Friday, August 27, 2010

Freebie Item!

I got an e-mail the other day that had a pretty provocative subject line: THE BEST FIRST CHAPTER YOU'LL EVER READ. Now, normally, such hyperbole would make me hit the trash button pretty quickly, but as I needed to kill a minute, I opened it up.

Inside was an invitation to read the first chapter of Across the Universe by Beth Revis (Penguin - Razonbill, due out 1/11/2011). To my great pleasure, this was a link to a PDF rather than a Flash site (thank you, thank you, thank you--I know it means people can keep it, but it's more manageable to access)--and to my great pleasure, the first chapter of this book was--though certainly not the best first chapter I'll ever read or have ever read--an intense and harrowing one. It's YA, so if you're a YA reader, give it a look!

Oops: I forgot the link the first time around. Read the chapter here.

Also:
Book Blogger Hop
If you're visiting here from the Book Blogger Hop, please say hi, and leave me a link to your blog! I tend to do mass follows about once a month, and giveaways once or twice a month.  This is my first hop, so I'm looking forward to touring the participants! If you're visiting as usual, click the image to see the participants and their blogs.

The question of the week is: Do you use a rating system for your reviews and if so, what is it and why?

I don't, at present, have a rating system, and I probably won't. This is for a couple of reasons. First of all, I enjoy reading and reviewing books, even if I'm not, as I like to say, "book friends" with particular books. I like to match people with good reads! Second, I often like books, even love books, for personal reasons, and I'd have a hard time giving consistent ratings. Third, I tend to skip reviewing books unless I think they have enough value for me or for others to recommend them; it's pretty rare for me to spend time reviewing a book I really didn't like, unless I am curious why others might like the book, and then I'll review and solicit feedback. I have other reasons, too, related to occasional conflicts of interest. 

Instead of a rating system, I'd prefer to give a quick overview and my thoughts, and hope that I can do that in a way that's interesting. I do appreciate it when others have a rating system, though, because it means I am able to get their take on a book and keep it in mind as I read their review.

9 comments:

  1. Just dropping in via the hop to say hi and welcome! I'm a big fan of YA as well, so I'm glad to have found your blog:) Happy Friday!

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  2. Hey I'm stopping over from The Hop! I'm a new follower :)

    I have a giveaway going on on my blog if you want to check it out!

    http://scarrletreader.blogspot.com/

    Have a great Friday!

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  3. I want to come up with a rating system. I like a rating system. I will work on this.

    I'm a new follower!

    I hope you'll stop by my blog, too.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hey! Found your blog through the hop and now a new follower. I'm also a huge YA fan. Take a look at what I've read at:
    www.booksinthespotlight.blogspot.com

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  5. Stopping by from the hop! Nice looking blog. :)

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  6. Just hopping by....

    Stop by my blog if you get a chance for reviews on I'd Know you Anywhere by Laura Lippman, Saving Cee Cee Honeycut by Beth Hoffman, and many others.

    Happy Hopping, Everyone....hop on over to my blog to see my answer to the rating question.

    http://silversolara.blogspot.com

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  7. Lovin the blog, am now a follower :) coming through via hop, happy reading!

    TheBookBluff

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  8. I used to have a rating system but dropped it a while back. I got to a stage where I was not sure that there was any consistency in my ratings - particularly comparing the first few books I rated and the later ones - and I was tending to give a middle of the road rating to too many books.

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  9. Thank you all for the comments--I mentioned on a few blogs (as I followed--what an interesting array) that I haven't come up with something I like.

    Simon, that's a good point; I wonder a lot as I transfer the reviews over here what I'd think of certain books if I read them today. I suppose that rating books really has to be more fluid than read, give grade, move on. And middle of the road is hardest to look back on, because I always wonder: good middle of the road, eh middle of the road, passable middle of the road...

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