Why do we write reviews?

Are reviews actually helpful?

DUH. They're really helpful.

Or I might just be saying that because I'm a reviewer.

But let me tell you what I think from the perspective of a full-time reader.

When I see positive or negative reviews regarding a book I've wanted to read for a long time, I will try to look at what the reviewer has said about that particular book in terms of characters, plot, world-building and more.

I also look at the number of positive to negative reviews so I get the bigger picture: whether people actually liked it or not.

In the past, reviews have actually helped me with deciding what to read next, and I normally have to choose from a huge TBR pile, so it makes things easier for me. Goodreads is the best place to get reviews, as well my favourite bloggers.

Reviews are important, not just for readers, but authors too. To them, it's good publicity, especially when there are 5 star reviews of that book everywhere. (By the way, that's why there are ARC copies). Even negative ones help, because these critiques will help the author as this will give them an idea of what readers want.

Andddd when the person reviewing the book is someone from NY times, Entertainment Weekly, etc.? Or even a famous author?

BOOM. The book gets boosted to instant popularity. Trust me, that's how New York Times bestsellers are made.

Or not. It really depends. I mean, not all reviews are positive, right?

But the truth is, reviewers are important to everyone in the book community: authors, readers, publicists and even cover designers. This isn't me saying I'm great or anything. It's me saying that reviewers are such a beautiful and awesome part of the bookish community, and I love every single one of them, even the ones I haven't met, and also the ones I have met.

So if you finish a book and you love it a lot, leave a review. It doesn't matter if it's one word, or one sentence, because if it says what you really feel about this particular book you've finished, then it's something worth writing down. If you didn't like it, write it down as well, it's still a memory, even though it was a bad one.

Let me tell you another thing. Reviews are as important to reviewers as they are to authors, etc. They're something we can look at after a while, a memory of reading the book we'll never have again unless we do reread it. And sometimes, the feelings won't be the same when we read it the second time, or the third, or fourth. Think of writing reviews as writing a reading journal. Doesn't it sound fun?

I decided to write about this topic because sometimes I question myself. Do my reviews get read? Do they really help people? Why do I write reviews?

Now it's time for you to answer these questions. As a reader or a reviewer, how important are reviews to you?

How fast can you read?

How fast can you read?

When asked that question, my answer isn't exact. My preferred response is, 'It depends'.

I have a rule when it comes to reading: Never finish a book in a day.

My friends do it, both the ones in real life and the ones online.

I have no idea how they do it, especially when books nowadays have so many pages.

However, in the very rare occasion that I do, I find that I didn't enjoy the book at all.

The thing is, when you read too fast, it ends too fast. I don't like that feeling of finality when you finish a book, because it's hard to say goodbye after such a brief and lovely meeting.

So, 'it depends' is definitely more than one day.

But there's more to it. I don't have the time. I find myself reading less and less because TIME. And since I started college two days ago, that means my reading and blogging schedule is going to go even more out of whack.

All of you must be thinking, 'How can you not finish a book in one day when it's so good?'

I can; I just don't want to.

The fastest I've ever read was one and a half day because the book was Divergent by Veronica Roth.

If you don't get what I'm talking about, GO READ THE FREAKING BOOK.

Also, some books are incredibly thick. If you can finish it in one day, bravo!!! *applause*

Another side to 'it depends', can also mean the book was bad.

Yes, it's so bad that you just want to get it over with. You can't wait to get those boring characters' names out of your head. Basically, you just can't wait.

I can DNF it. Just give up. But I usually don't. Everyone says I have the determination of a poor man looking for food and it's true.

If you've read every one of my reviews, you would know that. But let's just assume you don't. (Who would have the time?!)

How fast can you read? Can you read a book in one day? Or does it vary?

How do you say it?!

This is my second discussion post and I decided to make it a weekly thing (yay!) since the first one seemed to strike well with my followers.

So this week's topic will be...

