Jay

Jay asked Lois McMaster Bujold:

How do you approach writing book reviews? I often have a lot to say about a book while I'm reading and reacting to it, but trouble finding the heart of how I felt about it in a short review. I enjoy reading your Goodreads reviews and those of Patrick Rothfuss a lot, and respect your taste. Any advice for those of us who read a lot, but could stand to recommend more?

Lois McMaster Bujold I consider my little reviews to be my personal informal reader responses, and don't set a particularly high bar for myself. I try to capture how I reacted and why without putting in too many spoilers, and offer something of what I see as the mode or mood of the book for others considering reading it, but really, they're on their own. The accumulation here on Goodreads acts as much as a reading diary for me as anything else, so I can look back and find, "What the heck was the title/author/what that book was about that I was reading last year...?"

It's interesting, looking back over a long enough baseline, to see which books were memorable, and which have settled into the sludge at the bottom of my memory and dissolved.

Ta, L.

More Answered Questions

Jesse

Jesse asked Lois McMaster Bujold:

Have you ever been writing a scene and felt that it would be greatly enhanced if the reader was listening to a certain song at the time? If so, any particular scenes and songs as an example? Big fan of your SF work, it's been a great inspiration to me!

Peggy B

Peggy B asked Lois McMaster Bujold:

For years I kept a journal and added quotes from your books that resonated with me. I don't know which book two quotes came from: #1 “The list went on and on. There was not telling, she said, what she would be next. And I thought “I want to be like that. I want to be like her. Not just one thing, but a world of possibilities. I want to find out who else I can be.” Maybe Memory? Do I have the quote right?

Ari

Ari asked Lois McMaster Bujold:

Upon rereading Gentleman Jole, I was struck by a simple question: enabling technology is a fine thing, but would you really want to start raising children at your age? And on the topic of reproductive tech, what do you think of Lavie Tidhar's Central Station? It's wonderful to see how different authors take similar premises in very different yet thought-provoking directions.

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Lois McMaster Bujold

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