Reading a book may bring on a book review spontaneously. Spontaneously? Sure. If the book is good we can’t wait to talk about it, if it’s bad, boring or blah, we can’t wait to tell someone not to bother with reading it. That’s what a book review is all about.
Talking about the book!
Book reviews are important to the authors who’ve written them. They live in hope of the masses falling in love with the words they’ve carefully crafted. The author hopes his or her story is the one that catches the interest of readers to such an extent that it becomes a household word. I believe in dreaming big.
Have you ever been with a group of friends and someone says, ‘I want to read such and such book, have any of you read it’? And one person says, ‘Nah, my neighbor said not to bother, you won’t like it’! The conversation moves on, and nine times out of ten everyone in that circle of friends may have a negative view of that book to pass along to the next group they gather with.
That’s a spontaneous book review.
When that happens in your circle of friends, ask questions. Find out why the neighbor didn’t like the book. Don’t automatically pass the bad review on. It could be that the book was a super great mystery or a delightful, entertaining romance, and the friends neighbor really prefers biographies.
That’s not a bad book, that’s a bad review.
In support of writers and literature everywhere, be fair, get the facts. A good honest review is still just one man’s opinion. A collection of honest opinions is good for all. It helps the reader make a more informed decision on which book to buy, and the author gets an idea of what the general public thinks about his or her writing.