Haven't done a discussion for a while, have I? Well, this is a topic I've been thinking about since someone (can't actually remember who it was...) commented on one of my Goodreads status updates with something like "I loved this book too! I can't wait to see your review!" This comment was for a book that I actually wasn't intending to write a review for. But it got me thinking: do you write reviews for every book you read?
I don't know how much other people read in general, but I'm definitely on the side of reading a lot. Last year, I read 400ish books (and that's not even including rereads). If I were to review every one of these books, not only would I probably burn out, but I literally wouldn't have enough days in the year to publish each of the reviews. (Plus you'd probably get bored of me using the same phrases over and over. I have enough trouble as it is with the number of reviews I write right now haha)
So, I don't know if you've noticed from the "source" section in the information I include about the book, but 99% of the books I review are books that I've received from the publisher specifically for review. Most books I read I won't review- unless it's a book that I really, really want to review and I don't have too many other review books at the time (for example, The House of Hades).
So my question to you is: Do you write reviews for every book you read? If not, which books do you review?
By the way, this discussion actually coincides with the start of a new feature on the blog: Reading Update where, every fortnight on Sunday, I list the books I've read in the two weeks, with star ratings and small comments if I feel like writing them. I guess it's kind of a like those Weekly Recap posts except not weekly and without recapping everything on the blog. (So nothing like a Weekly Recap post lol. You know what I mean though.)
No, I don't write a review for every single book I read. Especially if it's one that already has a million reviews. When I finish a book and I'm just not in the mood for reviewing, then I won't (unless it's a review book). Like you said, if I had to review every book that I read then I would probably get burnt out and stop reviewing all together.
ReplyDeleteGreat discussion!
Christy @ Christy 's Book Addiction
Yeah, makes sense. I hate having to review books when I'm not in the mood to review, so I just don't do it haha. Even if it means putting off writing the review books until after the release date :P (for ARCs that is)
DeleteI usually read every book I review, because I only read a bit (100 books, more or less, per year), but there are always exceptions. I usually don't review popular books that already have thousands of reviews the day it's out (for example, The House of Hades) or if I just can't justify my rating for a book. Sometimes I feel like a particular book didn't really have much highlights, so I won't review those. Generally, I'm the kind of person that wants to express my opinions on everything, so I mostly write reviews for the books I read.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Nara!
Aimee @ Read by the Undead
Sometimes it can be really hard to justify a rating for a book. Like, sometimes you really love a book and can't write anything except a gushing mess lol. And those average books that you're like, well it was okay and then have nothing to say. Those are the worst..
DeleteI try to review all the books I read...I have a bunch I need to write reviews for (I have notes...that counts, right?) but haven't done it yet. However I do not read anywhere remotely near the amount you do lol so I can understand why you wouldn't!
ReplyDeletenotes totally count :P
DeleteI actually rarely write down notes for reviewing. I finish reading the book, then write dot points (which is kinda like a plan I guess) and then write the dot points into paragraphs. I do highlight things on eARCs though!
I review 90% of the books I read, but there are some I just decide not to. If I'm struggling to write a review, I just don't(unless it's a review copy). Sometimes I finish a book and I might enjoy it but I have nothing to say. I do update every book I read with a short thoughts review(like a few sentences, probably no more than two small paragraphs) on Goodreads, just so I can remember what I thought of the book at the time. But yeah, I don't like stressing myself out over reviews. I find blogging more enjoyable if I don't feel the need to review EVERY book.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes do those short "thoughts" on GR as well. But not for every book, just those books where I feel like I have something to say. Or if there was a cliffhanger ending or sth and I'm all akjsdhflkahwekfjhlasjdhflasdf!
DeleteThat's definitely a good attitude to have! I never really get stressed over reviews either- it's the healthier way to blog ;)
I review every book I read, but then I only read one to two books a week. If I didn't do that, my blog would have so few reviews! I certainly don't think you have to review every book you read, especially if you read as much as 400 books a year (you crazy person, you!). I do find it hard to review those meh books that are really quite insignificant, and if I read more, I would skip over those completely.
