It has been so long since I've written in this blog, that I just want to post something quickly to get this going again. I've also been reading, but the things that I've been looking at have been challenging to write about. Part of the problem has been that I've been reading unfinished serials that have been posted on the web, and I haven't decided yet if I want to write about them.
I also don't really know what I want my reviews to look like now. Before, I wanted to write summaries of the plot and comment on my thoughts about the story lines and characters, but I can appreciate the hard work that authors put into creating their work. So, do I have too many spoilers in what I post? However, as a reader, sometimes I appreciate being able to read more detailed summaries posted by other reviewers so that I can decide if I truly want to take the time to read a book, perhaps to even give it a second chance if I am thinking of putting it aside.
Also, there have been works where I've had strong opinions about characters and their actions without considering whether it may be hurtful to the author, whose "baby" might have been "diced and sliced" by what I've written. I had removed one review that I felt was too overly critical after considering the matter. Also, for example, in the case of Betty Neels...I *love* reading her novels, but I often skewer her characters. Although I love the escape her stories offer, I have often thought that if these characters were 'real' people, I would be tempted to actually throttle them in pure frustration over their behaviour.
As mentioned in the description, the blog was created so that I could post reviews in exchange for e-books from NetGalley. I realize that this blog is just a blip in the internet, and that the vast majority of visits to it are actually by bots based on the statistics provided. With it being a small insignificant entity with few actual readers, I didn't really think much before about the questions that I'm thinking about now:
a) Are there too many spoilers in my reviews?
b) Are the reviews too mean or critical in tone (at least for some)? How do I write something that is fair without being malicious?
c) I have cross posted reviews on Goodreads. Should I stop that, especially for non-Net Galley works that I review ? I felt that NetGalley's purpose was to drum up publicity for their books, and Goodreads has a larger reach than my piddly little blog, and I started posting NetGalley reviews there. When I started reviewing non-NetGalley books, I started to post those reviews on Goodreads too.
d) What do I actually want to do with this blog? I like having my little corner to voice what I really think about the things that I read.
Well...this *is* a work-in-progress.
