You just read a book

[conuly]

And it's so... so... so SOMETHING that you feel you must tell the world. So you immediately rush off to Amazon or GoodReads or wherever you go to review books and you post...

Well, here's the thing. Are you gonna rush off because it's just that BAD and you feel like you have to warn everybody, or because it's just that GOOD and you think everybody needs a copy so they can feel the love?

I notice that some people on various sites have a lot of negative reviews. This book uses language they don't like (this never means profanity, it always means "ain't"), that book has role models they disapprove of, this book features gay/ethnic/religious folk in the wrong light.

Other people have very few negative reviews, but lots of positive ones. This book has the best artwork, that one is very poetic, a third is good for bedtime, a fourth launched you on a research project to refresh your memory of Greek/Roman mythology (that was Percy and the Olympians, thanks very much. Cheesy, sure, but fun!)

So which is it? (Yes, I know, it depends.)

And for that matter, how do you review things? Very short - "I like this." "I don't like that." "This book SUCKS and you're STUPID if you DISAGREE!"? Very long, detailing all the reasons you think what you do, with page numbers and quotes? Do you try for balance? "I like this book, but some people might have problems with this aspect" or "I didn't like this book, but in fact I think it's really meant for people who already know a little about this subject, and I'm a newbie"? Do you give two and four star reviews, or one and five star reviews? (Very few people do three star reviews, probably because nobody is inspired by mediocrity, for good or ill. I do, but only because I'm still - slowly - reviewing our entire library right now. Ye gods. I'm still stuck on the picture books, guys!)

Or do you never leave reviews at all?

Comments

[siderea]

Myself, I never rush off to write reviews [eta: on Amazon -- here is different, more below]. More typically, I'll be linking to a product/work, and notice there are no or inadequate reviews explaining its merits, so I'll write a brief on explaining [Why You/Who] Should Buy This Thing. So they're all five star reviews, there's not many of them, and they tend to be scored as highly useful to other shoppers.

[ETA: I try to review here on LJ anything I read, or music I hear, or movie I see that I have interesting things to say about. Quality of the work is mostly pretty immaterial for that decision, though occasionally I'll plug something I think my readers will enjoy.]

[fjorab-teke.livejournal.com]

I think I've done all of one actual book review. I tend to elaborate with what I do like and don't like about it. Thankfully I didn't have much to worry about with personal tastes (though I'll give up shiny color pictures for a lot of really great information that other books leave out or report erroneously).

It was a horse breeds book, the only one I can think of where the author has gone through great lengths to be as thorough and factual and firsthand-source as possible without being excessively lengthy or too detailed in minutiae. It was a refreshing break away from the cheap "pretty but erroneous" horse books you can buy anywhere.

[leora.livejournal.com]

I rarely review things. I am more likely to review something if someone is asking for information about it. Or I will write about something I read if it sparks interesting thoughts I want to write about, but that'd be on my journal.

I sometimes recommend books to friends, but usually when they ask for recommendations.