Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Highlighting Good Books

Have to complain for a minute first.  One of my darling little angels has been on a mission to strip my laptop of keyboard buttons this month.  I'm actually used to that.  Every single laptop I have ever owned has ended up with a part bald keyboard.  The netbook I'm using has easily clickable buttons so it works fine except for the space bar which has been missing for a while.  I've been able to use, I just had to adjust my typing method slightly.  Anyway, yesterday, the spongey bit was removed from the space bar which just makes everything a million times more awkward so if I miss spaces or overdo a space then please ignore it.  It's taking me an hour to write a freaking paragraph as it is.

Today I wanted to sort of  think something through.  I've been feeling really bad that I'm reading or noticing a lot of books yet I never review them or mention them.  I'm really bad at reviews, I don't give 5 stars unless it is a book I would read over and over again, I try not to be overly enthusiastic which results in a bit of a lack lustre review and I'm pretty sure I manage to make the authors feel like they've gotten a poor review even if I haven't intended it as such.

I've been thinking about highlighting books on my blog.  Not reviewing.  I'm really trying to avoid anything looking like review exchanges.  More like highlighting books I want to read or have read and enjoyed.  Books I've noticed, authors I might like.  A little bit of a shout out as it were.  Because there are so many great ones that deserve a little attention.  (Not just indies btw.)  And I'd quite like to help out other writers even in a small way.  The only thing that is bothering me is what if I don't like a book?  Should I ignore it, not mention it, say I don't like it?  This is another reason why I don't review anymore.  Even if I'm trying to be helpful, there is a big chance the writer will be upset or take it personally.  Would love opinions/advice on this.

I'm way too honest sometimes.  It's a flaw.  Most people can't deal with honesty because there has to be empathy behind it softening the blow.  I have a serious lack of empathy so me being honest doesn't come over well.  I'm torn between wanting people to trust my opinion and striving to avoid the conflict that can come with it.  I think I'll take it a day at a time.  See how it goes.  Later this year, I plan on working on this blog a little harder so hopefully any book I highlight will be seen by a few readers. 

Space bar is seriously pissing me off.  I'll have to get it fixed.  Ugh.  I hate people touching my stuff.  :)

2 comments:

  1. It's always a tough call about negative reviews. I don't have so much trouble with books because if I didn't like it, I wouldn't finish reading it. But I find that when I review restaurants on my food blog, I still don't bother to mention restaurants where I didn't like the food (even if I ate the whole meal).

    If I feel forced to mention it - like someone asks me, or I'm doing a comprehensive list of certain kinds of restaurants, I'll just say "I'm not a fan" and leave it at that. My regular readers now my tastes.

    Your "highlighting" idea is something like Red Adept sometimes does. She often will give a mention with author comments even if she doesn't review. (I think those are not for negatives, though, but for books she chose not to read? I can't remember.)

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  2. Thanks for the input, I suppose I'm still not sure what to say if asked directly. I'll probably just go for a list of what I'm currently reading, just finished reading, next TBR, that type of thing. After all my opinion isn't necessarily the right one. This way I can link to people's books and feel good about it.

    Funny you should comment, I've been reading the Whore of Freedom this week!

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