Names: how do you pronounce them?

I'm sure all of us have been in a scenario like this:

*reads book*
*encounters a complicated looking name*
*makes up their own way of saying it*
*finds out it's wrong*
*changes way of saying it*

If you've never done that, I believe it's am indication that you haven't been reading enough, or I'm just really bad at figuring how to pronounce names.

Some of my common (and foolish) mistakes have been:

Caleb----- I say Ca-lab instead of Ca-lub. I remember having an argument about this with my friends, especially when even Divergent featured the name. (They won. I say it the right way now)

Penelope---- There was a Penelope in Harry Potter. Book club was how my obsession for HP started. We were all sorted into houses and there were activities to help us score points for our houses. I was in Slytherin- I know, I know, but we actually got the most number of house points because of me (take that, Gryffindor!). OK I'm going off-topic. I actually used to say Pen-a-lope. But the teacher in charge of book club corrected me after I correctly answered a question about this minor character. I've been trying to adapt to saying Pen-a-lop-ee, but it's hard. *cries*

Eragon---- Me: E-ra-gon
                   Other people: A-ra-gon
                   Me: OK OK, you win!!!

The worst thing is when a book is filled with weird looking names. Throne of Glass, I'm talking about you!!! How do you even pronounce Celaena Sardothien? And Ellywe? Eltentiya? I loved this book, but these unique names sure have my head pounding at times.

Thank god for this useful pronunciation guide!!

That's all for today!!! What about you? Do you find trouble saying characters' names when you read?

Book hangovers: yay or nay?

Hey guys so I've decided to try to post a discussion post at least once a month, because I didn't want the blog to just feature reviews. Here goes my first attempt at writing a discussion post.

BOOK HANGOVERS: YAY OR NAY?

Unless you haven't noticed, I fall victim to book hangovers quite easily. What- you must think- is it?

Here's a picture to help your comprehension of this bookish phenomenon.

To us book reviewers, book hangovers are the ultimate enemy.

Why?

It's because it leads to reading slumps. Reading slumps mean we don't read for a long period of time. No reading, just living in that last book you read and pondering the what-ifs and could'ves.

This is dangerous for us (especially bloggers) since we all have a huge TBR pile waiting to be read, and at any moment it's going to topple over and crush us to death. (No, I'm seriously not kidding here. IT CAN BE FATAL)

I won't be at all surprised if a newspaper headline reads:

BOOK BLOGGER GETS CRUSHED TO DEATH BY STACK OF BOOKS.

I have a personal experience to share regarding book hangovers. This particular book featured faeries (if you're wondering, it's The Girl Who Never Was by Skylar Dorset)- you should read my review for it- and I was so lost in this book that I could no longer differentiate between reality and fiction.

I finished this book when I was in bed, after I woke up. A piece of advice should be dispensed here: don't finish a book IN THE MORNING. Never, ever do that. I remember walking around like a zombie the whole day, just not thinking and thinking all at once.

Basically I was thinking things I shouldn't have been thinking, which included kissing beautiful faerie boys and so much more *blushes*

I had developed feelings for him before I'd even realised it.

I blame it all on the author.

You have no idea what she did. She didn't just include parts where Ben (the boy) was brave and smart, she wrote parts where he was vulnerable and weak, and loving and selfless. AND WHY DID YOU HAVE TO DO THIS TO ME?!

If you read through this again, more carefully, you will realise that what I'm describing is a one-sided romantic relationship with a faerie boy.

Instead of shipping him with the main character, it was a ship with me. I AM IN THE SHIP, AND I WILL KEEP IT AFLOAT FOR AS LONG AS I LIVE. (For those of you who protest to this, try and sink this ship, but you shall fail)

Being a reviewer, meant I had to fulfill my blogging duties, with book reviews on the top of my priority list. And in order to do so, I had to read.

