February Round Up!

General Stuff

February was kind of a busy month. On the one hand, I can barely remember what I did; on the other, I have the embedded impression of a lot. I feel like I never got any time for myself and my interests, always running from one social event to the other. It was exhausting. I'm kind of an introvert; too much social encounters makes me feel drained to my core. 

As for the blog, I was greatly disappointed this month. I'm not going to lie; this blog effects my general mood. I don't care about views too much (because I've come to realize views hardly translate to discussion and what I'm looking for here is discussions), but I posted some of those posts I'm really proud of or really excited about such as my Harry Potter post or my bookish story or my Hush, Hush rant extravaganza and not many people read/commented on them.

This makes me think - are these not the type of posts that interests you guys? Should I change their format? What do you think? 

MY READING MONTH

Has been pretty crappy. I was in a book slump from the middle of January to the middle of February which sucked up my reading schedule big time. I've read 7 book in February and finished three manga, all of whom will be reviewed on the blog at some point. But I felt like I read nothing at all. It was depressing! 7 books is not a bad number (though I'm used to reading 15 books a month, which hasn't happened for Jan or Feb!) but it felt like nothing at all. Gah! 

AND NOW, IN CASE YOU MISSED MY AWESOME POSTS THIS MONTH (*wink wink*)

POSTS

REVIEWS

Blogger Confessions: I don't Believe Reviewers Who Never Post Bad Ratings

Hold your horses and lower those pitchforks, will you? No need to get so heated.

Here's the thing: some reviewers out there (plenty of them very popular) choose not to post any negative reviews on their blogs. Every book they review is between four starts to six (yes, some of them use the extra star method). And for some reason, I find it very hard to believe those reviews.

No, not for some reason. For a few very specific reasons.

It's impossible that you've loved every book you ever read. 

I would love for that to be possible, but it simply isn't. Saying you "know what you like" and pick only those books is ridiculous, because I've been burned by favorite authors and books that all my friends recommended and books that seemed like a shoe-in for me many, many times. Stands to reason that even if you're a very good picker, once in a blue moon you'll get a bad apple. Possibly even more often.

Not posting about those, makes the ratings seem inflated. I've just seen you post ten glowing five star reviews in two weeks. Could all those truly be five stars?

I get wanting to be positive, and I respect your decision to do so, but for me it's a matter of how can we know what your "great" means if we have no idea what your worse is? 

What a person hates tells as much about what he loves as what he actually loves does. It gives us, as readers, the necessary tools to compare, both their tastes with yours and how great your so called reads really are.

It's like, if there was no bad in the world there would be no good, either. Same goes with reviews for me.

You don't even have to write a full review. You can write mini reviews, or reviews in points just throwing out there what you didn't like.

This way, for example, I can tell you don't love insta-love, so I'd know to trust the romances you do love don't have that. You have no idea how many times I've been duped by reviews hailing romances only to discover the two meet one rainy night, and are immediately besotted with each other and can't think of anyone else, and in four chapters profess their love, if only in their heads.

This is not the kind of book I want to read. Not knowing whether you're okay with insta-love or not makes me wary that the romance you call swoon worthy I would call unbearable.

Am I making any sense? I hope I am.

It's not that I don't read these reviewers - I wouldn't notice their existence if I didn't follow them - I simply don't fully trust their ratings.

Of course, this is me speaking. That's just how I am. I know, I'm all sorts of suspicious. Must have seen too many episodes of Castle, but what can you do - you are who you are.

What about you? Do you share my feelings, or do you think positive reviewers are great? I would love to hear your opinion even if you disagree! 

**The idea for Blogger Confessions is based on Nick & Neryda's project!**