Do You Want to Read About Books I Don't Like, Too? A Note About My Book Reviews

by Kathleen Blease

It happened one day. I read a book that was just awful. If I would have been its editor, I would have rejected it. The author had a promising list of previous books he wrote, but he squarely missed the mark on this title. To explain quickly: His premise was this... If you want to communicate with someone, then you need to connect. Every chapter was the same, an argument as to why we need to connect in order to successfully communicate. By page fifty, I was getting antsy. I thought, Okay I'm with you. Now tell me HOW to connect. He broke the first and most important rule of all writers: Show, don't Tell. By page 110, I gave up and the book ended up on the donation pile. There was a whole lot of telling going on between those two covers.

Fortunately, all I really lost was some time. I participated in a program whereby a blogger received books for free from a certain Christian publisher if she would just give an honest book review. Once one book was finished and the review was posted, another book would be on the way.

This was my first title. And my last. My conundrum: I didn't want to publish a negative review. And since I wouldn't post the review, the publisher would not send me another title. My husband even approached me about this and made a good point. "Kath, if you don't give a tough review every once in a while, will people believe your positive reviews? Will they believe you if you post only positive stuff?"

Readers, do you believe me? The books I offer to you in my reviews are indeed as good as I believe them to be. I do not in any way contrive to gloss over glaring editorial weaknesses.

So why only positive reviews? I believe my blog is a "good news" blog meant to encourage others, so I offer reviews of only those books I believe to be of help to you, to lift you, to educate you, and to inspire you in Our One True Faith.  Albeit, it would also be helpful to you if I were to state which books to avoid, those that I believe to be unworthy of your investment in time and money. I have thought about that quite a bit. Believe me, I have read quite a few stinky titles, both children and adults, fiction and nonfiction, how-to and self-help, from Catholics and non-Catholics.

I think I would like to continue bringing you only positive reviews. (Click here to read some of my review posts.) However, I would like to know your opinion. Would you like to read about books I don't like, too? Please let me know!

God bless!