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Book Reviews

Karen C

Karen C

Member
I hope this is the correct place to post this.

I love what's been done to the Crime Fiction & Thrillers board and was just wondering if that is something that is going to filter out to the other sections too, or whether it's purely for that genre. I understand that the changes have been made to try and increase interaction and to encourage discussion but I particularly like the idea of having my own thread for reviews of the books I read but think it would be better suited to a general reviews board rather than genre specific so that I can keep all my reviews together.

Is this something that could be considered if enough people were interested or would it be frowned upon do you think?
 
Karen C said:
I hope this is the correct place to post this.

I love what's been done to the Crime Fiction & Thrillers board and was just wondering if that is something that is going to filter out to the other sections too, or whether it's purely for that genre. I understand that the changes have been made to try and increase interaction and to encourage discussion but I particularly like the idea of having my own thread for reviews of the books I read but think it would be better suited to a general reviews board rather than genre specific so that I can keep all my reviews together.

Is this something that could be considered if enough people were interested or would it be frowned upon do you think?
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Hi Karen,

I'm thrilled to hear that you like how we're changing the Crime Fiction forum, and we hope you, and other B&R folks, will come visit us on Murder, We Schmoozed. We're getting organized, and soon we'll be inviting other crime fiction writers and fans we know to join us here at B&R.

Crime fiction includes much more than traditional mystery novels: historical fiction (whether any crime was committed in the novel or not; I don't really know why historical fiction is often listed as a subgenre of crime fiction; maybe someone could enlighten me), espionage, noir, private eye, hardboiled fiction, thrillers, psychological suspense, gothic novels, police procedurals, cozies. But many books other than those about crime come up in our discussions. Literary fiction and genre-benders—like those written by Michael Chabon, Jonathan Lethem, and Margaret Atwood—are particularly interesting to me.

Readingomnivore, whose personal review thread you might have seen on Murder, We Schmoozed, reads a lot, and we enjoy her graded reviews. Most of the books she reviews are crime fiction, but she reads other than this genre, too, and you'll be able to read her reviews of those books on the MWS forum.

I'd also like to see individual threads containing reviews on other forums in B&R. Anybody else?
 
Reads to Sleep said:
Anybody else?
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The idea of being able to group all one's reviews in one place (if I read that correctly up above) sounds somewhat like a previous in-house blog capability that BAR once had. It was swept out by new management, or software, someplace along the line. Just saying. I myself liked it when it was here, although truth be told not so many used it, or read it, as far as I could tell.
 
We love the idea of having a place to post book reviews!

The system previously used on this forum is apparently no longer available, but we're looking into options. For now it might make the most sense to place reviews in somewhat genre specific places. The book discussions started using book titles and authors as thread names are kind of like mini-reviews....

Keep the ideas coming!
 
SuperReaderGirl said:
We love the idea of having a place to post book reviews!

The system previously used on this forum is apparently no longer available, but we're looking into options. For now it might make the most sense to place reviews in somewhat genre specific places. The book discussions started using book titles and authors as thread names are kind of like mini-reviews....

Keep the ideas coming!
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I suspect that if a person is writing a review for their own thread/blog, more thought and care is put into it. So, you'd end up with better crafted reviews for your forum. Win/win.

The only trouble with placing the reviews in "genre specific" threads is that it scatters them too much. For me at least, there are some reviewers I prefer to follow, and trust their judgment. It's way too easy to miss an interesting review if they are scattered about on the forum, in my experience at least.

I do know that there are forums that use the blog system quite successfully, so there are systems out there. It would be great if y'all were able to find one that fits into this configuration. :)
 
pontalba said:
I suspect that if a person is writing a review for their own thread/blog, more thought and care is put into it. So, you'd end up with better crafted reviews for your forum. Win/win.

The only trouble with placing the reviews in "genre specific" threads is that it scatters them too much. For me at least, there are some reviewers I prefer to follow, and trust their judgment. It's way too easy to miss an interesting review if they are scattered about on the forum, in my experience at least.

I do know that there are forums that use the blog system quite successfully, so there are systems out there. It would be great if y'all were able to find one that fits into this configuration. :)
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Those are good points, Pontalba! I'll have Rob look into the personal blog/page idea. For now, Karen C, do you want to start your own reviews thread under "General Book Discussion"? It could also maybe work under "Book Search & Suggestions".
 
