Why I Don’t Write More Book Reviews

Hey Emmie, if this is a book-blog, why don’t I see more book reviews?

Well, dear imaginary critic, I have a few reasons for this. Allow me to explain.

Spoilers

First of all, it is very hard to write a book review without spoiling parts of the plot. I can make some very general remarks, such as “I think the ending of Vango #2: Prince without a Kindom was a bit anticlimactic” but why would you believe me if I don’t support this claim with examples? I see more book bloggers struggle with this problem, and some of them do manage to keep a successful balance between spoilers and vagueness but I find it very hard. I’ve always been more of an elephant than a ballerina :).

However, more importantly,

I prefer to ask ‘why’

What in Vango makes me feel that the ending is anticlimactic? Is this a fault of the writing, or does the author subvert my attention in such a way that it throws me off? Is it due to the overall vagueness of the character descriptions in the book? Does one of the ‘reveals’ come too late? Are there any other books to which I can apply this?

Other examples include:
How do my surroundings influence the way I read a book and vice versa? (Post: Brussels as an Invisible City) Where does the magic of a ‘cosy book’ come from and why do we not read them all the time? (Post: A Book Like a Warm Bath) Etc.

To me, these questions seem much more interesting and worth focussing on than what I felt after each of the happenings in the book. This is probably due to the fact that I enjoy

Observing trends

I like to draw parallels between books, writing styles and their effects. (Post: Some Thoughs on Historical Fiction) Not only in the books we read, but also in the way we talk about them or blog about them. (Post: Things I Learned while Bookstagramming)

In short, I am clearly

Trying to be original

by writing more about my personal experience with books than their actual content. I write sentimental pieces about my love for reading (Post: Life is Messy, Books are Not and Books: Why I Care), show you how I buy books (Post: Bookshop Snaps and I bought a Norwegian Book) and how go about reading them (or not). (Post: I’m Reading 5 Books at the Same Time (Help!)) I’m also trying to write more about the making and adapting of books (Book Design and Digital Literature), more on that will follow.

For poetry this is very different to me, as I feel you cannot spoil poems and they are much easier to draw concrete examples from. However, I have also reviewed a fair amount of books – from One Hundred Years of Solitude to Divergent – find them all here.

What do you think? Should book-blogs mainly focus on book reviews or do you prefer other kinds of posts? I really value your input! 🙂