Play Book Tag discussion

Reviews and research/planning your reading is a huge part of PBT.

Tell your review process. How long do you wait to write a review after finishing a book? Do you review every book? How many other reviews do you read?

Tell about researching books both before and after reading. Do you read wiki articles about the book or author of the book? Do you look up adaptations? Do you read critic reviews?

As always, don't limit yourself to the questions above. Free conversation.

I generally write a review immediately after finishing a book when it is fresh in my mind. I don't peruse other reviews prior to writing mine, since I do not want to be influenced.

I write reviews for all books I read unless I don't have anything to say, which happens only rarely. My reviews are intended to help me remember the book (since I read so many and some are more memorable than others) as well as (hopefully) help others figure out if they want to read it.

I occasionally look up information about the book and/or author after reading it, but generally not beforehand. It really depends on the book/author. I definitely look up the authors if I'm impressed by the writing, since I will generally add another of their books on my TBR. I do not look up adaptations unless someone on PBT mentions one.

I just read, I hardly ever look anything up and if so, it's after I finish the book. The only place I do reviews is on PBT and if there's no game that requires it, I won't do much of them. I track that I read the book and give it 1-5 stars. True, I won't have any way to remember much about the book, but I'm already on to the next one!

I will sometimes look up and add to my TBR other books by an author I liked.

I review every book I read. I don't do much research on a book before or during a read, and I never research after. It sort of is an "encapsulated is what it is." However, I do put in a lot of research for the challenges. Because I only want to read off my TBR and something of interest. I amazed often about how some of our members do a deep dive into learning more in all dimensions. That is never me. But I respect it.

I’m very similar to Robin. I review books if they happen to fit the tag or if a review is needed for a challenge - but, if not, I don’t usually write a review.

I really appreciate reading others’ reviews and feel a bit guilty about not contributing as much (or as thoughtfully!) as some of you. Like Joy, I also find it much easier to remember a book if I’ve reviewed it. But I write all the time for my job, so it’s nice not to have to formulate lucid opinions about my down-time activities as well!

I also tend to review only on PBT as this group is the reason I’m on GR at all. Also I have wanted to avoid a more public presence on social media in the last few years. Less need for caution now so I will probably start double posting onto GR itself simply so I can relocate my thoughts about a book more easily.

Quite often, I’ll scan star ratings that friends give a book if I am thinking of reading it and sometimes I’ll also read their reviews. It gives me a general indication of whether the book is likely to meet my tastes or mood or not.

I enjoy writing reviews and write one for each book that I've read. Like Joy, I write them immediately after reading a book. At times, the writing just flows.

My purpose is both to create a writing journal of books so that I remember them AND to create a conversation with other readers.

I tend to look up things as I read, pertinent to each book. Youtube videos are my go-to for this. I've looked up music, art, food, photos, etc. Usually, I'll share them at the bottom of the reviews.

Sometimes, I'll listen to an author interview at the end of reading the book. I once listened to James McBride explaining a book of his that I could not connect with (Deacon King Kong) and enjoyed his discussion much more than the novel.

Joy D wrote: "I generally write a review immediately after finishing a book when it is fresh in my mind. I don't peruse other reviews prior to writing mine, since I do not want to be influenced...."

This, along with much of the rest of what Joy mentioned is pretty similar for me. I write my reviews, ideally, the day I finish it, but depending on timing, it sometimes waits until the next day.

When I started in PBT almost 17 years ago, I didn't write reviews at all. But PBT got me writing them for those that fit the month tag, initially... then later on when participation points were introduced (I was not an admin at the time), it encouraged me to write reviews for everything I read.

Now, as an admin, I don't get participation points, anyway, but I still write the reviews. Again, like Joy, in part it is to help my own memory.

I also like that first paragraph to be a summary of the book. Some people don't like that, and ok, sure, if you are on a book's page, that's fine, you can get the summary there... but for posting in groups like this, there is no context, so I like to provide the summary. If people don't want to read the summary as part of the review, at least for me, it's usually only the first paragraph, so it's easy to skip.

