Other Book Blogs...

I knew when I started thinking of using a blog to post book reviews that I wasn't coming up with anything new, but I had also never gone looking for one before. So although I knew they existed, I had never seen one myself. Like a platypus. I have never seen a real, live platypus, but I know they exist...

So every so often I will happen upon a link to a book blog and be excited at first, but then a bit worried that it will be better than mine and make me question whether or not I should continue to post book blog posts.

Fortunately, any of the book themed blogs I have found are either entirely different from my own (like Bookfessions, see the link to the right), or I haven't liked for one reason or another (I'm not gunna lie, sometimes it's just because I'm a snob). But I still think that my blog is the best for several reasons.

First of all, I think I have a pretty eclectic mixture of books that I have posted about this far. A few of the blogs I have found have been very genre centered. Now, sometimes, this does have a certain advantage to readers as well as the bloggers. For example, if I wanted to know exactly how good a book (or series) like Game of Thrones (Song of Ice and Fire) is, I think I would get a far more accurate representation from someone who only reads Fantasy novels. They will have a greater "test group" of Fantasy novels to compare it to, whereas someone else who only reads, say, Romance novels may review it really harshly because it's not full of boobs, ripply muscles, and sex (... oh wait... yes it is... But not the right KIND of boobs, muscles and sex) OR they might LOVE it just because it is WAY better than any Romance novel ever written. However, that being said, these single genre sites would have certain biases, and may not reflect accurately in the whole scheme of books in the world anyway. The advantage to writing this type of blog seems to be the free books. I SO wish I could get popular enough to have distributors, publishers, and authors would just send me free stuff. That seriously happens on these blogs sometimes. I have seen it. And it makes me green with envy...

The second thing, I aim for in this blog is a lack of spoilers, which I have commented on before. I have been extremely disappointed by bloggers that blog about the entire plot of a book and then flippantly throw out a mark out of ten, or a star rating or whatever at the end, after telling you exactly what happened in the entire plot of the book, including the climax and conclusion. I mean, seriously? Why would I want to read your blog about books only to have them spoiled for me? That's worse than reading the Coles/Cliff/Spark Notes of a book. Personally, if I were to read an entire blog post that spoiled a book I wanted to read, I probably wouldn't want to read it anymore, and then it defeats the purpose of me continuing to read that blog anyway.

If my blog has a failing, I think that sometimes I am too harsh on books, and even books I love I find things that might bother some people, even if they don't bother me. I worry that it gives people the impression that I hate everything, or that I wouldn't recommend any of the books I review. I want to give at least a positive and negative point in every book that I read, even if they are far reaching. I hope that people who come and read my blog for the book reviews choose whether or not to read a book depending on what I say, and that if they do read it, they aren't disappointed. But I am also worried that I deter people from reading books that they might really like because I am too harsh on them, or the negative point I choose to include (that may be far reaching and not really that big of an issue) seems to be a bigger deal than it actually is in the book.

I loved the two comments I received about my Great Gatsby review, because I felt that those comments proved that I was succeeding at doing exactly what I wanted to do. In Erin's case, my review encouraged her towards reading a book that she has been meaning to read for years, yet in Meghan's case, she agreed with me about the content and themes in the book, but it made her dislike, rather than enjoy it, like I did. I feel it proves that I'm good at finding the important deterrents or incentives to read a book (Thanks for those comments Meghan and Erin!!)

I LOVE talking about books! So even if you disagree with me, I love to hear about it! Also if you have ever been drawn towards or pushed away from any of the books I review, I would love to hear it! If you have any other book themed blogs you think I should take a look at, please point me in the right direction!