ReplyDeletehehe :P
DeleteYeah, it's always really difficult to write reviews for those books that are kind of just "okay" books. It's like....I have nothing to say...
I review most of the books I read, but not all. Sometimes I'll write a review for a book I've just re-read if I didn't write one previously (I started posting reviews to GR about 2 years ago, so that happens a decent amount). If I read 400 books a year, then there is no way I'd review each one! That's insanity! I cannot even fathom reading that much. I just simply don't have that kind of time on my hands. The books I don't write reviews for do tend to be the ones that everybody has already read (like the HP series) or books for which I just don't have a lot to say, but I would estimate my reviewing habits at about 90% of the books I read, as well. Great post!
ReplyDeletehaha people are always like "how do you find so much time to read!?" and my response is always "at the expense of studies and sleep?" lol
DeleteThis is a good discussion idea. I can't believe you read 400 books every year!! Wow, that's so impressive. I thought that I read a lot, and I only read 156 in 2013. But my goal for 2014 is 200! I guess I can understand why you wouldn't want to write reviews of every single book you read if you read THAT many. I mean, that's just crazy.
ReplyDeleteBut, yeah, I write reviews of every book I read. Every single book. I don't even know why...I guess it's just sort of something I started doing, and now I can't stop, even though sometimes I don't always want to. I guess I mostly do it as a resource for myself, so that I can look back at different books I read and see what I thought of them. Or if they're books in a series, it might help me remember stuff that happened before reading a new book in the same series.
But I don't post every single review on my blog. That would just be ridiculous. I only post 1-2 per week. But the rest of my reviews are on Goodreads. My Goodreads is always way more updated then my blog when it comes to reviews...sometimes my reviews end up being posted on my blog weeks and weeks later (or not at all), just because of scheduling issues.
And I also don't post reviews on my blog for books that are in a series, but aren't the first book in a series, so that weeds out a lot of them, too. I guess I just usually don't read reviews of that type on other people's blogs, because if I haven't started the series, then I don't care/don't want to know, so I decided not to do it on my own, either. And for people who actually want to see those reviews, they can just check out my Goodreads.
Wow, sorry, that was a long comment haha. I guess I have a lot to say about this!
150 books is actually a lot of books as well! And good luck for your 2014 goal :D (I lowered my goal to 300 because apparently my uni course gets a bit more intense starting from 3rd year, which is what I'm going into)
DeleteWriting reviews is definitely a good way to keep track of your thoughts about a book. Because I read so much (and also because my memory is really crappy) I tend to forget a lot of details about books that I haven't reread at least once. Reviews definitely help jog the memories a bit.
haha no problem :P We like long comments here!
I actually started wondering that myself the other day when I found a comment on my blog from last February where someone said they couldn't wait to read my review for a book I was reading. I normally just review books given to me for that purpose on my blog so that certain book was never mentioned again.
ReplyDeleteAnd it did get me thinking that maybe I should write a few reviews for more books, I do write some on Goodreads only, but those are usually short and nothing ever long enough to be considered blogable.
I'm like you that after a certain point I'll just end up repeating phrases.
Yeah, I pretty much only review books that I get for review. There's no way in heck I could review all the books I read...plus, a lot of the time, I don't actually want to review the books, if that makes sense. I want to read for the sake of reading.
DeleteI do actually review every book I read. I only read about 150 a year though, so that's a big difference. I think there have only been like 3 books in my entire three years of blogging that I haven't reviewed. I also don't put most DNF reviews up on the blog but I will review them on bookish sites like Booklikes. I never let myself get behind on book reviews like some other bloggers do because I have a feeling that if I did that, I would never recover and get caught up.
ReplyDeleteThat's still pretty commendable! Since I started blogging I've only reviewed about 100 books (this is since Nov 2012) so I guess I only review 1/4 of the books I read.
DeleteIt's pretty tough writing reviews for DNFs, so fair enough for not putting them up on the blog :)
400ish books, hello there! I've read 146 books last year and I think I didn't review around.. 4 of them (not counting the 5 DNF's) They were too short to review or I didn't have much to say about it. All the other books mostly end up as a review :) I love writing them, so why not! And I always keep track of them, because I don't like to get behind on them.