ETA: Research: again, like Joy, I rarely do research while I'm reading it, but will sometimes look things up after I finish. Sometimes.

I use to review each book immediately after reading it. 2024 was a bad year for me, and I placed finished books on the table next to my desk-and there they grew. I started marking passages, to remember what I liked and did not like. Did not help-LoL. I use to take time with my reviews, and make them fun and interesting, It seemed I had lost that in my "meh attitude all year with reading. I am hoping that in 2025 I get all that back.

With historical fiction, I will use Wiki or somewhere else to fact check. An author doing their research is super important to me. With non-ficiton If there was someone I knew nothing about, or a subject that I was pretty unschooled on, I will always look it up-but not until after I am done with the book.

KateNZ wrote: "I’m very similar to Robin. I review books if they happen to fit the tag or if a review is needed for a challenge - but, if not, I don’t usually write a review.

I really appreciate reading others’..."

I agree about not needing to be that public. I don't want random people to respond to my opinions. Because my advanced age is on my profile and I don't have a picture, I don't have a problem that some of you have experienced of a guy trying to friend you and then more. I also resist giving online reviews of products. If the company itself wants my feedback, I'll do it, but I don't want it on 3rd party sites.

When I first joined Audible, around 2011, the reviews there were really helpful. There weren't the thousands found on GR. I "followed" some people who had similar tastes and I even had people following me. So I felt my comments were useful. But they ended that option, plus they don't think I have listened to the book unless I streamed it from their app, which I rarely do.

I must admit that when I finish a book or look one up and I see reviews from GR friends, I do appreciate reading them.

I try to do a review shortly after reading a book. I had a big fail this year when I was reading a lengthy series and now I will never be able to tell one from another. So doing a review is for tracking and memory.

I research some before, but mostly during reading and after. I like to have an idea of setting when I read a book so look up images and on a map.

I like to read on my kindle fire because any time there is something of interest in the book, food eaten by the people of the book, a word I'm not familiar with or a historical person or place, I will look it up.

After reading a book, if something clicked with me I will often look up about the author or an author's interview about the book.

I read reviews before, after and during. It doesn't influence me at all, I'm just curious.

More and more, a lot of my free reading is chosen from colleagues’ work, books we discuss, and topics I hear about via conferences or journals and want to explore more but which are unrelated to my research. Classes I teach and guest lectures I do also influence what I read. I’m so incredibly blessed to get to do a job everyday that I love so much I’m happy to have it topple over into my main hobby. I actually hate Goodreads, so it’s not a resource for me — I’ve just always loved PBT (I joined right after the first anniversary on Shelfari, a platform I loved). If not here, my more fun type reading is quite often suggested to me by my students. In undergrad classes, I teach students studying every topic under the sun, so they are a gold mine of book ideas or topics I’d just like to learn more about. I also teach many international students, whether I’m teaching in the U.S., Canada, or Europe. Often, their lived experiences influence my reading. So, I don’t research too many fun books online through reviews. If I do end up looking up a book, I read some five star reviews and some one star reviews; it is usually pretty easy to see if the book’s overall rating is influenced by biases. Good narrators are also very important to me. Because I spend my entire day reading and writing, almost all of my leisure reading is audiobooks.

I always wait at least a couple of days after finishing a book before I write a review. This gives me a chance to ruminate on it a bit, something that is especially important for books that either make me think deeply or books that make me cranky. I absolutely do not read any reviews or anything else that might alter my authentic thoughts before I write my review and post it. I do go read reviews after mine is out there in the world. I have been known to go back and edit my review if I feel like there are some really biased reviews out there, especially if they are about the author as a person rather than the book. I will start my edit something like, “Many reviews have stated X. In my opinion, this is more of a reflection on the reviewers’ opinions on the author than their work. Here is why I feel this way. . .” I had a long-time habit of keeping a journal book of book titles and authors plus a star rating. Then, for many years, I kept a blog. Brevity is not a gift of mine, so eventually the blog just got time consuming.

