CBA Discussion | To Review or Not To Review

Posted on Friday, August 23, 2013 3:00 AM




As book bloggers we are expected to review books.  I mean, that is the main purpose of having a book blog, right?  But should we review EVERY single book that we read just because of the fact that we do have a book blog?
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I can understand that if we request review copies it is expected that we write a review for those particular books and I try my best to read every single one of those books that I request and write reviews for them.  But what about the books that we purchase or borrow? Do we really need to write reviews for every one of those as well?
I don’t know about other bloggers, but if I read a book, no matter what I think of it, and I don’t write a review for it, I start feeling guilty.  And once that feeling sinks in, I end up writing a review anyway.  I know that’s crazy and that the world will not end if I skip a review every once in a while, but I just can’t seem to shake the guilty feeling.  I swear it’s like it’s ingrained in my brain that if I don’t write a review for a book that I just read then I shouldn’t pick up a new one.  And I’m afraid that if I don’t feel like I can skip ONE review every once in a blue moon then blogging may become more of a chore than a hobby.
So, I’ve decided I’m going to *takes deep breath* skip ONE review.  I’m going to go ahead and apologize just in case this causes a ripple in the universe or the dead start rising up from their graves and since I'm such a nice person I'm going to include a little something for you in case zombies come knocking at your door.
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Talk To Me
Do you review every book you read? Do you feel guilty if you don’t review a book?


10 comments:

  1. The books I don't review are ones I most likely forgot to review, and for books I don't feel like reviewing. Other than that, I would only feel guilty if it was for a review copy.

    It's like this is what's expected of me, and I have to do it. I can't just escape my responsibility.

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  2. I was actually thinking about this recently because there are some books I haven't reviewed and I have no idea why. But I've decided not to worry about it. For one thing, I'm reading about a book a day right now and so if I review most of them, I feel like that's plenty to post.

    One thing I have done, sort of a compromise, is that I've written some mini-reviews. Just a short paragraph, hitting the highlights. Then I'll combine those for some kind of theme. For example, I've recently read two books by Kody Keplinger and I'm going to read another one and put all three of those in one post with mini-reviews. Sometimes I wonder if people really want to read the long ones anyway. :)

    But I agree with you, if a publisher has provided the book for you to review, you should review it. ~Pam

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  3. I review every book I read, but I do that because I want to. If there were ever a time where I didn't want to review a book, then I just wouldn't dod it. It's your blog and there are no rules so you should do whatever you want!

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  4. No one knows what you read, so it should be pretty easy to skip reviews if you don't want to do it. Or just write something short on Goodreads. I don't read romance often, but it always helps me get out of a funk - those books I don't review on my blog, and never thought twice about it.

    Tanya Patrice
    Girlxoxo.com

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  5. I review all of the books I read, because I want to, not because I feel forced to do it :) If you're not feeling like reviewing a certain book, then there should be no hard feelings if you don't! :D

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  6. Since I started blogging, I review also every book I read. I don't feel like i have to though and there are a few books I am going to read soon that I have no plans on reviewing.

    Great post!

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  7. I don't review every book I've read. My blog is a YA blog. Since I started blogging in June I've read a celebrity autobiography, some Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, and *cough*abookaboutMTV'sTeenMomshow*cough*. I didn't review any of them. While I am willing to expand YA to middle grade (and new adult), I didn't feel like there was much to say about the Wimpy Kid. Maybe I'll review the series as a whole when I'm done. Maybe not.

    I've also skipped reviewing a book that's more relevant to my blog, an audiobook. I had intended to review it but I didn't have any notes and I couldn't flip back through the pages. I decided to just skip it and I will probably skip all audiobooks I listen to in the future.

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  8. I review almost every book I read and it's pretty easy for me to do that because I don't read a lot of non-fiction which I've always found hard to review. But if it's hard for you to break your habit - even though you want to - try writing a review on Goodreads instead of on your blog. It'll come easier with time! But if you're like screw this, that's fine too! It is your blog after all! :)

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  9. I have every intention of reviewing every book I read, but I read a lot faster than I review, so sometimes too much time has passed for me to write an accurate and thoughtful review. I think it's ok not to review every book you read. I usually focus on the ones I really love or I really hated. The in-between ones don't always make for a thoughtful review. I don't have much to say besides "it was ok." If I get behind, I write mini-reviews to catch up. This is a way to highlight recent reads without taking up too much time.

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  10. I like to review every book I read, but I wouldn't feel guilty at all. If there comes a time where I read a book I don't want to review, that's fine. It's my blog and it's not like any blog follower is going to say: "I saw that you read this book on your Goodreads page, where is your review??!"

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