By Heather A.
I like writing reviews. I think the act of writing is cathartic, but more prevalent when it comes to reviews, I can replay the book over in my head and flesh out the nuances that made me like or dislike the novel. In a way, it’s a mini-English paper, without the literary criticism (for the most part). Also, I can be as subjective about the book as I want, and still retain a semblance of authority on the book. Here are some reasons I like writing reviews.
- Remember what you’ve read. My number reason for writing reviews is to remember what I read. My memory is horrible. If anyone asks me what I think about a particular book, I try to remember, but I can only describe how it made me feel. When I started writing reviews it was mostly about what I like/dislike about a certain book. But having a review to go back to to refresh my memory helps me a lot.
- Keep track of the number of books you’ve read. Goodreads is a godsend when it comes to the number of books I have read and want to read. When I first joined in 2012, I was only giving starred reviews, it wasn’t until a while later that I would write about what worked in the book for me. Tracking my books is also something I take pride in. I like knowing what I have read, what the next book in the series is, which books should be on my radar for the future
- Seeing other’s reactions to the same books. On Goodreads, reviews can be seen by anyone, including the author. I really like scrolling through and seeing the reactions that can range from gif-party 5 Star explosion, to 1 Star why does anyone like this review.
- Book community (sharing books, posting on Instagram). Maybe this doesn’t have to do with reviewing, per se, but it’s still nice to see other people liking a book as much as you and seeing pictures of the book neatly arranged with food or such to showcase the joys of reading. An instagram post is basically a review anyway, it’s like, “Hey, this book is sooo good I have to share it with everyone.”
- Never run out of books to read. As a professional book reviewer (the blog makes it professional :P) I never have to worry about running out of books to review. The content is literally endless. That makes me happy as a reader and reviewer because I don’t have to worry about what I’ll read next! I do have to worry about reading slumps though…they can be rough.
Do you like reviewing books for any reason not mentioned above? Let us know in the comments!