Obviously, reviews for professional journals are different than what I write for anywhere else. For one thing, there are no stars in a journal. You give a quick synopsis of the work and then state the strengths and weaknesses of both the writing and the research. I do that in my fun reviews, too, but I add a couple other things: first is that star rating. The second is, if I give a book a low star rating, I always try to say who might enjoy the book more than me (or if I was just in the wrong mental space at the time). Finally, if I can think of an example, I also like to do the “if you liked X book, you will probably like this one,” tell categories of people who might enjoy it, and also give “trigger warnings.” I try to write with grace and respect that, even if I have to say the book is just plain appalling, someone put heart and time into it. I guess there’s always that teacher in me, trying to offer up something constructive.

Frequently, books I read spawn babies. Often, I will read a historical fiction and follow it up with a nonfiction. I call this “tandem reading.” If I do this, I like to include the nonfiction I plan to read in my review of the novel. I also like to read through the bibliography of a nonfiction book that has elements that fascinated me and in which I’d like to dip my toes a bit more. Sometimes a book will lead to a book, which leads to a book, etc. When I listen to a nonfiction book on audio, it’s not uncommon for me to get a print copy and browse all the back of the book info, maps, photos, original source documents shown, etc. In addition to the bibliography adding to my towering TBR, I also like to notate in my review all the extra goodies included.

I like books that encourage a deep dive or as Care says 'spawn babies'. I'll often interrupt my reading to press the google button. And as much as I like, and collect, beautifully bound books, more and more, I prefer my kindle app. That way I can adjust the font, check out definitions and translations, highlight memorable phrases and add notes. It's a wonderful tool for a nerdy reader.

I try to review every book that I read. This is mostly for my personal use, to jog my memory, to record my likes and dislikes. I want to record how a book relates to other things that I've read or to my own experience, usually in a way that would make little sense to anyone else. I post my reviews. I like it when someone reads and comments, but I'd go on writing without any audience at all. I like to write. Keeps my brain exercised.

That said, I almost never review immediately after reading. The better the book the longer it takes me to review. I'm a compulsive re-reader. I'm still working on a review of Playground, my last book of 2024.

I do rate and review every book I read, though I'm not consistent with how quickly after finishing I get this done. Sometimes real life gets in the way of my reading / reviewing hobby.

I write the reviews for myself, so I can remember books I've read. That's one reason I start with a brief synopsis. I try to say what I liked about the book, and also if there were any elements I did not like. I will sometimes comment that "This book was not for me, but I can see why it's popular among xxx." (might be YA or children, or fans of a certain genre).

I tend to look up more information about the non-fictions I read, since I consider myself a student of history and I like to be informed. And like Jgrace, I enjoy writing.

I definitely write reviews of just about all the books I read, which only started once I joined PBT in 2018. I am blessed to have a wide circle of friends that are readers and we spent - and still spend - a LOT of time discussing books which are essentially reviews. So, while I wasn't writing down reviews before PBT, I was certainly reviewing them!

I write them pretty much immediately after reading them - there are exceptions of course. I find it pleasurable. If I don't for some reason and I have 2 or 3 that I haven't reviewed, when I finally sit down to do it, it's work, not pleasure. I also find myself often mentally organizing that review as I am still reading the book - often just a first sentence - and I have been known to jot that down in the private notes section for the book here on GR so they are there when I go to write the review.

I enjoy writing the reviews. Like KateNZ, I write all day (and read) for my job, but for me reviews are fun creative relaxation, a whole different type of writing. I get to express exactly what I think and liked or didn't without filters or even structure. I only write them on GR (where I set high privacy levels) or in a couple of very private secret groups on FB - never on places like Amazon. I primarily write these for me - both as a reminder and also as a way to refresh my memory quickly.

