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

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

Vicky, does using the "filter" function to sort out just the reviews for audio versions work well for you? In other words, do you find that reviewers are actually doing a pretty good job of reviewing the same edition they read/ heard?

Reviewing books read a long time ago. Hmm. Controversial. I do write some. They tend to be short. I want to write more - I want to go through my shelves and say something about all my books. I haven't decided how to go about that yet though....

I've abandoned books for other reasons than 'didn't like' and I think my explanations of why I didn't finish could be useful to potential readers. Certainly 'dnf' doesn't mean 'bad.' It could also mean 'over my head' or 'too graphically violent for me' or 'I've just read several others that covered this same ground' -- and I want to share that information.

And I want other folks to share that kind of information with me, in their reviews. Now these kinds of reviews, I imagine, would tend to be shorter, and more like Reactions than Reviews in the academic sense. All the better, imo, concise is good.

Thank you Shomeret - I do tend to prefer poems that resonate with something inside of me, so I guess just saying that, and explaining as best I can the 'how and why' could help.

One caution that might matter to some is about Privacy.

Apparently you can mark your profile private, but your review is still viewable. If you write an oft 'liked' review, it may even show up in google when someone just searches the web for the name of the book. Of course your profile data is still hidden, but don't assume that means your reviews are hidden.

In fact, never assume anything online is ever truly private - that's the safest thing. Or, be like me, and don't care. Just be aware.

We've got this shiny technology, let's think about using it! As I've said elsewhere, I have a GR friend who loves to be able to enhance her review with pictures. I'm not keen on the idea myself, but at the same time I respect her perspective. What do you all think of pictures, videos, links, etc in reviews?

Huh. So, goes to show, a very short review can be effective. Good to know.

I use book darts. I keep a dozen or so 'strung' on a piece of sturdy paper and use that for a bookmark. So handy, and can be used in even fragile or library books. http://bookdarts.com/ They are slim enough to forget about if one is rushing back to the library, so I bought the bulk pack. :)

Thanks!

Great topic, and good place, thanks for starting it!

My One piece of advice is, "Don't think of it as a review, or even as an opinion, if you don't want to. Think of it as your Reaction to the book."

Also, that gives you a better chance to organize your thoughts and check for typos... :)

'to stop annoying our spouses' - good reason to write reviews!

Is there a way, does anybody know, to 'hide' pictures? I have a good friend here on GR who makes pretty good use of pix to enhance her reviews, and I'd like to know there's a way to accomodate both her and BunWat... - ?

I should do this filtering kind of thing, too. I think I might still be a little confused though, so thanks for putting this discussion in it's own topic and in the best folder, Almeta, so I can find it later!

... and thanks Tammy et al for appreciating the effort I'm making. Y'all are making me < blush >.

I love to see people tell us what their children thought of the book. I read for myself (the only child I know is 15), but I'm always curious whether a book is working for children, or if it's one that adults think children 'should' like.

we might want to chat, or ask for other GR tips, or whatever...

Oh yay, another reader of children's books! I'm off to start a topic...

I use book darts - http://bookdarts.com/ - to mark passages of the book I want to refer to in my review.

But usually my reviews are short because I'd rather be reading than writing. Maybe too short sometimes. I'll have to think about being a bit more expansive, at least when there aren't a lot of other reviews already.

(I also use them to mark things I want to look up later, like websites or vocabulary words. I've no affiliation with the maker but I love the product and recommend them to everyone! :)