Let’s talk bookish is a weekly meme, created and hosted by Rukky @Eternity Books and Dani @Literary Lion, here different topics will be discussed.
This weeks topic is ‘What do you look for in a review’, which is an interesting topic! I love reading reviews where you can really see someone’s love (or hate) for a book! I’m just going to go through the questions mentioned with the topic!
Formatting wise I really like it when the review is split in paragraphs, sometimes it is too hard to read if it is one big piece of text! And that also makes it easier to find what I want to see. I’m more interested in seeing what people think about the plot then the characters. So I always like it if I can easily find that part!
I love it when people use photo’s in their reviews. I’m personally not a big fan of the use of GIFs! I know they really can show someone’s reaction to certain parts, but the movements are so distracting. But I feel like I’m in the minority here!
Personally I do really like it if reviews have star ratings. I know it is very subjective, my 3 star rating probably means something totally else to another reader. But if a book gets a 2 star rating or a 5 star rating, it will quickly give you an idea if the review is going to be positive or more negative!
A question is how long a good review must be. I have a hard time answering this one, because when I write a review they are very different lengths. Sometimes it is very easy to write down my thoughts shortly, but sometimes I just need lots of text to explain why I did or did not like a book! I don’t like reviews to be too overly long, but that is just me losing focus at some point haha! Honestly, there is not a limit to how long a review should be. Sometimes I read very long reviews, but I just love reading the excitement of the reviewer!
Last question ‘How effective are the reviews in convincing you to pick up the book’, which is a really good one haha! I think most of the reviews that I read are for books that I was already interested in, so I was already planning on picking it up. Hard to judge if I picked it up sooner. But there are definitely books that I never heard of before and have now read because of reviews! One book that I’m planning to buy soon is ‘The shadow of what was lost’, and I don’t think I would if it was not for the reviews I have read!
And of course there are books that I was doubting about, and when I then see someone with a similar reading taste disliking the books, I often delete it from my TBR (on GoodReads)!
I really like when there is a TL:DR section of a review. That is why I have an Overall section in my dedicated review posts. I feel like it helps when I am in a hurry and can’t read an entire post, but that doesn’t mean I don’t go back later on and read more details. Life just pulls me in 38247 different directions sometimes. lol.
I do appreciate when there are no spoilers because if something is ruined for me chances are I will not read a book. But, if a review does have it I feel like a warning should be right at the top because there have been times when I read a paragraph into a review and then they wrote “spoiler alert” right before the spoiling and it didn’t really stop me from still seeing spoiler. I also felt like I wasted time reading the first part because I didn’t know when the spoilers stopped.
bookishluna.com
Ooh, I might add that to future reviews! I can see the benefit of that haha!
I feel like you can include spoilers,as long as it is very clearly stated (preferably too often, maybe at the top and at place of spoiler, and at the end ) and people won’t accidentally read it!
Seems like being split up is a popular one, since I’ve seen it on several lists! Definitely made mine, too. That’s a good thought about whether it makes you more likely to pick up a book. I usually only read reviews about books I’m curious about, too, or if something about the book in the review catches my eye, I might click on the review.
It just reads easier I guess haha!
Yeah I rarely read a review for a book that I’m not interested in at all haha!
I’m surprised how few people like the use of GIFs when I personally love them. I don’t include them in my reviews so I was always worried there was something lacking but now I know people might appreciate that I don’t include them. 🙂
I tend to read reviews for books I’ve already read to see what other people think compared to my own thoughts. That’s the most fun for me.
I always tought I was in the minority with not liking GIFs, but I’m seeing a lot of people agreeing right now haha!
I can see why people like to use them, since they can express your toughts in some way, but fo rme they are just too distracting.
I always like reading reviews for books I already read, it is always interesting to see if someone has a different opinion and why!
Hoohoo! 🙂
This is actually kind of a hard question. I don’t think I actively look for anything, I somehow read reviews quite randomly, though I love reading reviews of books I’m either interested in reading or loved/hated a lot. I don’t like when reviews are too long, I like my info as short as possible which is why I like bullet reviews a lot, they have a nice structure and the sentences are not too long 🙂 And I’m totally with you with the gifs, I don’t like them much in reviews either 😀
Haha I also struggled a bit with strating to write this post!
I also like seeign reviews for books I loved/hated, especially if the reviewer has a different opinion!
Bullet points are always nice haha!
i also like a star rating. Although I don’t think I’m that good at rating the books I read. I also enjoy reviews that aren’t too long and I’m changing a little in that I don’t want as much of the plot describing, I like to go into my books without too many expectations or thoughts already in mind. I like to see what people did or didn’t like, how they felt about the characters and the world building. Did they like the author’s style or the pov.
Lynn 😀
Good that I’m not alone on that one haha!
Too much plot describing could also spoil the book a bit! I also like to be surprised by the plot!
Great points!
Agree about GIFs! That’s why I don’t use them, I don’t like reading a paragraph while something right under or over it keeps moving.
…as someone who sometimes writes Very Long reviews, I know many people aren’t probably going to read the whole thing haha (I know I don’t always do it myself!) and that’s why I always try to write the important bits in bold text.
Great post! Loved reading your perspective on this.
They distract me so much haha! I always try to scroll in such a way that they’re out of the screen!
When you make the important bits bold, people can see which part they want to read more off! So I guess that helps as well!
Great post (: I like seeing what aspects readers like and disliked in books and seeing what they thought of various aspects like the plot, characters, writing and world (especially if it’s fantasy, I love learning if the world was well created or not). I definitely think they need to be formatted and have the paragraphs separated out although I don’t think there’s any set length. Sometimes there’s so much to say about a certain book that you can write loads, other times there isn’t. The thing I dislike most in reviews is spoilers though. Especially the unlabeled ones. Sometimes people give away so much that you can feel like you know half the book before youve started. I think it’s a tricky balance to find – sharing your thoughts without stepping into too spoilerish content.
Yeah if people point out what they liked or disliked, you can easily see if you would agree with that or not!
The world is also one of the most important parts for me in a fantasy book!
And indeed no set lengths!
As long as there is a warning before spoilers I don’t mind, since I can decided myself if I want to read them! Best is if it is in the thingy that you have to click on to open!
Hello! That’s a lovely topic – for me, book reviews are the posts that take the most effort to write, and I do have some specific things I look for when reading other reviews 🙂
The main topics I look for in a review are:
(a) what’s the general vibe of the book – is it a drama or a book promoting science? Is it an adrenaline-pumping story or a more relaxed read?
(b) if the writer of the review liked it or not, and why
(c) illustrative images – I like when reviews include photographs or illustrations (not gifs) related to the topic of the book, helps me get into the atmosphere and understand whether I would like reading that book or not
What I don’t look for in a review:
(a) spoilers – there’s a fine balance between telling what the story is about and giving spoilers
(b) book blurbs – I do not see the added value of including it
(c) a big wall of text – it’s way to difficult to read
They definitely take the most effort for me as well!
I agree with all your points that you are looking for! I really like it if photo’s are included, it really adds something! I just really do not like GIFs, they distract me way too much!
I actually don’t mind spoilers in reviews, as long as it is clearly stated that spoilers are ahead, so that I can decided for my self to read them. For example put time in the thingy that you can open if you click on it (If you know what I mean by that aha)
And indeed splitting the text into paragraphs are photo’s in the middle, really helps reading!