Do you see my dilemma here? Trust me, this is what every book reviewer has to go through every single time, unless the book wasn't that good

I tried to get into a book after that, and it was on the brink of forcing myself to read, which equated to zero reading enjoyment. 

Honestly, with book hangovers, you love that particular book (you obsess over that book), but you hate it too because it actually stops you from reading others.

The longest reading slump I've had is probably a month, but the most extreme I've seen is 6 months.

Here's a link to Nova from Out of Time's post so you can see the seriousness of her reading slump, which was 6 months.

6 MONTHS. I can read so many books in 6 months. 

I requested for personal accounts from my blogger friends, and one of them is the post up there, and I've got another one by Anna from Enchanted by YA:

"Book hangovers are the bane of any reader’s existence, and so I’ve obviously had my fair share. However I’m lucky in that they usually don’t last too long, and less than a week later I’m straight into another book. Of course that time feels like fooooreeever since I don’t go a day without picking up a book at least once. They call it an addiction, I call it awesome :D (though still an addiction). I remember a bad hangover/slump after finishing Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan when I’d immersed myself in the world of Percy Jackson for a month straight, and realising it was all over… that was a blow to the heart (particularly since there were no Percy chapters *deep breath* but I’ve let that go now *screams into pillow*). They tend to happen whether I liked the ending or not. For example I loved the ending to Thunderlight (The Dragonian Series #2) by Adrienne Woods but that didn’t stop me full on crying in my English exam (you wouldn’t believe the looks I got including real concern from the teacher thinking the stress was too much!) as well as refusing to so much as look at another book. But I persist on reading and eventually move on to a new, exciting book where the cycle starts again."

Finally, Booknut 101 from 21st Century Once Upon A Time has last say about her experience with book hangovers (which is quite precise) and even her cure for them: 

Book Hangovers. These normally involve much weeping, moping and intensive ice-cream therapy. Whether it's a bittersweet book hangover (finishing a good series) or a tragic one (a.k.a cliffhangers and character deaths) you're going through, it's a tough time either way. 

I think the worse book hangover I ever had was when I finished the His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman. True, I'd had book hangovers before, but this one was brutal. Due to the series' less than satisfying ending (and the painful knowledge that there was not going to be any more books) I found it hard to stop thinking about the story...and to stop crying! The characters had seemed so real that their pain, in turn, felt real. Their pain became my pain. I kept going over the ending again and again in my mind, twisting it and editing it, trying to make up my own 'happily ever after' in my head to ease the book hangover ache.

Is there a cure? Ice-cream and chocolate help (but, then again, don't they always?!). But if you're looking for healthier options, I highly suggest music. Make a playlist for the series/book. Listen to it in your spare time. Or, if you're still feeling blue, go look up some fanfiction. Odds are some other bookworm has created an alternative ending to your series that will bring a smile to your face! 

Book hangovers will always be a hazard of reading, because books and their characters live on in the hearts and minds of the reader long after they've read the final page. It's the mark of a good book and a good author.

The gist you get from my discussion about book hangovers is bad, right?

You must be thinking, the only thing book hangovers will ever be is bad.

WRONG.

I have seen people work well with book hangovers. They don't actually like being in a book hangover, but while they're having one they use it to their advantage.

Enter: fan-art, fan-fiction (especially that), edits, songs, and full marks on quizzes about that book or series.

I personally don't do any of these, because I don't really have a creative bone anywhere in my body. The only thing I do is write reviews for the book- it's pretty much the most I can do. 

Think of it this way. If we had a book hangover because of a book, it's valuable proof that the book is good.

Book hangovers will always exist as long as we keep reading, so while I rant and rave about the unfairness of it, I have accepted that it is a part of living a bookish life. 

I literally do nothing to deal with book hangovers. Not even Booknut's suggestions- ice cream or chocolate. I basically just sit in a corner and cry with all the accumulated emotion from reading the book.

What about you? How do you deal with book hangovers? How bad are they? And do you agree that they can be good as well as bad?