I absolutely *love* to read.
I have loved to read ever since I was in third grade and we had to read Where the Red Fern Grows for class. I remember sitting in my mom’s lap as we read the story together and bawling my eyes out at the end.
I had never known anything that could affect me that much.
Reading shapes who we are. A good book can change your opinion on a topic. Characters become friends.
My favorite place in the whole world is the bookstore. Growing up, we would go out to dinner and go to the bookstore as a treat. My parents helped shape my love of reading, and to this day, when I feel sad, I like to go to the bookstore and bring home a new friend.
I started the What I’m Reading section of this blog to share my love of reading. I wanted to talk about the books that I enjoyed, and let you all know about them so you can enjoy them, too.
The best way for me to do that, so I thought, was to review the books I read. I decided to rate the books on a scale of five stars, because that’s how you can rate things on GoodReads. It would make my life much, simpler.
If you’ve been keeping up with my reviews lately, you’ll notice a recent crop of five-star reviews has made its way onto the blog.
Right now, I’m just loving what I’m reading.
I felt the need to talk about this, and try to explain myself, so I will stop feeling guilty every time I gush over a book and give it five stars. I want you guys to know where I’m coming from.
By no means do I wish to “go easy” on the authors. I hope you, my dear readers, don’t see my tendency toward positive reviews as a bad thing.
There are a few reasons why I think that lately my reviews have been so positive:
- I read books I think I’ll enjoy. It’s just not fun for me otherwise. I pick up a book because I think it will be a good read. And they usually are. I like to think I’m selective — there are hundreds of books I leave sitting on the bookstore shelf. Maybe I ferreted out the bad ones so you wouldn’t have to see them? Maybe?
- I don’t receive unsolicited books for review. This just hasn’t happened to me yet. My book review blog is still fairly new and I’m still getting to know publishers. I have yet to receive a book for review that I didn’t request. Which means, the chances of getting a poorly written book are slim.
- I request ARCs that interest me. If I request an ARC from the publisher, it’s book I’m pretty sure I’ll like. Something has sparked an interest in me, and I have the desire to read it. That usually means I’ll enjoy it.
- I ♥ YA. Lately, I’ve been reading a lot of Young Adult novels. I may even have to change this to a YA book blog. I can easily identify with the characters and most YA novels address common themes: identity, destiny and becoming who you are. Who can’t identify with that?
- I ♥ Paranormals. The subject matter in paranormal stories is really interesting to me — whether they’re werewolves or draki or Shadow Hunters, the mythology surrounding paranormal books makes me want to keep reading well into the night.
- Lots of good books are coming out lately. Mockingjay, anyone? Clockwork Angel? Paranormalcy? And some good ones are coming up: Firelight, Nightshade, Matched…It’s not my fault all these awesome books are cropping up.
Let me just say that I don’t think this is *wrong.* Maybe a better name for this part of the blog would be “Books I’m Gushing Over.” But you know, that didn’t fit with the whole theme.
Because it’s true: I have a tendency to gush.
And, I like what I read.
So – when you see a five-star review at The Nerd’s Wife, don’t roll your eyes and declare, “That girl would give five stars to a goat!”
I promise you, I wouldn’t!
Well, not unless he was the *best* goat. Ok – maybe if he was a *good* goat. Sigh.
Just take the rating with a grain of salt and read what I have to say about the story. If it sounds like something you’d like, pick it up.
I hope you continue to enjoy the posts on What I’m Reading Books I’m Gushing Over.
Thanks for looking!PS – Here’s a rainbow and some sunshine. You know, ’cause I had extra lying around:
I tend to enjoy what I’m reading. As such, many of my reviews are positive. I confess my sins in this post.
Hehe. Nice little 'confession' right there. 🙂 I've only given out two 5 star reviews, so far. They have to be completely amazing, I've been giving 4s and 3.5s as of late; maybe I'm being a bit hard with my ratings. I have no way of telling since ratings can be dependant on my mood at the time, how long it's been since I read it, etc, etc.
Oh, and I have read 1-3 books that I didn't completely solicit, but have received anyway.
I love when I get a spurt of really awesome books. A few weeks ago, I ended up with a spurt of just the opposite and that made me so sad, especially as some of the books were ones I hoped to like a lot more than I did.
This post made me really happy! My teacher read Where the Red Fern Grows to the class in 4th grade, and it has been my most favorite book since then! I've reread it, oh, I don't know how many times, and I cry every single time! 🙂
You should never apologize for loving the books you are reading and scoring them how you honestly feel they are. Everyone is different, and you just happen to really like what you are reading. Good job!
Thank you all! I appreciate your kind comments! 🙂
Huh. My comment seems to have vanished… Well, short version: don't worry about it. You owe your readers your honesty, nothing else. Panning books just because the readers think you're too easy is dishonest.
LupLun – I'm not sure what happened. I got the email with your original comment and I appreciate all that you said. 🙂
I enjoy reviews that tell me how much the review enjoyed the book. Or if the reviewer felt emotional or was drawn into it. I like to know a little about the storyline, but I really like to know the reaction of the reader. I like your star rating system. 🙂
I agree, I request mostly books I think I'll like. I haven't had really any ARC offers from publishers themselves yet… but there are some books I'm excited for that do let me down lol.
I really like this post!
where are the intelligent, thoughtful books such as by William Least Heat Moon?