ReplyDeletehahaha ;)
DeleteYeah that's another thing I was thinking about- do people review novellas? Because some novellas are seriously short and it's like, what the heck could I write about it? And anthologies! Those are impossible to review :/
Interesting question. It would be good to review all the books I read but I'm getting quite lazy with reviewing lately. I find it hard to muster the enthusiasm to write a review (unless I really loved or hated a book) because I often feel I have nothing original to say, or nothing to add to what others have already reviewed. Just curious-how on earth do you read 400 books a year? Do you work as a librarian or run the blog full time? That is an incredible pace of reading.
ReplyDeleteI'm just a fast reader :) I'm actually a full-time university student, and I'm doing a fairly intensive course, so I only read at night, but at the pace I read I can usually get one book a night. Because I mostly read YA books I suppose the books are, in general, shorter, so it takes me about 3-4 hours to finish a book. And then I can read more than one book a day during the holidays/on weekends, so that's how I get 400ish.
Delete400 books is wow. Well done.
ReplyDeleteI think of the most healthiest things for me was consciously deciding that I wouldn't force myself to write a review for every book I was reading. This way, I go into all books expecting to have fun, and not expecting to analyze them. At the same time, I end up writing reviews for 90% of the books I read (when you read less than 100, you have time). I think a determining factor is that I'm usually very opinionated. If I'm not into a book, I'll DNF it quite early on. Usually, I have something to say and I want to promote the books I read.
Cool topic!
-P.E. @ The Sirenic Codex
haha thanks! :D
DeleteThat's definitely a healthy attitude! I like reading books just for entertainment too- not necessarily to review them :)
I don't really tend to DNF books. I think one reason for that is that I tend to avoid books that I think I'll dislike, and another reason is that I have a massive comfort zone in terms of reading- by which I mean I enjoy reading very widely (pretty much the only genre I won't read is erotica lol)
My answer is yes unless it's a re-read. As a reader, I am not as fast as you so I'm only able to read 2-4 books a week. Besides, I would lose sleep if I don't get to write a review even if sometimes, it's very exhausting trying to write the same things over and over again. Blame it to my OCness.
ReplyDeleteIMO, there's nothing wrong about not writing reviews for all the books that you've read. We all have our own styles so yeah. Don't get bothered about it.
But wow! 400 books in a year? How do you even accomplish that what with your studies and all? Hahahaha. I am sure that being a medical student is very demanding because you have lot of things to memorize, very thick books to read and all that. I guess, you aren't sleeping at all. Waaa.
Excellent discussion, Nara!
Yeah, I definitely find it draining to have to write a lot of reviews. So I mostly pace out my review books. Like, I'll read a review book and then read two or three non-review books (or at least one) and then read another review book. Kinda like cleansing the brain? haha
Deletelol I think I actually get an okay amount of sleep. And in terms of studies, I just mostly read at night (so I cut a bit into my sleep rather than my studying) so it doesn't actually interfere with my grades too much :P
Mmmm...depends. I tend to review most of the books I read because I don't read a huuuge amount of books. This year I'm also focusing more on my content and less on the amount of reviews I post, so I'm reading more at my own pace. But 400 books?! That's so many! I don't think I'd ever be able to do that, so I completely understand why you don't review EVERY book you read.
ReplyDeleteBut don't be bothered by it either. You're better off writing thoughtful reviews than ones you didn't really put effort into because you're worn out. To each their own, and whatever works for you. :)
Love this discussion!
Sydney @ Utterly Bookish
Wow, it seems like there are a lot of people who review most of the books they read! I feel like that's actually quite an achievement in itself :)
DeleteI definitely feel the same way- better to have slightly better quality reviews and not review everything than to have crappy ones that I didn't want to write :P
I review almost all of the books I read but I don't read nearly as much as you do. If I read that many, probably not.
