I once was a bad review aficionado. I’d cherry-pick all the most negative reviews and read them first. 1-star? Surely more useful than all the gushing 5-star reviews that didn’t say much about the book beyond, “I <3 this!!!” I preferred snarky, intelligent commentaries exploring the mechanics of why a particular character sucked or why the author was to be avoided. Books that have less mud slung at them must be better books. Right?
But.
Bad reviews and I have broken up. We’re no longer seeing each other. Occasionally, I glance at an unpleasant review of a book I just read, or even break the taboo of glimpsing a not-so-nice review of my own novel. Believe it or not, my reviewing philosophy changed before I became a published author, before I crossed my fingers and toes in the hopes that readers would love my book and not pick it to pieces in the pursuit of a snarky laugh.
Now, I’m more likely to roll my eyes at a reviewer’s attempt to cleverly eviscerate a work of fiction. To me, it’s like listening to a kid rant about the disgusting taste of broccoli. Or worse, an adult eating a cake someone baked and then publicly dissing the poor confection. That’s just rude. Sure, food critics exist. I don’t read their opinions, because I figure that if I want to know whether I’ll like a culinary creation, I’ll have to taste it myself. No amount of broccoli-haters will deter me from trying it–and loving it. And no amount of book-haters will stop me from cracking open a new novel.
If I had a book reviewing clone with identical tastes, then maybe I’d pay attention. But since there’s no Karen II who loves absolutely everything I love, I don’t see why anti-recommendations help in the slightest. You hate my favorite book? Whatever. I want a reviewer raving about the deliciousness of a new paranormal romance, so I can drool in anticipation, rather than a killjoy reviewer who stops me from trying something.
Sure, an exciting debate between good and bad reviews can make me curious about the book being fought over, but more often than not, a bad review taints my opinion of a book so that I’m hesitant to even pick it up. Because in the end, bad reviews–unless they backfire–encourage people to read less books, not more. As an author and bookaholic, that’s a fate much worse than literary gluttony. Give me recommendations any day, and I’ll do the taste-testing myself.
Guess what? Tomorrow, July 1, is a two-book birthday: Other by yours truly, and Indigo Blues by Danielle Joseph! We’re both Flux authors–and therefore Flux twinsies–who got to hang out at ALA. Danielle and I also concocted some fun book birthday questions for each other. Here are mine, and here are hers:
1. Quick! Elevator pitch for Indigo Blues. You have 15 seconds…
Timer set…Adam and Indigo break up, she wants to move on. He’s not ready and writes a hit song about her. Song makes it big. Really big. And now he’s famous, she not so much. The story is told in both their voices about how they deal with being thrust into the limelight. Buzz..time up!
2. What’s the craziest book you could ever see yourself writing?
A cookbook! And the first item would be Wonder bread surprise balls. Basically my friend Kimberly and I filled the bread with all sorts of toppings, rolled it into a ball and then put them into the toaster oven. You didn’t know if you were eating the chocolate-filled one or the tuna-filled one since it was a surpriseJ.
3. What’s your silliest writing habit? I wish I could say it was standing on my head and reciting the alphabet backwards but it’s more about sitting down, hoping for peace and quiet and then typing away!
First word you associate with each word below:
Pizza. Staple Food.
Pixies. A band from the early 90’s that I used to listen too.
Potatoes. Mr. Potato Head, used to have one of those.
Patchwork. A quilt, would love to make one but since I got a C+ on the bag I made in 7th grade I don’t think that’s such a good idea.
Pookas. I never knew about pookas until I met the one you made and now I want oneJ!
Now, write a story out of those five words! (Kidding… but if you dare…)
How about a tongue twister: The pooka penetrated the pixie’s patchwork palace and pirated all her potatoes and pizza. Now say that five times fast!
Thanks so much for stopping by, Danielle, and Happy Book Birthday!
Walking down the red carpet right now, just take a look at that dazzling chartreuse evening gown worn by… oh, wait, this is ALA. Still, quite a few of the authors at this conference have undeniable star power. The most famous of them merely have to walk around without a name tag and their fans follow them with cameras in hand. (You might be able to guess who.) For me, though, each author who wrote a book I’ve loved had celebrity status and got their photo taken by me. Without further ado, here are some author stars of ALA, in the order I ran into them.
John Green. He was everywhere. You will see when I post my Day 2 photos, but I swear I wasn’t actually stalking the guy.
Malinda Lo. I have a signed copy of Ash waiting at home for me! Which was my logic for not standing in my bazillionth line for her books…
Christina Gonzalez. A fellow Tenner (yay!), having her photo taken with Skyanne. I ran into Skyanne even more than John Green. Hmm… we seem to have similar book-stalking tastes.
Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. Kami and Margaret are such sweethearts; they recognized me by my name tag (due to my online gushing over Beautiful Creatures) and hugged me across the signing table!
Tenners! There were eight of us going out to lunch at one point, but Holly Cupola had to leave early. Holly Nicole Hoxter is hiding in this photo, but you can still see Christina Gonzalez, me, Amy Brecount White, Jaclyn Dolamore, Margie Gelbwasser, and Lindsey Leavitt.
Lindsey Leavitt and Holly Nicole Hoxter. I noticed Holly hiding in the previous photo, so I sneakily took another one of her and Lindsey.
Laurie Halse Anderson. I snaked one hand through the line for her signing (didn’t cut!) and handed her a bookmark, since I adore her books.
Jawa and Stormtrooper. Okay, so they aren’t authors. But they were at the DK Books booth promoting these cute Star Wars books for kids. And there was this little boy who just meandered up with a kazoo and started playing the Imperial Death March.
Melissa Marr. She visited a lot of authors’ signings when not signing her own books, and made me feel better about my own book avarice.
Day 2 – coming soon!
