Why I Review Books - Blog

To achieve any dream one must both practice often and research incessantly. There's a idea out there called the 10,000-Hour Rule.  Basically, after ten-thousand hours of practicing anything, you'll have become efficent enough to be a master at whatever it is you're doing.  

“If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” 
― Stephen King

For authors, writing anything, from prompts to blog posts, is more practice and reading is research. So why wouldn't an author combine both into reviewing books? Since I began seriously writing, I've taken a different perspective on reading and how reading for pleasure and for research differ and writing is located at the core of that change.

Reviewing books is like being back in grade school and having to write book reports again, the only difference is my taste and wisdom.  With age comes the wisdom, and with exposure comes the changes in taste.  Where at one point I would only pick up a book with something fantastical or paranormal in its pages, now I find even chicklit, mystery, and modern romance tickles my fancy on occasion.  

For a writer, reviewing books can act as a sounding board for writing styles, plot likes and dislikes, and even opinions on aesthetics, ie book covers, paper stock, and in-text embellishments.  Writing a review of something, anything, allows the writer to breakdown into parts exactly what they are feeling and pull those bits out of their brains and into words.  Take that one step further and talk through the story with someone and you'd be surprised what you'll find. If you add a second or third person into that pre-writing dialogue the results are even more powerful.

“Read, read, read. Read everything -- trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it.
Then write. If it's good, you'll find out. If it's not, throw it out of the window.” 
― William Faulkner

Communicating your arguments, be they agreements or disagreements, with another person can help to solidify your opinions and ferret out those details you may have missed.  I try to make a point of having a casual discussion post-reading and prior to writing my reviews.  My notes made as I'm reading guide the conversation, and even if the person I'm speaking with has not read the book my opinions become more organized and well worded.  Once I get to the actual writing phase of the review I find my thoughts are sleeker, less bulky, and more easily digestible to the reader who has not read the content being reviewed.  And after all of that pre-work and drafting, both verbally and via written word, my writing improves as well.

Reading other author's work broadens a writer's understanding of how words can be manipulated.  The tone in a scene can create different moods and evoke different feelings from a reader just by changing a few details and reading a wide range of genres can educate a writer on how to manipulate their own words to fit their own needs. Seeing how Stephen King frames a scene to be creepy and suspenseful is much different than how Laurell K. Hamilton writes Anita Blake.  Being able to read both of those works and then incorporate the same feelings, how you want them when you want them, within your own work wouldn't  have been possible without reading their works first.  How about plot magic systems are great examples.  Brandon Sanderson is an epic world weaver.  His magic systems are creative and unlike anything I've ever read anywhere else, but reading his Warbreaker and being able to compare what worked and what didn't and what was enjoyable and what could have been different, needs a contrasting piece of writing to relate to.  So pick up Catherine Asaro's Lost Continent series and debate the two.

To say what I don't think needs to be said, I am not advocating plagiarism.  However, reading a novel and dissecting how it works, and using that as a jumping off point is valid. So, to all you writers out there who have been asked why you read so much, why you are never caught without a book in your hand, or are rarely have your noses visible... tell them you're simply doing your research, because you've got 10,000 hours of reading ahead of you and not a single one of them is wasted.

Happy Reading!

---

Are you a bibliophile or a bookworm? Do you review your books with friends and family verbally or maybe even through goodreads or a bookseller?
Share your experiences below and where you post reviews if you do.