Sunday August 9, 2009Wow, I am so weirded out by this whole attack on The Story Siren concerning "the hogging of ARCs" and being to "old" to read YA books. It's so bizarre!
To me this reeks of backlash concerning her review of a certain book and I'm not by any means saying it was generated by the author but someone is definately defending her book. As a rather new book review blogger (I've been reviewing books for many years for other librarians) I'm still learning the ropes of reviewing books publicly, which is basically what we are doing when we post them on our blogs. I've always felt somewhat protected when I've sent reviews off to other librarians because it is my opinion of a book sent to a fellow librarian and it pretty much ends there.
Well, as we've seen posting a review, good or bad, can send waves of responses through out the blogging community. A LOT of responses to Kristi's post stated that they would probably not read the book in question...and although in the huge scheme of things we (bloggers) don't reach millions, word of mouth is a powerful thing! I think it is definitely important that we are honest in our reviews and I totally respect Kristi for that...her reviews would not be valuable if she simply 5 starred every book. Before I started blogging I used her blog as well as others (I still do) to determine if a book is worth buying for my library, especially with the budget cuts I've been facing!
Anyway, just my two cents on this whole issue. Just remember people...books are like anything else in life...what I like, you may not and vice versa. There are a lot of book blogs out there and many of us review the same books. Look at them all and make a decision YOURSELF! Ours is but a humble a opinion, certainly not the gospel truth!
But most important of all, don't waste your time and energy on people that are bringing you down...I call them "emotional vampires", they will suck all the joy right out of your life!
Much love and happiness to you all!
6 comments:
Point well said. That attack was unbelievable. And just extremly mean and uncalled for.
I obviously am not in the loop *checks out Kristi's blog*
Yeah, it's been pretty crazy there lately. While I definitely do like to get other people's opinions, her review didn't make me say "I'll skip it". I just decided to either borrow it from the library, or someone I know who purchases it (or maybe buy it used). The nice part is, it's been great to see the number of bloggers that have commented to support her!
I've been away this week so I missed the action but I also support the individual opinions in the book reviews. I appreciate what others have to say but I can also make up my own mind about reading a book.
I haven't read the comments at The Story Siren yet but this has happened before with other bloggers. Just because someone doesn't agree with a review is no reason for personal attacks. You wrote a great post with very valid points. Thanks for sharing!
(P.S. I love your beautiful photo with your daughter at graduation! Congrats! I've had two kids graduate in the last three years and it makes me so proud and sad at the same time. One more kid to go!)
I didn't see the post on Kristi's page nor the attacks on her review, but I agree with everything you said here.
An opinion is just than - AN OPINION! Although we may use others opinions to gauge the likelihood of us reading a particular book, it does not mean I will take the opinion as absolute truth or worse, attack the reviewer for their comments should I disagree.
Most of us read and review books simply for the love of it, attacking each other only hurts our own cause.
Great post :)
♥Isalys
I didn't see the controversy with The Story Siren but I don't see what the big deal is. I'm an adult who loves YA books. People need to get a grip that not everyone is going to like the same books and I know at least me I'm not trying to be a professional reviewer. I'm just posting my thoughts about the books I read.
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