I think I’ve been suffering paralyse by analysis.
I’ve been giving the whole book blog thing a bit of a think. It’s heathy to pause for thought every now and again just to assess if you’re going in the right path or not. Books and blogging about books can turn into a time and mind consuming hobby. And as I’ve been reading The Power of Less: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential, in Business and in Life by Leo Babauta I’ve been wondering how essential this blog is and if it is essential what should I be doing with it.
For me it’s always been about sharing but recently I’ve been wondering if I’ve been sharing the right things to the right audience.
On the one side you have those that want a book to be given a weight and gravity by considering it’s worth compared to ‘canon’ and what importance it has in the wider picture and then you have those who are good at showing you the chocolate box and describing something enough so that you want to taste it even if you don’t know quite what you are going to get.
I’m definitely a box of chocolate guy. I want to find out if I like a strawberry centre or a caramel cream or at least find out if a Cadbury Caramel Cream beats a Nestle one.
That isn’t to say there isn’t a middle ground but I think that most people enjoy the stories as they are and just want enough idea to know if a book is going to be for them or not.
I like the whole carnival around books from the covers to the content but not a big fan of academic deconstruction. I don’t really enjoy pulling things apart. I’ve tried it when I was writing my review of The Holy Machine and didn’t like the processes. . I could tell you about some clever moments but taken out of context they just feel sterile and cold.
I like my books still beating. That’s why I read. I want to enjoy the ride. Now enjoyment is a big net that catches a lot of things but I hope I get across what I did and didn’t enjoy when I write my reviews.
So I’m going to strap the Pom-pons back on and get back into the carnival atmosphere that is the enjoyment of reading.
Great post! I think with reviews sometimes less is more, I don’t mean simply the blurb and then ‘I liked it’ but if you give a hint of what its about, why people might like it and indeed why they might not plus additional merits that tends to be enough. I know it is as a reader of lots of book blogs so I tend not to deconstruct too much on my own, thats what I joined a book group for.
I tend not to read deconstructive reviews all the way through – I’m a story lover first and foremost and I want to know if the story works to the end and was enough to capture someone. I really don’t care how clever the writer is without the story to back it up.
Hi gav.
I could finally afford an iPhone and get back to following a few favourite blogs during break times. For a moment then, I thought you were going to throw in the towel! Phew!
I prefer the chocolate box to get a taste – and if that chocolate box is a brand/name I trust, then I know I’ll be satisfied.
If a book is deconstructed too much, or worse summarised, it’s a sale lost from me. It would be like reading the last few pages first.
On that note, I’m looking forward to catching up with your reviews.
Wen.
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