“Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.”
~Mark Twain
Most of us love reading literature. Be it magazines, tabloids, or books. Literature provides us entertainment in a form quite unlike a T.V or Video-Games can offer.
Books are a personal favorite of many – out of the various literary modes. They elevate us to a level where we start using the eyes of the mind to trigger the imagery, the scenes, the characters and dwell in the pages until we complete it. Some of the reads stay with us long after we have read them, while some don’t interest us as much as others. Isn’t it? Most of us pick them sometimes either on an impulse or go with the trend or most likely after going through the reviews.
Ah! The last word ‘review’ is what this write-up is all about. Yes, I take a lot of time to review the books which the authors send across to me. Usually, it ranges from 2-5 days, but lately, a couple of times I have overshot the deadline by more than a month. If a book is based on mythology then it is sure to be delayed! Not that I do it deliberately, but because I believe in reading a book, researching a little on the other works of the writer, and then analyzing it in a favourable atmosphere with the right frame of mind.
I believe that the following factors can negatively influence the verdict of a reviewer :
- Mood swings
- Emotional baggage
- Overload of chores
- Stress
- Meeting deadlines
- Disinterest
- Lack of motivation and much more such factors
Books are the result of a writer’s imagination, observations, creativity, ambition, aspiration, efforts, passion, time, and of course money! They write so that we can be entertained and stimulate our thought process. As so many factors are detrimental to writing a review, I usually refrain from writing even if any one of the negative factors is bothering me. I feel that we have a moral obligation as a reviewer to give an unbiased and honest opinion about the books we read. Because of this I hardly complete one book in a week. As I type this, there are some 4-5 books that are lying around me to be reviewed though I have completed reading them long back! And my friends have often complained that I neither know to work smartly nor do I fit in today’s world (though they do appreciate my reviews!) Maybe I am not smart, but then at the end of the day, I am answerable to my conscience!
Hey, by the way, have you read my reviews yet? If not, please feel free to hop over to the booklist
How about you? Do you also take a lot of time to review books or do you work smartly unlike me? Do share your opinions here and I would be more than glad to listen 🙂
For sure take a lot of time to savour the book and then review it. I like how you say you need to be in the right frame of mind to review, which is true because it can’t be a monotonous say but rather an expression of what you felt and experienced reading it. 🙂
It was a nice read Meenakshi…
You almost echoed my voice about the delays in reviews…
There are books I never published the review – because I could not ever finish them for various reasons – lack of time/lost interest and few more.
Thanks a lot for penning it down.
And yes – I have 3 to 4 books in my kindle waiting for my review – I better get to reading before I get another email from the writer/publisher/pr agent…
It is great that you take your time to research the book you are reviewing. Gives more authenticity to book reviews.
I have never really written a review for a book, well once, and it wasn’t a great experience. :/
So not my cuppa tea.
I have never written a review for a book, precisely for the same reasons. I cannot finish a book in 5 days just to write a review ! I think you have laid out the importance of diligence and deliberation very well here!
I try reading books such that there are at least 5 days for me to post its review. Of course, there are times when I don’t meet deadlines, especially because there is an unexpected vacation or when I get too lazy to pen down anything. There are about 3 books pending for review as I type this. So, I understand 😛
Ha-ha! It is so time consuming….!
I always take a month’s time to read and review the book. Sometimes the review is up on time, but very rarely they are late. I try to take maximum time possible from the author to review. Thankfully, most of them agree as well.
Glad to know we are in the same boat on this 🙂
I agree with you. I normally request for 2 weeks to review. It’s the reason why I am not taking any review since the past four months since there was always the pressure to review. I am enjoying read the book. I do believe that we need to be professional and not let our personal things run down authors…hehe I’ve seen many doing that.
Love your honest take on reviews.
Seriously….! Some of the reviews reflect the personal moods if d reviewer so evidently…dat I feel sorry for d writers 😀
It’s so unfair you know! So much hardwork. I always criticize the narration but never run down the author!
I definitely take my time. I’ve posted that in my review policy, that I take about 4 weeks to review books once they reach me. Especially since I post only on alternate days for the most part. I don’t want to force myself to read a book and hate it when I may love it if I read in the right mood.
True….I too hv mentioned abt it…but then, u know how it works! I just just cannot rush through reading sm books!
True. Some are meant to be savoured slowly.