REVIEW WITH CLASS by Rita Karnopp

There’s no reason you can’t review a book with class and professionalism.  A book review is a description, judicious analysis, and an evaluation of the quality, gist, and impact of a book.  It’s so important to realize . . . a book review is not a retelling. It’s not a book report or a summary.

A book review should focus on the book's purpose and content. How did the book affect you – the reader?  You should evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the how well the author told his/her story.  Your review should include a statement of what the author has tried to do, evaluate how well he/she has succeeded, and present evidence to support your appraisal.

There’s no right or wrong way to write a book review. Face it, book reviews are highly personal and reflect the opinion(s) of the reviewer. Your review can be as short as 50-100 words, or as long as 1500 words, depending on the purpose of the review.

I might add a personal note here – “If you can’t say something nice, maybe it’s best left unsaid in public.”  If you truly dislike a book, that’s okay, not every book we read will be our favorite.  But chastising a book in a review could make or break an author.  Is that your intent?  I would hope not.  If I don’t care for a book I’ve read, I let it go.  It’s not necessary to berate or trash the book or the author.

The following is a simple guide for writing a book review that works. 

1.   Write a statement including basic information about the book: title, author, type of book.

2.   Write a sentence indicating point of view and genre.

3.   Evaluate the quality of the writing style by using some of the following standards: consistency, clarity, creativity, strength, pithiness, development, and even fluidity.

4.   Ask yourself does the story reach the intended audience?

5.   To me the most important question to ask yourself – then review from your heart – “how did this book affect me?” Did you have preconceived notions about the subject matter and now they’ve changed or perhaps they’re reinforced due to this book?

6.   Did the book realize its goal(s)?

7.   End your review with the oh-so-important, ‘would you recommend this book to others’? Why?

Remember, your review should include a brief summary, analysis, and comment on the book’s content.  Include your general conclusions. If you feel strongly to make a statement, use specific references and quotations to support them. And always end with a comment of support and referral.

Rita Karnopp
Author ~ Romancing the West

ritakarnopp@bresnan.net
http://ritakarnopp.com

http://mizging.blogspot.com

Thinking About to Kill a Mockingbird Karla Stover

To Kill a Mockingbird is approaching its 45^th birthday and the movie its 43^rd. I love both the book and the movie and, like many other people, am curious about Harper Lee. I read Charles Shields’ biography, I am Scout and just this past week, Marja Mills’ book, The Mockingbird Next Door.  Mills’ book was on the best seller list for a few weeks. Perhaps other readers discovered, as I did, that as writer, Harper Lee wasn’t a very interesting person. Granted she is older now, but her post-Mockingbird life, seemed to be spent fishing for catfish, feeding ducks, having coffee with friends, and reading. According to Mills, she became friendly with Harper’s sister, Alice, during a routine newspaper retrospective; Alice talked a lot about the Lee family and through her Mills met Harper. Harper, in turn, introduced her friends to Mills, and paved the way for people Mills could interview. The book about Mills and her friendship with both women came out and Harper immediately denied approving it—even though she saw the tape recorder running during get-togethers. I say, Pish Tosh to Harper Lee.

Shields’ biography was more interesting, but here’s what he left me thinking about:  In its initial state, Mockingbird was said to resemble a string of short stories. Tay Hohoff, an editor at J. B. Lippincott & Co., spent two-and-a-half years helping Harper rewrite the stories to turn them into a book. Mockingbird came out and was a huge success. Harper has said she started another book, but then her literary agent died and Hohoff retired.  I think she knew that without their help she couldn’t write anything else as good as her first book.  Perhaps she saw what happened to F. Scott Fitzgerald. His first book, This Side of Paradise, published in 1920, made him famous. He only wrote four more books (plus some short stories and novellas) and died at age 44 after years of alcoholism, not to mentioning plagiarizing some of his wife’s stories.

Maybe none of this matters. We have a book to read and re-read and a movie with what Gregory Peck called his “roll of a lifetime.” 

Sweet As..... by Cheryl Wright

Each month I look forward to sharing a card with you. The one I'm sharing this month is totally different to the previous shares.

Last week I went to the country for a few days (along with my husband Alan) to visit hubby's mother, who sadly has dementia.

While I was there, I came across a card magazine that I'd never been able to find in Australia before. Card magazines always have a 'free gift' included, and quite often the gifts are stamps. This magazine included two very cute rabbit stamps, along with two small embossing folders. (The blue design along the bottom of this card was done using one of those embossing folders.)

Apart from the colouring, this was a fairly quick and easy card.

I think I've mentioned before that I make and donate cards to soldiers overseas. This card will be going in my next bundle. This one is already bagged and ready to go.

Here's the inside as well:

Very simple, but it extends the design to the inside as well. I hope this card will make a soldier's child very happy.



Til next time,

Links:

My website:  www.cheryl-wright.com 
Blog:  www.cheryl-wright.com/blog
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/cherylwrightauthor

Make sure you join my Facebook page as I run regular giveaways for followers, and a new one will be starting soon!