Instead of writing booktalks, I'm blogging. Yay!

While reading this review of Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr, I thought, "Yes, yes, okay, I agree..." and then it all came to a screeching halt.

Let it be known that I did not like Ink Exchange by any stretch of the imagination. While the ideas might have been strong, a lot of things about that book annoyed me: poor writing, tattoos always make you cool and interesting, dialogue that was funny when it shouldn't have been, too many adjectives, etc. But I thought that the Smart Bitches had really good insight to the themes of the book until I read the final line: Henderson’s assertions that 12 year old girls ought not read this book because of her mistaken perception as to the sexuality within the story are infuriating in light of the manner in which this book explores profoundly important issues. I can think of few books that should be required reading for teenage girls, but this is certainly one of them. It’s painful, and it’s important.

And then I almost took Smart Bitches off my RSS reader. (I didn't though, because I like what they say.) Why?

No one book should be required reading for teenage girls, or anyone else, and people who say things like that in a review irk me. (Call me a prude, too, but 99 times out of 100 I would not recommend Ink Exchange to a twelve-year-old. Message is one thing, execution of it is quite another.) No one book can speak to all people. To think otherwise is ridiculous. I also think a lot of readers would get so bogged down in the poor mechanics of this particular book that they'd miss the message the reviewer thinks is so important. I was talking about this with lizzb over IM, and here are some other phrases we think all reviewers, whether they review for professional journals or blogs or whatever, should never never never never use:

• "Well-written" (And that means what, exactly?)


• "Everyone must read this" (Everyone? Really?)


• "A must-have for all libraries" (Sorry, not unless it's guaranteed to circulate)


• "Has an important message" (Why is this always such an issue with children's books? We never require adult books to have a message!)


• "The next Harry Potter/Twilight/Percy Jackson/Elsewhere." (I should clarify this: I have absolutely no problem with reviewers who say something like "Harry Potter fans will like this" IF they can specify why. Most of the time, they don't/can't.)


• "For your sophisticated readers" (Who is "sophisticated?" And how insulting!)


• I gave this to my son/daughter/niece/nephew and he/she loved it! (No one cares.)

The thing that amazes me most? That reviewers for professional journals use these useless phrases at all. In a blog you can make your review as long or short as you like, but in a journal you're limited to 200 words, 250 if you're lucky. In 200 words I don't have the space to use "well-written," a phrase that means nothing and doesn't fulfill the purpose of a review. I have to tell the reader if the characterization is good, if the writing style works, if it'll circulate (which is not an easy answer to give), and say what generally makes it special or not, plus a quick plot summary.

Writing this entry didn't make my booktalks go away. Back to work.

Tags: books, reviewing
126: cranky
780: it's hard to leave when you can't find the door

Happy Birthday,
xandria!

1. I don't give a shit as to what Weather Underground says. It is going to rain here in the next three days or so. None of this "scattered clouds" crap. My head aches so bad I can barely see straight and yesterday all my upper teeth on the right side of my face hurt. It's going to rain.

2. Stupid reference trick: A man, his wife, and his kid come into the library, and I say hi to them as they walk past the reference desk. The man says, "You're always here when I come here! You're here all the time." Instead of saying, "That's because I work here full time, you dumbass," I smile and reply in jest, "Well, I just love my job so much I spend all my time here." He says, "Let me see your hands," and when I hold mine up, he says, "Well, you have a ring on, so there must be something to keep you occupied outside the library." Let me tell you, I was almost ready to bury that ring in his right eye.

3. I have a review due tomorrow of Rush Hour II: Bad Boys for VOYA. It's really good so far, but writing reviews of short story and essay collections is hard. Worth it to get an advance of the book, though. I should talk to my editor at VOYA, though, because lately I've not been getting trade copies of the books I review, and it's in my contract that I'm supposed to get them. A minor annoyance, but still.

4. While I can understand why Michiko Kakutani reviewed Art Spiegelman's new book In the Shadow of No Towers the way she did, I wish she, and everyone else who reads this book, could have attended his lecture at Book Expo America. Besides being a fascinating look at the history of newspaper cartoons, his lecture gave attendees a lot of insight on the design of this new book, which I have not read. He talked about how he tied in old comics characters with his view of September 11, and while that definitely lends itself to the "scattered" feeling Kakutani talks about, I think that because I attended his lecture (like I was going to skip it!), I might have a better understanding of the art and how it relates to the story. For once. This is why I am not volunteering for Graphic Novel Review.
And I also loved how they photographed Art Spiegelman with a cigarette. He chain-smoked the entire time he lectured at Book Expo. Which is funny now.

Also, I thought it was funny that John Corigliano is mentioned, not because he writes funny music, but because my father once bought a CD of his not realizing he's 20th century rather than baroque. Pa Cedar got quite the shock.

5. I am imagining a fic moment, taking place during OotP. Snape is at #12 Grimmauld Place late for some reason, and he's attempting to make polite conversation with Remus. Don't know why.

Snape: How was your day?
Remus: Ah, the usual. I took Sirius for a walk and he peed on a fire hydrant.

Which everyone seems to think is kind of funny except me. Okay, I think it's a little funny.

Have to go read now.

Tags: i work with crazy people, reviewing
126: sore