I love to read. Sometimes I like watching TV more than I like reading, but we all have our phases. I read 20 books in 2015, 17 books in 2016, 13 books in 2017, 41 books in 2018, 42 books in 2019, and my goal for 2020 is 48. And that’s as far back as it goes because 2015 is when I started my goodreads account.
I love books. I especially love books about Iranian people before, during, and after the revolution (it’s, like, my favorite genre). I also love ya lit, preferably fantasy or scifi. But throw anything at me and I’ll be game.
I love book reviews. I read extensively about what I’m about to read. So say you recommend me a book, then I’ll read a few book reviews and if I deem it worthy then I’ll actually start reading it…eventually (tbh my tbr is the longest list known to the human race). I am very picky about book reviews. If the majority of it is plot summary, then I hate it. That doesn’t mean I will hate the book, but if the only reviews I read are summaries then I most likely won’t read it. Trust me, when your favorite genres are children’s fiction and ya lit this shortens the list quite a bit. By my standards, if the people reviewing the book don’t know how to write a decent book review then the person who wrote the book might not be that fantastic either. That being said, I still read a lot of stuff that is in all sense of the following trashy, ill-written, my-eyes-why-did-i-ever-think-reading-this-would-be-a-good-idea, devoid of plot and/or character development. Sometimes you just have to hate on a book. In the past, I haven’t really written book reviews about books I hated because, well, I hated them and I wanted to forget how much pain they caused. But I know I appreciate negative reviews as much as positive, because they help me to decide to never read John Green because all his characters are literally the same person–John Green–squeezed into various bodies.
As I was saying, I’m pretty exclusive about what book reviews I read, therefore I try to follow the fuzzy, not-so-clear guidlines I have magically poofed into existence so that I can write a review that readers will actually learn from. Basically, I don’t write book reviews that are restatements of what is on the back/inside-cover of the book. These aren’t book reports for middle school, they’re literary analyses fused with an enjoyment factor.
More or Less, my Rating System:
Five Stars: I loved it with indescribable fervor
Four Stars: it was a good read, would recommend
Three Stars: I mean, I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it either
Two Stars: I hated the majority of it
One Star: I couldn’t stand it and loathed it with indescribable fervor
You’re welcome.
Mel Reviews Books 