Thursday, April 7, 2011

Do you review everything you read?

Greg over at The New Dork Review recently asked the question about if it was worthwhile or not to review an obscure book he didn't like which kind of lead to a discussion about if one should review every book they read, regardless of their opinion or how obscure the book may be. In an effort to put in my two cents worth, or like 5 dollars worth since I guess my 2 cents are over in his comments (I don't understand money), I thought I'd continue the conversation here.*

Do you feel obligated to review every book you read? Are there any types of books (crappy, obscure, boring) that you won't review?

Personally, I don't feel any obligation to write about any particular book or in any particular format. I started this blog as a means to get back into writing, since I'd mostly let that skill atrophy since college, and I picked book blogging because that was the topic I was most interested in and I figured I read enough I wouldn't run out of topics. I'm not being paid for any reviews so I certainly don't feel any responsibility to review everything I read. All the books are ones I'm reading for my own enjoyment.

Having said this, I do write about all of the books I read. I'm spending my time to read it so I figure I may as well write something, be it that I like the book, don't like the book or the book makes me think of some more interesting topic. Not having something to say has never stopped me from prattling on before, and I'm not letting it stop me now. But this is a personal choice and I admire the bloggers that are able to resist posting when they have nothing to say, even if that means skipping a review.

Going beyond what you do with your own reviews, what do you like to see from book blogs you follow? Do you want bloggers to review everything? Do you want them to only review the books they liked? Do you want them to avoid reviewing obscure titles?

*This is a nicer way of saying "I'm stealing the topic Greg already wrote about over at his blog, and if you want the original you could just go over there and see what he says."