ReplyDeleteYeah, fair enough :)
DeleteEven if I didn't read this much, I don't know if I'd review all the books I read. There are some books that I sometimes just don't feel like writing reviews for...
I review most of the books I read, if I feel like I have anything to say about them. In some cases, I'll just do an "at a glance" post where I include the synopsis and then a few brief thoughts, but that tends to be for books where either I didn't get very engaged -- or on the flip side, if I loved it so much that all I can do is gush. On the other hand, if I really dislike a book that I got for review, I probably won't post a review at all, if I have nothing positive to say.
ReplyDeleteIt's so difficult to write reviews for amazing books sometimes. Because it's often really easy to write why you hate a book, but it's hard to put into words why you love a book without sounding like a gushing mess haha.
DeleteWell, so far that is what I have been reviewing every book I read :P Whenever I finish a book, all I want to do is go to my computer and write a review to unleash all my thoughts. Then again, I don't read that many books at a time, maybe about one hundred per year, definitely not four hundred! So, unless I get Godly reading abilities and be able to blast through seven books a week, I plan to review every book I read.
ReplyDeleteIt's good that you feel that way- it's definitely a healthy mindset to bring into your reviews :) I think I don't feel quite as immediately enthusiastic about my reviews- I'm more of the "I'm going to think about the book for a while and then write my review" type.
Delete400+ books-Wow! That's impressive, Nara!
ReplyDeleteI read one/two book during weekdays and during weekends the amount of reads almost double so nope I don't review every book I read. That kinda becomes impossible, I think!
I actually review around 40% of the books I read on my blog but I do try to say something short about the book on Goodreads for the other. :)
Thanks Nuz :D
DeleteI know right! The amount of time needed to review every book I read would be insane. Especially because it takes me quite a while to write reviews because I do this thing where I type out basic dotpoints, then leave it for a day or two before I convert the dotpoints into paragraphs. I feel like I can often collect my thoughts better that way.
I don't write reviews for all the books I read either. That's not because I read too many books, and I don't have time to review them, but because I tend to postpone writing the reviews. And then, after a couple of weeks, it gets too hard to remember everything I liked or didn't like about the book, and I just give up on writing the review. Another thing is that when I do review the books I read, it takes me forever to write everything I want to write. I'm very careful with my reviews... I want them to be well-thought and complete, so I put a lot of effort into them. I just can't write a simple review of 200 words and declare myself satisfied with it. If I'm going to write a review, then I'm going to do it right. :) I know... this only makes my life difficult... Just like you, a usually review books that I received from authors. I might also review some books I read because I really wanted to read them, but review requests have priority.
ReplyDeleteOana @All Fantasy Worlds
I completely understand your pain! If I put off writing a review I can't remember a lot of the details haha. Sometimes I even have to do what I call a skim reread (takes me about 20-30 mins to skim read a book and get a basic idea of what it's about and things) if my memory becomes so bad lol.
DeleteI love this discussion post! Mostly because I've been thinking about this. I felt like I hit a reviewing slump and I don't want to review any more books. I just hate how Goodreads ranks you based on reviews you posted and I hated that so I wanted to review all the books I read, but I think that's not plausible anymore. I think it would be best to just have a lot of mini reviews and longer ones for the special books. I haven't really tried requesting for review copies except for Netgalley, so I pretty much set myself to review the books I own. Occasionally I get into blog tours, which can be quite stressful sometimes. There are also a couple of author requests. Sometimes I really love writing, but I think it is important to go at a reasonable pace because it's definitely going to be difficult. I've already lowered the number of reviews I post a month, but most of the time I just want to read and not worry about reviews. I've been putting off a lot of my reviews lately, but hopefully I'll get to them. Sometimes I just want to post my incoherent notes. Lol
ReplyDeletehahahaha so true. Sometimes I just write a bunch of dotpoints, but it's really hard to organise them into paragraphs that flow well and it's kinda like...I just want to publish the dotpoints lol
DeleteI think I'm the same- there are some books that I just like to read for the sake of reading rather than using a sort of "reviewing" mindset to read through them :)
Great discussion post Nara! I totally know what you mean, I usually write a review for every book I read but if last year is any indication, most of the books I do read are from publishers so I never get a chance to post that review up.
