Let’s Talk Bookish is a bookish meme created by Rukky @ Eternity Books where bloggers write posts discussing the topic of the week each Friday! Now it’s run by Aria @Book Nook Bits.

I actually have a post about reviews planned – but not written yet – so I might keep things somewhat short if I feel like there would be similar thoughts involved.

Bookish Thoughts

Anyway. Like I said in my post about eBooks I don’t review every book I read because The Queer Bookish is for queer books only. There are some nonqueer reviews from back when I was Bookstogetlostin but if I read, say, a Fitzek, Karin Slaughter, or so-called self-help/self-improvement book I won’t review it.

I also can’t imagine reviewing a book of poetry even though I’ve got some on my bookshelf. Either the words hit me in the heart or they don’t. Also, would I need to review every single poem or the overall feeling or…

The Queer’s Reviewing

As for queer books, I want to review every last one. At least those I’m reading now. Books I’ve already without taking notes have to wait for a re-read or remain unreviewed.

I don’t wanna say re-reads aren’t as important as ARC reviews but I feel more committed to those because either I requested said ARC or accepted an author’s or publisher’s request. Therefore there are quite a few DNF reviews for ARCs on my blog – if I don’t like a book and I’ve got objective reasons for disliking it you can bet I will tell you everything about it.

But sometimes I feel like the problem is very subjective or I can’t put my finger on why exactly I didn’t click with a book. If that happens, I’ll email my contacts and tell them about my reasons for preferring not to review the ARC. As of now, everyone was happy with that solution since I could only write a bad review – bad in terms of being not helpful for my readers in aiding their decision to read said book, not bad in the sense of a negative critique.

Usually, I quite enjoy reviewing and/or ranting about books. But it is easier if it’s a standalone work. In a series, it’s very easy to review book 1, but starting with book 2… do I repeat what I said about book 1 and add a little reflection on what’s happening in book 2? Do I skip that and keep the review short?

Mostly I try to focus on reflecting my thoughts about the happenings without spoiling what happens. But that also means if you haven’t read book 1 you really, really shouldn’t read my review on book 2.

Of course, I could focus on book 1 of a series and never review the other books but I don’t wanna do that if I enjoyed that book. That way it would seem like book 1 wasn’t as good as I said it was in my opinion and fewer reviews/ratings on further books could mean no more books in a series. Also, reviews aren’t for authors, but it still seems dishearting to never see if your other books are even acknowledged as being out there.

How do you handle reviewing books?