I loved this! I can honestly say following you and your reviews (on basically any platform) has made me a more critical reader and movie-watcher and it's honestly so much more fun than how, in my teen/early twenty years I just read book after book for the vibes and had no critical opinion ever. I always just wrote it off as "I just like SO many different things, I'm SO easy" hahaha. While in hindsight, definitely not the case. As you mention in this essay, on starting with the review in mind, after coming out of my reading slump last year I really really started doing this; I take my notes out and jot down things I (want to further) question or want to touch upon in my review as I go along, while reading.
This was a fun insight in how you tackle reading/watching and reviewing. I'm adding the reviewers you mentioned onto my list to check out!
I love hearing this Nel!! Engagement deepens our connections to the works, and I think that is worth its weight in gold. Why shouldn't we be excited about what we're reading??
definitely follow those reviewers they are so excellent!! Thank you so much for reading :))
You know it's going to be a good day when Tori is posting on Substack! I absolutely love your take on reviewing books and film, reading the tips on reviewing with intention is a fantastic way to break into new genres that you would have never considered in the first place. I found a huge change for me in how I look at literature is removing myself completely from Goodreads, I found Goodreads was a dumpster fire of vibe readers and it was too difficult to distinguish whether the reviews were genuine (or the people who leave reviews on books they DNF which I'm still on the fence on whether I agree or not). Using Notion has been a great tool for me to have the tracking side of Goodreads, but allow myself to be as critical as I please when reviewing books.
I would like to hear your takes about DNF'ing books and what are determining factors to either push through, or know you have had enough of a book/author
I totally agree about Goodreads, I no longer use it as a reference for if a book will be "good" or not, it's become so saturated with vibe reviews and insane star ratings, I really just use it to keep track of my lists. I love the idea of using Notion for tracking! I might have to look into that.
As far as DNFing goes...ugh tricky subject. I think in all the years I’ve been reading I have really honed my sense of discernment, and can just *tell* when a book isn't going to work, usually very early on. Beyond that, the tell tale sign for me is if it's an absolute labor to pick up the book I ask myself "do I care how this ends even if the characters grow on me" and usually that will answer if I push through. I almost *never* push through a potential DNF because I almost always regret it. I’ve become wayyyyy more liberal with DNFing in recent years because life is just simply too short to push through for the sake of a tracker.
I'd much rather just move on to the next. I try to follow the 100 pages rule, so if I'm not feeling it around that point, I probably won't feel the rest of it. I have unsubscribed from FOMO and it's insanely freeing!!
What even are star ratings these days?! I agree. I've been skeptical for years (mainly due to Amazon reviewers giving 1 star due to poor shipping, not the product.) But, also, this is part of how I wasted time reading The Spanish Love Deception; the opening writing was decent and it had 5 stars from so many people... And then I was too far in to admit defeat (I know, I know, it's worse than finishing a glass of bad wine).
I like what you mention about recognizing why you don't like something/what doesn't work for you vs. just saying you don't like something. I worried when I went to film school that I would never be able to turn my brain off about "how the sausage was made." But instead I found it helped me to see when films fell apart in Act 3 or fumbled Act 1. My husband and I love to rewrite poor endings. And I also have such a better appreciation of adaptations; so much of what works in books has no place in a film. I suppose education wins again....
Being real and in-depth is part of what I struggle with here! A good, thoughtful, comment takes me ages to write. Even worse for a review! Part of why my Letterboxd is veritably dead. I appreciate your tips though! Maybe I'll get back to it. 😊
I couldn't agree more! I don't actually write reviews for the books I read, but I approach all books with a critical eye as an aspiring author myself. My professor always says (like you do) that it's not enough to just like or dislike a book, we have to think deeply about why we have those feelings if we hope to replicate what we liked or avoid what we don't like in our own work.