I don't do a lot of research or review reading bofore - or what I do is very superficial. I'm primarily a fiction reader and too many reviews and summaries are spoilers. I also don't want other's reactions to a book to influence my reading. I once read reviews in NYTimes, Kirkus Reviews, and elsewhere religiously, before reading a book, but no more. I hold off until I've read the book myself. Far too many reviews, whether by ordinary readers or professional reviewers contain spoilers of one sort or another, or are written in a way that is to promote the writer of the review and I really hate that. I don't want my experience colored. I do work hard not to include spoilers in most of the reviews I write.

Anyone who has done a buddy read with me knows I'm one of those who looks things up as she reads - location, food, art, musical pieces mentioned, cultural references, etc. I share them often - in my personal tracking or reviews or buddy read discussions. Authors include those items in the books for a reason and I like knowing about them - they always inform my reading, not spoil it. I've been known to look for author interviews and discussions after finishing a book - because I attend author interviews and signings often, I know how illuminating they can be. Or not - I've read 2 of Helen Oyeyemi books and having no clue after reading each what the themes explored were supposed to be, I did some googling of interviews and realized she had no idea either. That author I will never read again and I completely fail to undersand all the high ratings and accolades her work gets.

re Spoilers

Some people are completely clueless.

I was at an author event once and just before the Q&A portion, the author stated, "Please no spoilers in your questions. Not everyone has finished reading the book yet." (Since it had only been out for about two weeks and at least half the audience bought it at the event, that was a kind way of putting it.)

So, of course, the first person to stand up and shout out her question asked (made up example because I don't want to give anything away): "Why did Sylvia kill her brother?" (And I apologize if there is a book out there where Sylvia kills her brother...)

Of course everyone in the audience groaned, and the author stared daggers at the questioner. But she just stood there with a puzzled look on her face and said, "What?"

This is a fun topic, and I like reading everyone's responses.

LibraryCin: I don't normally put a synopsis in my reviews, but you make some good points. I think I will start doing that.

I am one that like to wait to write my review, sometimes a week or more later. I let the story and themes and moral marinate in my mind. Some books don't lend themselves to this. I will also go back and change my star rating on a book. I've had several that didn't feel like great reads, but in the weeks after reading the book, I find I have referenced it, quoted it, or thought about it more than I anticipated. Apparently, it was impactful. Some I've thought masterpieces and realize that after some time, I don't feel very strongly about it.

I like to see friend's ratings. I will look and see if others in the group enjoyed a book. I don't read the review. For posts made, if I open to look at the review I typically skim it. Most of the posts I read are of books I've already read. I feel bad about this sometimes, but I like to go into a book with little to no expectations or even knowing plot line. All I want to know is the genre.

I do read reviews after I have written my review but before I post it. I read my goodreads friend's reviews and then I will pick out some 5 star and 2 star reviews. I find it fascinating how different we all can perceive a book. I also like to see if others felt the same way about a book as I did or if my view is unique/off-base. Most of the time, reading other reviews does not change the review I've written, but sometimes it will bring clarity to something I've missed or help me better express how I felt about the book.

I look a lot while and after reading. Looking up the setting, how accurate a historical fiction or even nonfiction book is. My favorite thing to look up is the circumstances of an author at the time they wrote a book. What was the inspiration or experience that led to this story or interest. And then I search to see if a movie or tv show was made and how much influence the author had on the adaptation. All of this leads down wiki rabbit holes and I can wind up on other topics and other books.

I do review everything I read. Short stories and children's books included. I don't have a strong reading circle outside of PBT, so I don't get to discuss books regularly.

I look at reviews in general if I am thinking of buying an ebook. If I start a book and I'm not enjoying it, I will sometimes look at reviews to see if it gets better.

