Are we too nice? I don't think so. In fact most of us can be pretty darn snarky when discussing books, but in my opinion, that attitude is best left out of a review. Every book has value, what I find wonderful might be increadibly boring to someone else, and what I hate, might just be someone else's cup of tea. Books that I really dislike, and there are lots of them, I don't finish. I take about 1/3 of the books that I check out back to the library having never made it to the end. I don't get paid to do this job (although that would be awesome) and there are too many books out there to spend time reading something that just doesn't do it for me. My "to read" pile is usually about 6-10 books high, so if I don't get into a book I just move on to something else. I don't write reviews of these unfinished books, because, to be honest, that would make for a pretty short review. There are a few books on my blog that I haven't liked, but finished anyways, in hopes they would get better. In those reviews I clearly say what I didn't like and why, but I also try to point out some of the great parts too. In the same vein, if I love a book, but there is something that rubbed me the wrong way about the book, I try to point that out as well.
Do we give a fair critique? I try to, and I'd hope most bloggers try to. Everyone has an opinion, so there will be those moments where we are biased. A book about my favorite subject, while maybe not the best written book, might get a better review simply because I love the subject matter. The same goes if a book is about something I don't have a huge interest in, but is impecably written. One example here is my feelings on Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak, by most accounts a fantastic book. For me, I got so hung up by the location portrayed in the book, my hometown, and the fact that I couldn't recognize any of the locations she referenced, that the rest of the book suffered. The book took a place I call home and made it unrecognizable. So sometimes, regardless of how wonderful the writing is, the book just doesn't work for certain readers. In my opinion, reading is such a personal thing, despite the fact that we share our experience with the masses through our blogs. The best we can do is enjoy the books and the journey and give a fair and honest opinion on it.
Do we give preferential treatment to women? I thought this was probably the most interesting part of the question, because to answer it you really have to take a broad look at what you read and why. Technically, you can only review the books that you read, so you really have to look at what books you tend to pick up. I'll admit to the fact tht I rarely look at the authors name until after the fact. Right now it feels like I've been reading alot of women writers, because that's whose putting out the books I'm interested in. However, if I look across the board, and to do so I would be leaving the tiny corner of the book world that is Young Adult books, I find that some of my favorite authors are not women. In the YA world, two of my recent favorites are Sherman Alexie, whose The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian, was phenomenal and Ben Mickalsen, whose Spirit Bear books I absolutely loved. On the oppsite end, refer back to my opinion on Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. I did a quick look through some book festivals that focus on YA books and found that in most cases there were far more female writers on the panels then male which leads me to believe that in general, there are just more women writing in this field then men. Simply put, that means that we are more likely to grab a book to review by a woman- that's just the odds. That being said, I'd never put a book down just because it was by a guy, so for me it's more about what the book is about, whether it grabs my attention and holds it, then who it is written by.
What does everyone else think about all this? Sound off in the comments- or if you can't keep concise (as clearly I could not) go ahead and blog about it too!
The Grimm Legacy
