In 2020 I set a goal to write a blog post for each book I read. My intent was to keep myself writing and to try a new style I hadn’t ventured into before: book reviews. While for a few books I really enjoyed this practice, for the majority it simply became a chore. To be a true book reviewer you need to commit to it more deeply than I was willing to (shout out to all you reviewers out there!).
When I read a book and discover things for the first time, it’s like magic. Sometimes I don’t even read the back cover or any reviews online because I want the pure experience of diving into the unknown and discovering everything for myself. Some plot points are unavoidable, but many are hidden to be unearthed by the reader.
For this reason, the “reviews” (I have a hard time even calling my short posts reviews) I wrote ended up being measly recaps of my feelings, and a “if you like…..then read this” thrown in at the end. I don’t want to deprive anyone of the gift that is reading a fresh book. I know there are folks who seek out these reviews, including those who have already read the book, but I just didn’t enjoy using my energy this way.
So, from now on there will be no more posts of book reviews. Now, I’ll still do a recap of what I’ve read (maybe monthly or quarterly instead of annually, I haven’t decided yet) and if a book greatly inspires me I may devote a post to it, but it’s likely it’ll be more of how it made me feel, what it made me think, and how it changed me.
If you’ve found my blog or followed along my reading journey because of my reviews, thank you. I’m still a giant book nerd so I hope you’ll stick around, but I understand if you don’t want to.
I see goals like the one I set last year more as experiments. That way if it doesn’t work, it’s not that you failed at your goal, the experiment just didn’t have your desired or intended outcome….and that’s okay. I’m planning more experiments for this year I’m excited to share with you all.
words & 