Reviews are of course idiosyncratic. Some readers will mark down anything with swearing, some don't like unconventional styles or non-chronological timelines. I have no problem with those. Some people "don't like" the characters. I often enjoy characters who are scoundrels (but not psychopaths or serial killers.) Or some people say the character complains and whines too much, I think that's realistic, most of us have lots of complaints all the time!

When I choose a book at the library or bookstore, I will look at the blurb on the back or the inside cover. But when it is time to start the book, (months or weeks later) , I will avoid them totally, as they often tell you half of the book.

Thanks for this conversation, I think I'll use it for the next ATY Monthly Question, which I am in charge of!

Jason wrote: "I will also go back and change my star rating on a book. I've had several that didn't feel like great reads, but in the weeks after reading the book, I find I have referenced it, quoted it, or thought about it more than I anticipated. Apparently, it was impactful. Some I've thought masterpieces and realize that after some time, I don't feel very strongly about it.."

I do this too! As most of you know, I can be quite obsessive about making sure my ratings are internally consistent, so if I start feeling like I mis-rated a book, I will go back and change it (up or down, but believe it or not, most are changed upward, since it means I've been thinking about it for a long time and it made an impression). I keep a spreadsheet of all my books (ratings and rankings) and have been known to change ratings years later if one of them seems "out of whack" with the rest. :-)

I do read many reviews on PBT, even if I haven't read the book, since we, as a group, are very good about trying to avoid spoilers, and I will have forgotten even that much when I pick it up later on. Jason, it sounds like we have lots of techniques in common.

I try to write reviews the day after I finish a book, but sometimes get delayed. They tend to be short, but not always. I don't usually do the sort of research you mentioned, Jason, although I always read the acknowledgements if a book has them and usually the author bio on GR. Sometimes I'll read more about the author, but not most of the time.

Jason wrote: "LibraryCin: I don't normally put a synopsis in my reviews, but you make some good points. I think I will start doing that. ..."

Thank you, Jason! I am more likely to read a review thtn has a synopsis than one that doesn't. I want to first know if it's a topic I'm interested in BEFORE I read whether or not you (or another reviewer) liked it and why.

I do read the reviews of my friends on GR - mostly PBT but a few from other groups - but generally not before I am well into the book.

I too have gone back a bit later and changed my star rating - about equally up and down - but not often. Other than fixing typos or grammar, I don't add or change the review itself. Sometimes when I go back and read a review I wrote, I surprise myself on how well it reads! Does that happen to others?

I put very little synopsis in my reviews, goal to give a general idea only. I know others here put it first ususlly, I easily just skip over it. And since I have read it already, I don't need it!😅

I also make a point of mentioning in a particularly negative or critical review if it is because it's the genre or an element of a genre that I generally don't like. Example: I really did not care for The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin, which I read with my only IRL book club, and particularly disliked the world building in it. In my negative review I made sure to mention that unless I can easily visualize the SFF world being created and embrace it or connect it to something recognizable like Renaissance Italy, it's not for me.

I agree with Robin, this is a great topic.

Jason wrote: "I do read reviews after I have written my review but before I post it. ..."

I often do this, as well. It does sometimes also remind me of something I wanted to mention in my review that I might have forgotten to mention initially.

I don't go back and re-star a book, even if the rating goes up or down in my own mind. I rate it what I thought as I was reading it and leave it there, but I do sometimes wonder about it. But yes, admittedly, the rating can change in my own head. :-)

Good point, some books I think about years later and others are gone from my brain within a couple of weeks!

I try to write a review within a day of finishing the book so I don't forget the details I want to put in my review. I review almost everything I read. I try to read all the reviews here on PBT and I appreciate people who give a quick summary of the book because it gives me more of an idea if it's a book i'd be interested in. The majority of my tbr list has come from reviews of people here. I don't research books ahead of time except for the presidential bios where I try to find the best one for each person. For nonfiction books especially I find myself looking up stuff as I read. For example I looked up stuff about several Civial war battles while reading about Grant.