Cheryl’s Comments (group member since Jul 30, 2011)

Cheryl’s comments from the More than Just a Rating group.

I get a little thrill every time I encounter a character who is not white and straight. Which just goes to show that yeah, the fear of diversity is still awfully present - I mean, there should be enough 'interesting' characters in books that they're not even noteworthy.

I wonder if it's especially prevalent in YA? Science fiction and fantasy seem to be making more progress towards diversity than some genres.

"Things like author behavior/personal life I try to avoid in an actual review, unless it is germain to the actual book. You could write the review and then add a comment below stating you would never buy a book by xxxx author because of xxxxx."

Misfit, this makes sense to me. Also the mention by Vicky about the professional qualifications of Mary Doria Russell. Goodreads reviews are personal reactions to books and so anything that we think matters (that isn't libel or petty) is worth including.

Hm.. my first instinct is that I don't want this stuff. I mean, their personal life is none of my business, so I wouldn't be interested in any People magazine kind of stuff.

But you make a good point about there being some stuff that's relevant, like their area of expertise (for example, I'm tired of reading Science books written by Journalists) or where they're from (lovely to know that the person telling us about Bangladesh had actually lived there).

Pseudonymic information is good data.

Whether the book is a debut might be bad, as it could lead me to judge it with that being a qualifier ("pretty good for a debut author" might get one more star than it deserves). Whether the author has written something else more well-known might be bad (was anybody able to judge Her Fearful Symmetry on its own merits after reading & seeing all the talk about The Time Traveler's Wife?).

Now that you mention it, I think maybe I mention too much about the author in reviews. "Another funny book by Daniel Pinkwater but not as fresh as The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death," for example. Is that kind of thing helpful, or annoying?

Right, watching out for lessons & messages, intended or not, is important. For example, I just read Bedtime for Mommy and included in the review a mention of the unfortunate stereotype associated with the father (fat, sloppy, eating chips in front of the tv). I hope I remember to notice things like that even when they're not so blatant.

The descriptions of children's books, I've noted, do tend to mention the obvious & positive lessons, so I don't need to be redundant in my review.

Ok, I'm going to really absent from Sept 11 to the 16th or 17th. When I get back I hope things will be less frazzling around here, but for this week you-all be good for Sarah. No spit-balls, no telling the sub that the quiz was cancelled, respect her as you would me... ;)

And illustrations, and weight of paper, and contrast of paper and ink, etc. Yup!

Wow. That's so good to hear, that an author was mature enough to accept a critique.

lol! I'm laughing, but this is actually a worthwhile suggestion, Sarah! And, in some cases, it is totally relevant. For example, for Peter Pan, I may not feel I can contribute to the millions of words already avl. to the story, but I can certainly say something about the edition I read which might help a potential buyer choose an edition.

Ok, first, I don't think you're spoiling anything. Other reviews say more. Even the book's own description says plenty. In fact, with all due respect, I disagree about you needing to say something about plot. Again, the book description pretty much covers it.

I find no awkward constructions or transitions, no errors, and your paragraphs and your overall review are (imo) just the right length.

But here's my own reaction - despite the fact that you say (or seem to say; correct me if I'm wrong) you didn't enjoy the book and don't recommend it to undecided people, and despite also the fact that I have already put this book on my 'rejected' shelf with a comment of 'yuck,' ... despite all that... your review makes me almost want to read it!

So, um, that means you did a great job of being objective and talking about the book on its own merits. And that's a really good thing - we need more reviews like that, because a personal reaction has limited value to readers who don't have a personal relationship with the reviewer.

Re-re-reading, I see you do say things that are personal, that reflect your own enjoyment. But somehow they aren't coming through very strongly. I have no idea how to fix that, and in fact I'm thinking it probably doesn't need to be fixed. But if you do, by any chance, want to warn undecided people off because you really really didn't enjoy it, then you might want to add a bit of loaded language like 'yuck' or 'depressing' or 'pretentious' or whatever is apt. But only if you want to - please don't feel like you should change anything on my say-so!

Concise, witty, and you know what you're getting into if you choose to read this book:
Ralph's review of Island of the Sequined Love Nun

Sarah, wow. That is darn nifty.

Totally off-topic - but irrestible - todays' Google Doodle (maybe US and UK only?) is a tribute to Freddie Mercury. Delightful. Such a loss.

It was a very good review by any standards. I'll PM you about *our* friend. :)

You mean like a pre-formatted blank journal? Even a three-ring binder of print-outs might help.

probably - I don't much use Amazon's reviews any more unless I can't find any here

tx!

Just thought I'd give all you folks a heads-up. A number of mini & temporary personal crises are popping up for me, and I might seem a little distant or flaky or something - please don't be concerned but if you could cut me a little slack for a few weeks, especially for the next few days now, I'd appreciate it. Thanks gang!

Ok, adding some more explanation, which might clarify or might muddy, the thing is, a bookstore isn't going to out'n'out support the idea of putting genre fiction in an unattractive ghetto. They will tuck it away, but they still want to sell it, so they'll not make those who seek out those sections feel inferior. So, 'benefit from the ghetto' not so much. Benefit from segregation, as I said above.

Um - I think you just said it. (Or I'm confused.)
1. If a bookstore segregates by genre, they can make it easier for their genre readers to find something specific that they're looking for, like your Anne Rice* example.
2. If a bookstores segregates by genre, they can hold more (higher-priced) hardcovers in the 'Literary Fiction' - for example a horror book with pretensions of Literature (as the viewpoint goes, mind you I'm not saying that).

Now that means someone has to be paying attention to how the contents of the shelves move. Does Anne Rice sell better if she's in Fiction, or if she's in Horror?

Personally, I'd put a copy of each of her primary works in both places, if I ran a bookstore and could set it up like that.

*Did you notice whether it was her horror book you were looking at? I happen to have learned sometime that she wrote something else, too... don't remember for sure what but it was not actually horror...

It definitely becomes easier as you go along. By now (1.4 years) I can't imagine not reviewing a book I've read. :)