t grab me enough to keep me engaged when I have a thousand things pulling at me or 3) I didn’t love it.
9 times out of 10 it’s #1.
But never will I diss a book. I write commercial fiction. There are people who hate my books, who think that I am a psycho, who worry about my husband (like I’d kill him! Really, there are NO perfect murders. Believe me . . . I’ve thought long and hard about this. Er, not killing Dan of course, but perfect murders in general. For books. My books. Fiction. Yeah. Made up stuff.)
It’s funny though. Some criticisms I take with a grain of salt; others hit a sore point–such as a weakness I know I have. Some criticisms I laugh about because they either didn’t read my book or they have no imagination.
There was one reader who complained in a review that I didn’t understand what a red herring was, that I’d pulled a rabbit out of my hat. I was worried about that, fearing I’d messed up my hints. So I emailed Toni and Anna, our Toni and Anna, a friend, and asked them, and they said the hints were there though they had to look back to see them. So then I looked back and I swear, I gave away the killer! But fortunately, it was subtle
Too subtle for that idiot, er, impatient reader . . .
by Allison Brennan January 16th, 2009 at 3:48 pmOh this had been a recent terror for me.
I was critiquing a manuscript for an author who is a friend and a writer I admire. I just couldn’t get into the book, three tries and I was to mid book and terrified to tell her – I hated everything I read. I walked away in total fear. Weeks later I went back to the book and enjoyed it from the middle to the end. She actually approached my problem and we had a very good discussion about it.
Reviewing is the exact opposite problem, but requires the exact same technique as critiquing – honesty. While I have to give the honest bad with the honest good in a critique to be valuable and respected. I refuse to write a bad or snarky review. As someone above said, it’s all subjective to the reader anyway, what I dislike someone else will love…and for all the same reasons. I will definately write a glowing review when I feel glowing about a book.
by Cele January 16th, 2009 at 9:34 pmTerry, we have the same outlook. Love it. And I do think authors have the right to review books. I’m just not sure they SHOULD.
by Natalie R. Collins January 17th, 2009 at 12:06 amDeb, I know exactly what you mean, and I also have the same outlook. I mean, if I can’t say something nice… Well, then I’m not going to say it. At least not publicly. LOL.
Louisa, I also agree with your stance. I did not enjoy it, especially the more I got to know the people I was reviewing. And once I was in THEIR shoes… Yikes.
Hi Ladonna,
That is actually something that I can see working, but still, if someone SENDS you a book to review and you don’t like it, then what do you do? They are going to KNOW you don’t like it. LOL.
by Natalie R. Collins January 17th, 2009 at 12:12 amHi Silver,
I, too, will “pimp” books for my friends, mostly because I truly believe in them as writers. That makes it easy to do. And I will rave about a book I love.
Rocki, I know what you mean. I don’t read the same way now I write. It’s the bottom line truth. You SEE the mistakes, or what you think are mistakes. I just read a book by a very popular author (no one here! I promise) that had a very glaring error in the very front of the book. It was hard to get past. It really STOPPED me. And I almost didn’t want to go on. And in fact I haven’t, yet. But my life has gotten kinda busy….
by Natalie R. Collins January 17th, 2009 at 12:18 amJen, I agree. I always worry that someone will read one of those past reviews I wrote, and then say, “Well, HELL, look what you did here on page XXX.” I can say, however, that I never trashed a book. I always found something good to say.
Karin, again, I agree. And it’s not about whether or not someone has the right to review. It’s more of a “ethical dilemma” type question to me. And interesting…
Toni, yes, I’m with you. Karin is right. Once you know what goes into writing a book, well, how can you say anything after that?
by Natalie R. Collins January 17th, 2009 at 12:24 amAllison, there are people who think you are a PSYCHO? Just proves they have never met you. You are so far from that. Just because we have active imaginations does NOT make us pyschos….
Cele, yes, critting is a LOT like reviewing. And the thing that people tend to forget is that it is ALL subjective. Just because I don’t love something doesn’t mean ten million other people didn’t love it. I think. Did that make sense? I have to quit answering comments at 1:30 a.m.
by Natalie R. Collins January 17th, 2009 at 12:28 amI do reviews on my site, Chasing Heroes, but they are only books I recommend as a great read. If I don’t like a book, and ‘I’ believe it belongs in the donate bag, I don’t review it. What goes around comes around. I’m with Karin any book I review gets an automatic A for the effort of the author. They deserve it, because they wrote it. And we all know what that takes.
by Lee January 17th, 2009 at 7:40 amI don’t really have a problem with writers reviewing other writers.
What I do have a problem with is when any reviewer, writer or not, feels that writing the review gives them license to savage what has been written and/or the writer who wrote it.
It seems to be almost a given in our literary tradition, at least recently, that a critic has to be critical, meaning that it isn’t a proper review unless the reviewer has ferreted out every last problem in a book and exposed it in the most merciless way for all the world to chuckle over. I don’t belong to that school of reviewing…and I have written some reviews, mostly for the science fiction/fantasy website where I help moderate the forum.
My method when reviewing is to tell a bit about the book (without spoliers) and then explain what worked for me in the story and what didn’t. I sometimes also try to add some statement about who I think might like the book, and perhaps who might not appreciate it.
If something in a book I review hasn’t worked for me, I don’t shy away from pointing it out and explaining why I think it doesn’t work. However, I’m always careful to point out that my opinion is just that – an opinion – and that others’ mileage might vary. Additionally, I try never to review the writer, but only what has been written.
Now reviewing non-fiction (which I’ve also done a bit of, on my blog) is a bit different, and if someone’s ideas are obviously crackpot, that’s fair game in a review…but only if it is clear that it is the author’s viewpoint, not just a viewpoint he or she is reporting on. In fiction, however, whether I like the author’s political or social or philosophical leanings is generally irrelevant, and comment on those have no place in a review of his or her work unless he or she has put those personal beliefs front and center in the text and been obnoxiously blatant about it. It has been my experience that this almost never happens in fiction, but perhaps that’s just a function of the fiction I choose to read.
But then, at the end of it all, I’m not sure reviews are all that powerful in getting people to read books, or to refrain from reading them. I can count on the fingers of one thumb the books that I have been influenced to pick up solely on the strength of a review. That was “Pattern Recognition”, by William Gibson. But again, that’s just me.
by Elaine January 21st, 2009 at 2:09 pm