Writing book reviews is something we all (all of us book bloggers, anyway) do. We write to critique writing. So, my question is, what is your review-writing process?
Pre-Writing: Reading the Book
Reading Notes. Generally speaking, I don’t take notes on books as I read. This, I have learned, causes some problems when I sit down to write a review and cannot remember where that perfect line or paragraph was or what spawned an opinion about a particular theme. I tend to lie down or sprawl when I read, which does not lend itself to the note-taking process. However, I am trying to remedy this. I now keep a pencil handy to make notes and I’m not above dog-earring the pages, especially in ARCs. Also, if I don’t take notes during the actual reading, I try to make notes immediately after a reading session.
Research. I’ve read that it is a bad idea to read a review of a book before you write your own review. Something about tainting your objectivity. In my experience, though, it is not always possible to avoid reading reviews. A lot of times, I read a book because of a review I read. Other than reading reviews, I generally do little outside research before writing a review. If anything, I’ll do a quick search for information about the author and his/her previous works.
What about you? Do you take notes? During or after the reading? Do you dog-ear important pages? Do you read other reviews before writing your own? Do you conduct research? What kind?
Writing: Book Review Structure
Many reviews seem to follow, roughly, the following structure:
Heading – bibliographic information
Background – introduction to subject
Summary – brief synopsis (don’t give away the end!)
Evaluation – the opinion part
Conclusion – summary and/or rating
Until recently, I had not really thought about the structure that my book reviews do or should take. I just wrote. Upon reflection, though, I think a structure of some sort is a good idea because it allows me to communicate my opinion more clearly to the reader.
As for the above structures, I think I particularly fall short in the heading category. My post heading always includes the book title, but not the author. I restate the book name and name the author at the end when I rate the book, but that may be the only bibliographic information in the post. My goal is to do a little better on that front.
What about you? Do you structure your reviews? What is your structure? Do you feel like the structure adds something? Do personalize your structure? What rating system do you use?
Buy The Slippery Art of Book Reviewing
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I don’t write reviews professionally but I do typically do a rant after I have read a book on ibooks and then, I try to keep it poignant and very brief. Three or four sentences maximum and I don’t use any sort of technique. Rather I prefer to write from reflex, just as I do when I am really writing.
When I’m reading, I either dog-ear pages or put post-it notes on the pages that I want to write about later. Sometimes I want to remember a specific quote, other times it is something else.
I don’t exactly have a system, but I think most of my reviews are similar in style. I always mention the book title and the author, and I link those words in my post to other site (the book title links to amazon’s page for that book, the author’s name links to more info about him/her).
I don’t do a complete summary – you can get that anywhere. I do explain why I liked/didn’t like the book. I also let my reader know where I learned about this book or why I chose to read it.
Oh, and I put TONS of links in my reviews. I want my readers to have access to as much info as they desire.
So that’s how I do a book review. :)
I like to keep my reviews VERY short and VERY simple. So, I don’t do any pre-review stuff at all. And when I write the review, my main goal is to summarize the story in about one or two sentences, and then tell my basic reaction and opinion of the book. I notice that for me, if reviews are too long and detailed, I skip over them. I just want to know, did this person like it or not? So then I skim to find that part. Sometimes I feel like my reviews are TOO simple, but for now, that’s just the way they’ll be! :)
I really like this post! I’ve just recently started blogging my reading. I, too, have been putting more thought into structure and design of my reviews. Like Suey said, if reviews are too long, I’ll just skip over them. I have to have a point and get to it, only getting into detail after I’ve caught the attention of the reader who might be interested.
I’ve also begun taking notes as I read. It makes me think more about what I’m reading–and why I’ve chosen to read it. Like Heather said, I am not going to summarize the book too much because there are so many other summarizes out there. I need to have something original to say about why I liked it, disliked it, was annoyed by it, etc.
I don’t like to read other reviews, although that is often how I choose books to read–I find people reveal too much in them! Like Heather said, I like to explain what the emotional draw was for me. I’m more likely to read a book that someone recommends on an emotional level rather than one they recommend on a “this is a great story” level.
As for structure: I think it is imperative to have some introduction: say what the book is, why you liked it/didn’t (the emotional draw), and then a brief summary of what the themes are. All that in the first paragraph. Then I’ll go in to a general introduction of the characters, setting, or theme, and then I’ll focus on the crux of my argument about the book.
This is a horribly long comment, but I really liked this post and it got me thinking about what I do myself.
Whether I take notes or not depends partly on the kind of book and partly on my mood — sometimes I’m into it and sometimes not. And I don’t have a regular structure either. But then I also resist the idea that what I’m doing is writing reviews — writing reviews carries a certain amount of responsibility and I’d prefer to write in a more relaxed way. I really am reviewing, but I tell myself I’m doing something a little different — giving more of a personal response or something. I’d follow a more careful structure if I wrote a review for publication.
Thanks for commenting everyone! I’m glad that this post struck a chord. Your ideas and processes have given me a lot to think about.
Loobiesmith – the quick review can be very useful to the reader by distilling it down to the most important tidbits.
Heather – I love (and am going to steal) the post-it note idea. I hate maiming books, even ARCs, and that is a good solution.
Suey – I tend to do the same thing: skim through really long reviews for that bottom line. I’ll have to keep that in mind when I tend to go on and on. :o)
Rebecca – I think you hit two really good points on the head: originality and emotional draw. I think my review tend to be a little dry.
Dorothy – Your note-taking process sounds like my may end up. Taking notes all of the time can take some of the fun and flow away from a book.
Jessica, I didn’t mean to indicate your reviews are dry. I enjoy yours very much. I just meant that I always find reviews most interesting when there is an emotional response to the novel.
Rebecca – I didn’t think that that you thought that! I just meant that I need to add a little more emotion to my reviews. Your comment just made me want to do that. :o)
I take notes too, of thoughts that cross my mind and of memorable passages that I might end up including in my post.
I don’t consciously follow a structure when writing my posts, but I organize them more or less like this: first a plot summary, then my general opinion in a sentence or two, and then my explanation of why I have that opinion: what I liked about the book, what didn’t work for me, etc.
Great post, btw.
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