Yes!! coming at it through the lens of an author opens up a whole new world of critique and observation. A critical eye is not a bad thing (even though the internet wants to say it is)
I loved this! I can honestly say following you and your reviews (on basically any platform) has made me a more critical reader and movie-watcher and it's honestly so much more fun than how, in my teen/early twenty years I just read book after book for the vibes and had no critical opinion ever. I always just wrote it off as "I just like SO many different things, I'm SO easy" hahaha. While in hindsight, definitely not the case. As you mention in this essay, on starting with the review in mind, after coming out of my reading slump last year I really really started doing this; I take my notes out and jot down things I (want to further) question or want to touch upon in my review as I go along, while reading.
This was a fun insight in how you tackle reading/watching and reviewing. I'm adding the reviewers you mentioned onto my list to check out!
I love hearing this Nel!! Engagement deepens our connections to the works, and I think that is worth its weight in gold. Why shouldn't we be excited about what we're reading??
definitely follow those reviewers they are so excellent!! Thank you so much for reading :))
You know it's going to be a good day when Tori is posting on Substack! I absolutely love your take on reviewing books and film, reading the tips on reviewing with intention is a fantastic way to break into new genres that you would have never considered in the first place. I found a huge change for me in how I look at literature is removing myself completely from Goodreads, I found Goodreads was a dumpster fire of vibe readers and it was too difficult to distinguish whether the reviews were genuine (or the people who leave reviews on books they DNF which I'm still on the fence on whether I agree or not). Using Notion has been a great tool for me to have the tracking side of Goodreads, but allow myself to be as critical as I please when reviewing books.
I would like to hear your takes about DNF'ing books and what are determining factors to either push through, or know you have had enough of a book/author
This is such a cute comment :,,,)
I totally agree about Goodreads, I no longer use it as a reference for if a book will be "good" or not, it's become so saturated with vibe reviews and insane star ratings, I really just use it to keep track of my lists. I love the idea of using Notion for tracking! I might have to look into that.
As far as DNFing goes...ugh tricky subject. I think in all the years I’ve been reading I have really honed my sense of discernment, and can just *tell* when a book isn't going to work, usually very early on. Beyond that, the tell tale sign for me is if it's an absolute labor to pick up the book I ask myself "do I care how this ends even if the characters grow on me" and usually that will answer if I push through. I almost *never* push through a potential DNF because I almost always regret it. I’ve become wayyyyy more liberal with DNFing in recent years because life is just simply too short to push through for the sake of a tracker.
I'd much rather just move on to the next. I try to follow the 100 pages rule, so if I'm not feeling it around that point, I probably won't feel the rest of it. I have unsubscribed from FOMO and it's insanely freeing!!
What even are star ratings these days?! I agree. I've been skeptical for years (mainly due to Amazon reviewers giving 1 star due to poor shipping, not the product.) But, also, this is part of how I wasted time reading The Spanish Love Deception; the opening writing was decent and it had 5 stars from so many people... And then I was too far in to admit defeat (I know, I know, it's worse than finishing a glass of bad wine).
I like what you mention about recognizing why you don't like something/what doesn't work for you vs. just saying you don't like something. I worried when I went to film school that I would never be able to turn my brain off about "how the sausage was made." But instead I found it helped me to see when films fell apart in Act 3 or fumbled Act 1. My husband and I love to rewrite poor endings. And I also have such a better appreciation of adaptations; so much of what works in books has no place in a film. I suppose education wins again....
Being real and in-depth is part of what I struggle with here! A good, thoughtful, comment takes me ages to write. Even worse for a review! Part of why my Letterboxd is veritably dead. I appreciate your tips though! Maybe I'll get back to it. 😊
I couldn't agree more! I don't actually write reviews for the books I read, but I approach all books with a critical eye as an aspiring author myself. My professor always says (like you do) that it's not enough to just like or dislike a book, we have to think deeply about why we have those feelings if we hope to replicate what we liked or avoid what we don't like in our own work.
Yes!! coming at it through the lens of an author opens up a whole new world of critique and observation. A critical eye is not a bad thing (even though the internet wants to say it is)
I am waiting eagerly for your novel Caroline!!