The Reading Challenge Group discussion

Reviews are always interesting to read, regardless of if they are scathing or glowing.

If you've reviewed a recently read book, and would like to share it, post a link to it here.

Fancy that, just this afternoon I wrote a review for Summer by Edith Wharton.

Do y'all favour the longer reviews or shorter ones? I find it hard to gauge how much to give away! I don't usually write reviews that require spoiler warnings, though.

Finally got round to reviewing some things again...

My review of Hard Times by Charles Dickens

My review of As You Like It by William Shakespeare

Holly wrote: "Finally got round to reviewing some things again...

My review of Hard Times by Charles Dickens

My review of As You Like It by William Shakespeare"

Your review of Hard Times has sold me on it! I'm gonna add it to my 2014 list

This was my last review I did on Peter Pan. I hope you enjoy it.

Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

It's hard to post reviews at other threads in a group when people call you self-promotional that's why I just post it at my page and at the book review exchange group and that's it. I do think this thread is a great idea.

Thanks for liking my Peter Pan review Sandy. I'm glad you enjoyed it. :)

My favourite reviews, whether long or short, scathing, glowing or indifferent, are ones which try and involve a little bit of humour and don't take themselves too seriously (even if it is a weighty book).

And one thing which I cannot abide in a review is somebody giving a terrrible score because they disagree with the writer about something or they didn't like the ending or some other silly reason. Super bad scores should be for bad writing, waffling, general stupidity and lack of development, not becasue you're mad cos Theo didn't end up snogging that chick in the end!

I completely agree, Jude.

If you want to highlight your views of the author, do so. But don't let it affect the score you give a book. A review, after all, is about the writing and the book itself, not the author.

I'm not sure if I'm the odd one out, or if I read both of you wrong.

I find reviews to be highly personal, so that I only give 5-star ratings if the book truly blew my mind and made me force myself to put it down for the day. I also give 1- and 2- star ratings if I disliked the book. Sometimes I can see that the writing is good, but I simply don't care for it, or for the content (for instance, my review of Philip Roth's The Ghost Writer).

I'm not really in a position to challenge the reputation of classic books, so I don't find that by giving books a low rating, I'm going to change anyone's mind or suddenly make Dickens (a writer whose works I hate! yes, I know, how dare I) be less respected. I want my ratings to impact the site's algorithms so that Goodreads recommends me books I am sure to like.

When it comes to authors whose views I dislike, such as Woody Allen, I don't even bother reading one of his books in the first place. So I guess I don't impact them negatively that way. :P

Amber, I agree with your review of peter pan which I read so long ago that is probably due for a re-read. You piqued my curiosity about the child thief, who is now on my TBR list :-)

Thanks Sandy, Came A Cavalier is now on my TBR list too. That's not fair, I'm trying so hard to get my TBR list down this year, Oh well .... I just have to find more time to read :-)

Awesome Kiwi! I hope you enjoy the Child Thief. It was pretty good and the illustrations were awesome in it and I'm glad you liked my review of Peter Pan too. ^_^

I just got through reading Cold Moon Rising by Sarah Makela which is book two of the Cry wolf series so I hope you guys enjoy my review for it.

Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Sandy, you will never annoy me! :D Yeah, I made a typo there. It's supposed to read, "I want my ratings to impact the site's algorithms so that Goodreads recommends me books I am sure to like."

Basically, Goodreads operates based on algorithms (any sites that recommend you stuff based on your usage of the site do). If you rate a book highly, they will show you books that others users that rated said book highly enjoyed, or recommended, or added to their shelves. If you rate a book badly, they will do the opposite, and hide from you books that users who liked that book enjoyed, recommended, etc.

The more you rate books, add to your shelves, click on "I'm interested" or "I'm not interested" when Goodreads recommends you books, the more data Goodreads adds to the algorithms, and the more tailored to you your recommendations are.

Hope that cleared it up!

Here's my review of The Child Thiefby Brom. I hope you guys enjoy it.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I just wrote a review of PKD's A Scanner Darkly, which you can find here.

I got it as a christmas present from one of my nearest and dearest, and I think it's my favourite book I've read so far this year!

Here are my latest 2 reviews:
Dangerous Decisions by Margaret Kaine. If you like historical fiction/Downton Abbey then this is definitely for you. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

The Last Bite of the Cherry by Margaret Cullingford. Beautifully crafted, atmospheric book dealing with some difficult (controversial to some) emotional subjects thoughtfully and sympathetically, but with some grit too. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I just finished a thriller which was a read for review request called The Warrior by Ty Patterson. Here's my review for it, enjoy! :)

Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Here's my review for The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. Enjoy! It was a pretty good read.

Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

here's my review for the YA thriller Elixir by Ted Galdi that I did as a read for review request. Enjoy!

Review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Reviving this thread!

Just reviewed Dracula! You can find it here!