Wade on Birmingham

#sundayread for June 28, 2015

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Robert's bookshelf

Photo: Robert Couse-Baker (CC)

My picks for #sundayread for June 28, 2015:

More posts from Wade this week:

The latest #sundayread tweets

2 Yips for “#sundayread for June 28, 2015”

  1. trav
    Wednesday, July 1, 2015, 1:06 am
    1

    In answering your question over on Twitter: that piece re: book reviews does ring true. Book reviews used to be concise and cutting. But so were the authors. And the reviewers were much more colorful. These days reviews get painted as mean if anything. Which I get. I do. The wild west-ness of the web has people reeling back on their heels.

    One place I think the essay falls short is in sussing out the cause for this trend. It’s not just that there are fewer reviewers out there or that book coverage is lacking. I think a big part of it is that there is such a glut of books published in a year, that reviewers can be picky and adopt a policy of only reviewing the good stuff and ignoring the sub-par. I do this myself to some extent. On my blog I only review books that I feel are 3-5 stars. I want to give folks a reason to read – not a reason not to.

    But at the same time I leave 3-5 star and 1 & 2 star reviews on LibraryThing and Amazon. I believe in the power of the aggregate voting communities at both places and, just as a lonely book blogger, I contribute that way and maybe help someone smartly spend their hard earned $25.

    I do enjoy the fact that today’s professional reviewers are just that – professional. I’m not sure that was the case back in the day of Blackwood’s. But it sure was more colorful.

  2. Wade Kwon
    Wednesday, July 1, 2015, 11:26 pm
    2

    Very insightful.

    Weird that the Wild West of the Web hasn’t seen more snarky reviews, instead of fewer.

    Thanks, Trav!

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