Thoughts? I'd love to hear them. Please leave a comment here or send me a message on Twitter.
I leave you with a silly personal photo. It's my handsome husband and me, being a weirdo. :)
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
To be personal or not to be personal? That is my question!
I posed this question on Twitter, but I'd love to get a discussion going on here. How personal is TOO personal in a blog for book reviews? I tend to gravitate towards reviews that provide personal context for the blogger's opinions. If it is just regurgitation of the plot summary and an "OMG so good", it isn't as valuable to me as a reader. I want to know WHY. I want to relate to the blogger to figure out if we would like the same sort of books.
Thoughts? I'd love to hear them. Please leave a comment here or send me a message on Twitter.
I leave you with a silly personal photo. It's my handsome husband and me, being a weirdo. :)
Thoughts? I'd love to hear them. Please leave a comment here or send me a message on Twitter.
I leave you with a silly personal photo. It's my handsome husband and me, being a weirdo. :)
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LOVE PERSONALLY DETAILS
ReplyDeleteI think personal details give a review a little more warmth, a little something extra! It's nice to know a bit about the people behind the review. If the personal info pertains to the review, I say include it! Our opinions are informed by our experiences, and I think that's worth discussing.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with Allison. I like that little something extra.
ReplyDeleteIf I want to only read the plot summary, I will go look it up on wiki or some such. What I want to know is what draws a person to a story, why they liked it, and how it effected them. Something as simple as talking about what you were doing when a certain book fell into your lap, could add to the feeling of the review. Did you attend a wedding before/after starting a book with a beautiful romance? Were you at the hospital with a sick friend when you read a sad story about life and death? Did these stories emotionally affix themselves to you, even more so because you could actually understand what was unfolding as you read?
Obviously I don't want to read a long detailed and descriptive telling of someones out-patient surgery, but it doesn't hurt to mention something like: After a long and frustrating day at the hospital, I sat down and let myself be pulled in by [insert name of book here]. It really helped me relax. Blah blah blah... you get the picture.