On Writing Book Reviews

I read a lot of book reviews online. I find many books by wandering around a bookstore, or buying kindle books for 99 cents, but I read lots of book reviews to add to my list.

For the most part, I enjoy knowing what everyone else is reading, even if I know that I don't particularly enjoy a particular author or genre. I buy books as gifts, too, so I catalog which books, in which genres are great so that I can buy them for my family. Just because I don't read Janet Evanovich doesn't mean I don't support others reading Janet Evanovich.

So, it really turns me off when other bloggers specifically denigrate others based on book choices. Obviously, this isn't my first time making this point, but having participated in several book review link-ups and reading the reviews in them, I can't shake my annoyance.

This is my soapbox, if you will:

If you say, on your blog, that we should all read "better" books than the ones I personally like, I will not follow you. I will not take you or your review seriously. I will not comment. I will not swap buttons. You will never again see my traffic. Because, you see, I don't appreciate being insulted when I voluntarily came to your blog to read what you had to say.

Of course, there is a huge difference between being insulting towards readers and offering concrete critiques along with suggestions for other novels. I have done so myself, and will continue to do so. But to offer a critique and then continue on to suggest that now that we've all read these books that we should now move on to better ones, and insult my intelligence for reading them? That, my friends, is not just a difference of opinion. It is a judgement of character based on reading choices. It's akin to censorship. I'm not OK with that.