ReplyDeleteYeah, there are some books that I wrote reviews for at the start of last year, but still haven't posted because the books I get from publishers get first preference! Oh well. They'll go up eventually...maybe...haha
DeleteI don't write reviews for all the books I read. Sometimes a book, no matter how much I liked or disliked it, doesn't really create a strong opinion. Sometimes I get distracted. A significant amount of time will pass, and then I don't really remember what I thought of the book. Or sometimes I just don't feel like writing a review at that time. I can be wishy-washy like that.
ReplyDelete- Jackie
haha fair enough. I feel it's better not to write reviews when I don't feel like writing them. And with books that I forget the details of, sometimes I have to do a reread to write a proper review lol
DeleteI probably write reviews for two thirds of the books that I read. The book has to have made me feel something strongly enough to make me feel like I could write a few hundred words on it; whether I loved it, hated it, or was disappointed by it.
ReplyDeleteYeah it's funny how there are some books for which you seem to have nothing to say. You'd think that most books would at least draw out some sort of opinion, but there are always those books where it's like, well...
DeleteI will always review ARCs and books from publishers/authors etc. Books from other sources - that I own, the library, friends or family - I'll generally start reading and THEN decide if I want to review them. Sometimes I start making notes and give up halfway. Sometimes I'm so into a book that there's no way I could stop and make notes every so often!
ReplyDeletehaha I pretty much never write notes for print books, because I never seem to have anything on hand to write the notes on. For eARCs I do some highlighting and things though.
DeleteI've read 180+ books last year and no, I didn't review at least 1/4 of that, but I have a legit reason why. My blog is a mostly YA book blog and for the books I didn't review, they were all historical romances or just adult books. :P
ReplyDeleteHonestly, it's refreshing NOT to review every book you've read.
Yeah, I like reading adult fantasy books, but I never review them because
Delete1) the books are huge
2) different target audience
So yeah, I totally get that you don't want to review your historical romances haha. I definitely like having some books where you just read without having that sort of "reviewing" mindset :D
I write reviews for almost every book I read, but I probably read half the books that you do, which makes that much more feasible! I occasionally have to go back and do mini-reviews of books that got missed, because I can't remember them well enough to do a full review or because I didn't have much to say about them in the first place.
ReplyDeleteMini reviews! I wonder if I should start doing some mini reviews, but then again I only review books that I've gotten specifically for that purpose, and I feel bad if I send the publisher only this small review that I've written haha.
DeleteI write reviews for all the books I read. I write reviews to help, so I can better remember the books I have read and what I liked/didn't like about them.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I definitely have a problem with book amnesia haha. So I do feel like writing some sort of review for all the books I read would be good, but also it's just not possible because I read so much D:
DeleteOmg, this was going to be one of my discussion topics too! Great minds, haha! Though it won't be going up for a while...
ReplyDeleteI don't review every single book I read either because sometimes I just want to kick back and relax and not have to worry about nothing stuff down for a review. I won't review classics, biographies, autobiographies, or books that I reread from ages ago. :)
woohoo! Looking forward to reading your post when it goes up :D
DeleteI don't think I really review rereads either. And definitely not classics and biographies and stuff because I feel like that's not really the target audience for the blog haha :P
No, I don't write a FULL review for every book I read. I do, however, write a few sentences, more for myself than for anyone else. But once a month I do post a collection of those mini-reviews.
ReplyDeleteI've gotten that "I can't wait to see your review" a couple times, and I'm always a little thrown by it. I guess it's nice to know that other people value my opinion!
I think I've seen those posts before on your blog! It's actually a pretty good idea :)
Deletehaha yeah that's true! But at the same time, it's like, but...I wasn't going to review this book :P
You know, since reading this post, I've realized that I usually say to others, "I can't wait to hear what you thought" instead of "see your review." I like to think it's a bit lower pressure.
DeleteThat's definitely true! I think I like that better as well :)
Delete