I decided for the year to ROB (even without getting prodded from you, Sybil)

I’m really enjoying it, too!
Bonnie

just you know… send me books

You know I agree to a point because I won’t force myself to read anything. But uh… well you see this show up at my door and I just end up reading them.

Because they catch my eye, interest or something. So I hate NOT to review them but I hate to review them ‘unfairly’. Of course FAIR means what?

yah know

Bev, I am speaking from my own experience here; if a book I want to read received a low rating on a review, I will read the review to find out what the reviewer didn’t like about the book. It’s possible I may still enjoy the book if I know what the reviewer didn’t like about the book.

If it is a book I have never heard of and yeah it got a meh review, then I am likely not to read the review.

One other thing, if you start reading out of your box, I hope the reason is not just to write reviews because won’t it start to seem like homework? I know as soon as I force myself to try and read a book, (because everyone is telling me I have to read this book, it’s that good). I find myself not wanting to read it because I am forced too. I don’t know, just my opinion.

I think it’s ok to review book that are usually not your cup of tea. But I like to express something to that effect right up front, letting readers know that some of my views may be colored by that.

I also like to read non-fiction. I’ve got one that looks great on my bedside table called “Sex With Kings” about famous royal mistresses.

Jennifer–I highly recommend Games of Command by Linnea Sinclair. As Bev mentioned, I usually have a laundry list of issues with futuristics, but it was my favorite read of 2007. I’m a LS fangirl now, and part of it was how she won me over.

I like the idea of ROB reviews, Sybil. I’d surely check them out.

Edna (currently reading Elizabeth Gilbert’s, EAT PRAY LOVE . . .)

So where does “fair” come into a personal opinion

Fair to both readers and authors. I say I didn’t like a book and therefore give it a low grade based mostly on the fact that it wasn’t my preferred genre/sub-genre/theme. Now when a reader sees that and, as a result, decides they are NOT interested in the book, then it’s not fair to the reader or author.

Now, hopefully, I will have explained WHY I didn’t like it well enough that the reader may see that the elements I didn’t like are ones they might enjoy.

Unfortunately (and I do this too), I think most people will skim a review first for the grade and a few key phrases like “didn’t work for me” and decide not to invest their time reading any further.

So, a designation like ROB Review *may* cause the reader to pause and take a more thorough look at the review.

It also works the opposite way. I may read a review raving about how unique and different a story is and therefore buy the book. However, I find the book to be ho-hum, same-old same-old, been there, done that. Turns out, that reviewer had done a ROB review, whereas the book was definitely in *MY*… uh… “box”. Had I known that the reviewer had little experience reading that genre/sub-genre/theme, I wouldn’t have wasted my money buying the book without more research. (That’s a generic example because the fact is, with the exception of a lot of Gwen’s reviews, I don’t buy books based on one review).

So, that’s what I mean by fair.

We are readers… this is a reader review blog… soooooooo it is going to be our opinion on the book we read.

That sort of goes without saying… no? So where does “fair” come into a personal opinion. Or am I wrong?

Keishon LOVE him. Drink Before War, Gone Baby Gone… really that whole series… awesome. He is doing an historical next I think…

But it seems like ever since Urban Fantasy became popular, it has met whatever non-Romance reading needs I have. Ironic that we place Urban Fantasy under the Romance umbrella, but it isn’t really, and it gives me a break from Romance.

Those authors I mentioned would be a ROGB- Reading Outside (my) GENRE Box. But I think ROB would also apply when reading a sub-genre or theme that we don’t normally read.

For example, Devon and I both have said that we don’t care for futuristic Sc-Fi, but we both are curious to read Ann Aguirre’s upcoming Grimspace because we love Annie’s characters. So, to me, that would be a ROB Review, too.

But the question then becomes (and I’m speaking in general terms now, not directed at Annie), is it fair to review a book knowing up front that I don’t care for the genre/sub-genre/theme? I mean, if the author wins me over… GREAT! But if the aspects I don’t like are directly related to that genre/sun-genre/theme, then is it fair to give a lower grade based on MY opinion of the book? Or do I try to be objective with my grade even though I don’t really like major aspects of the story?

THAT, to me, is what a real ROB Review is.

I read mysteries, graphic novels (a lot), manga (a lot), fantasy and historical fiction (a lot).

You read Dennis Lehane? LOVE his work. I’ve babbled enough.

But I read outside the box all the time. I love mysteries, thrillers, and spy books. Some of my favorite authors have nothing to do with fantasy, like Donald Westlake and Ian Fleming. I’ll read anybody once.

The only genre I’m hesitant to pick up and rarely ever read is sci-fi. Aliens, technology, space travel, meh. I’ve been thinking about trying Linnea Sinclair though …

I’d just put a tag on the reviews saying what genre they are — mystery, thriller, romance, etc.