Things have been a little quiet around here lately. Some stuff came up in my life, and I just haven't had the energy to keep up with the reviewing. I'm ready to get back to it, but I'm going to do things a little differently.
First of all, I'm only going to be writing up books that I really loved. I may not have been blogging, but I've been reading like crazy, and I've found some great stuff. I want to talk about those things. I don't have the patience right now to discuss, or read for that matter, something that I don't love and doesn't make me happy. So expect lots of "I loved this, now let me tell you why" posts in the coming weeks.
Going along with that, I expect my reviews will be shorter and less critical. Not that I felt my reviews were overly critical before, but I'm not interested in nitpicking right now. It takes extra brain power to think carefully about how to express what I didn't like about a book, and I'm not working that hard.
The third change is that I'll be reviewing more m/m romance. I'd read a few m/m titles before, but in the last couple of months I've read some really fantastic books in this sub-genre, and the more I find the more I want to read. I'll probably spend some time talking about the terms and tropes specific to m/m romance, too, partly because it's something that not everyone is familiar with, and partly to show off how much I've learned! ;p
So that's what's going to be happening around here. Of course, all these changes only apply to my own reviews. I'm still happy to post reviews by other Betties on whatever you've been reading lately. There's nothing I enjoy more than talking books with other people who love them as much as I do!
Double Yay!!! I have recommendation for the m/m titles. I LOVED Tanya Huff's "Smoke" Trilogy: "Smoke and Shadows", "Smoke and Mirrors", and "Smoke and Ashes". They're wonderful - funny and interesting and endearing. Also a little weird, but I liked that. I think you will, too.
ReplyDeleteI should read before I post. "I have A recommendation..."
ReplyDeleteI miss the books that used to decorate this place.... but hey, I love the new purple look around here though!
ReplyDeleteYour ideas are great, we are totally on board. I have a mini-review I'll send in. (Oh wait, did someone already do "The Secret to Everything" here? I should go look.)
Julie
This background isn't terribly bookish, but it's cheerful and kind of disco-y. I like it! It may not stay for long. There were several that I liked, and I had a hard time settling on one. There may be more redecorating in the future! We'll see.
ReplyDeleteAlways happy to get a mini-review from you, Julie! I don't think anyone has done The Secret to Everything yet. (But then, I'm not sure if I could tell you with any certainty what I had for breakfast this morning, so take that with a grain of salt.) I don't mind posting reviews on the same book by different people. Everyone takes a little something different from a book.
I have a secret! But I'll share it: I just searched "secret to everything" on this blog and did not turn up the title. So I think it's safe to say it hasn't been reviewed. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI think it's hilarious that a bunch of us remerched our blogs all at the same time, and I think in most cases without knowing the other was doing so. That's spring for ya! One night I just got an overwhelming compulsion, despite several more important things I had to do.
Suggestion: When you do a post or two on the tropes etc of m/m maybe you could link them in a side bar box, permanently? So if someone new later comes to read your blog, they could refer to them. Anyway I'm super looking forward. :-D
Hey, good idea! Now to play around with the design features until I figure out how to do it.... Blogger is pretty easy to use, but I still get most stuff to work by happy accident.
ReplyDeleteLol, Mabel, I am having way too much fun with our comments, back and forth, all over the damn Betty-verse. Thank you for searching, I will go write my mini-non-review now.
ReplyDeleteJulie
Thanks, merrymac! I've read Tanya Huff before, but not the Smoke trilogy, so I'll definitely check those out!
ReplyDelete