SRG, it could be as simple as creating a section heading on the front page entitled something like "Reading Lists/Blogs". That might negate the necessity of new software. Just an idea. :) That way anyone could start a thread of their own, and list books read, and write reviews as they go along. I've seen it done that way, perhaps it is the simplest.
As long as the posts are indefinitely open for updating it would work.
 
Peder said:
The idea of being able to group all one's reviews in one place (if I read that correctly up above) sounds somewhat like a previous in-house blog capability that BAR once had.
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I don't think I've ever seen an in-house blog feature on a forum before so I'm not entirely sure how that worked previously but I was thinking along the same lines as to what's just recently been initiated on the Crime Fiction & Thriller board, but more generalized rather than genre specific.

pontalba said:
I suspect that if a person is writing a review for their own thread/blog, more thought and care is put into it. So, you'd end up with better crafted reviews for your forum. Win/win.
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To be honest my reviews probably won't follow any specific format as such - some might be longer than others, some might be a random mish-mash of thoughts, while others might be more constructed, but that's just me. I think people should be allowed to be a little bit flexible with how they want to write their reviews - each to their own preferred way of doing it.

The threads would be open for others to comment on so discussion would still be encouraged, it would just mean that each individual member - or those that wished to anyway - would have an easy way of finding their reviews because they would be in their own thread in one section of the board rather than spread about all over the place.

pontalba said:
SRG, it could be as simple as creating a section heading on the front page entitled something like "Reading Lists/Blogs". That might negate the necessity of new software. Just an idea. :) That way anyone could start a thread of their own, and list books read, and write reviews as they go.
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That's the kind of thing I was thinking of, a separate, specific section on the forum itself!
 
Karen, my reviews are not standard either. In fact, I rarely do a synopsis of a book, I basically write about the prose, and how the book made me feel, and how the characters affected me, with a few parameters of the story. As far as I'm concerned, if someone wants a preview or synopsis of a book, Amazon is a click away, and probably has a more detailed synopsis than I'd give.
I don't like to be told the story in a review, I want to know how if feels.
And spoilers in a review, really tee me off.
 
SuperReaderGirl said:
Let's do it! Where do you all think it should go?
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Perhaps in the same section that the Mystery reviews are presently being placed? Not replacing, of course. In addition to.

Under "Bookshelves". Could even call it Reading Blogs/Lists, or some such title.
 
pontalba said:
Perhaps in the same section that the Mystery reviews are presently being placed? Not replacing, of course. In addition to.

Under "Bookshelves". Could even call it Reading Blogs/Lists, or some such title.
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We could definitely place a sub-forum under Bookshelves. :) I'd hesitate to add it under the Mystery/Crime section because I think that might be confusing since the reviews won't be all Mystery/Crime.
 
SuperReaderGirl said:
We could definitely place a sub-forum under Bookshelves. :) I'd hesitate to add it under the Mystery/Crime section because I think that might be confusing since the reviews won't be all Mystery/Crime.
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Maybe the Book Review subforum should go under Bookshelves as SuperReaderGirl suggests. I'd expect a not-insignificant proportion of the book reviews in Murder, We Schmoozed would involve crime fiction, even on the individuals' review threads there.

As posters get to know each other better, I think these individual review threads would make a great resource.
 
Karen C said:
Personally I think the sub-forum would be better suited under the General Book Discussion section, but to be honest I don't mind as long as it goes somewhere.
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Wait. I took another look. I think Karen C has a point. I think book review threads may be better under the General Book Discussion section, where the Search and Discussion subforums are.
 
Karen C said:
Personally I think the sub-forum would be better suited under the General Book Discussion section, but to be honest I don't mind as long as it goes somewhere.
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Reads to Sleep said:
Wait. I took another look. I think Karen C has a point. I think book review threads may be better under the General Book Discussion section, where the Search and Discussion subforums are.
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I like whatever you guys come up with. :) As you say, Karen, as long as it goes somewhere.
Reads to Sleep said:
As posters get to know each other better, I think these individual review threads would make a great resource.
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Absolutely.
 
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