A couple of people have asked me lately about my ratings on Goodreads and why I don’t seem to write reviews of the books I’ve read there. People also sometimes come across my blog and ask me to review their books here, and I almost always politely turn them down. The answer is that I don’t write book reviews, generally. Not on my blog, not on Amazon, and rarely on Goodreads. I’ve gone back and forth about this over the years, and that’s the conclusion to which I keep returning.

I know, it’s terrible. I’m a writer, and I frequently ask and hope that people will review my books. In case you are wondering, this totally does make me a hypocritical and selfish ass hat.

But for anyone interested, here are the enumerated reasons for this ass-hattery:

1. Reviews often reflect as much on the reviewer as they do on the book. If I were to write book reviews, I would want them to be genuine, and fully reflect my carefully-thought-out opinions as I read (or often, listened to) the book in question. It’s the only way they would be meaningful for me or the people who might read them. What’s more, people who publicly identify themselves as writers, and review books by other authors, should be (and are) held to a higher standard of quality, depth and perspective than a reviewer who is “just” a reader. This is both because of professional courtesy to treat other writers the way you expect to be treated, and because readers may put more weight on a writer’s opinion. The time it takes to do that justice means less time for reading and writing.
2. As a writer and friend, I am an absolute cheerleader for all writers. I carry a deep, harrowed understanding of all the work and hair-pulling that goes into simply completing a book of any kind. Putting words on a page in front of everyone takes courage; I try to treat other writers with the awe and respect they deserve.
3. As a reader, however, I’m a raving, critical bitch. In college I remember actually throwing Pat Conroy’s Beach Music across the room because he used the phrase “my native tongue” about thirty times to describe the sound of his fellow South Carolinians talking. Now, I love Conroy’s writing and admire him personally. But the overuse of that one little phrase, and the editorial laziness it implied, simply irked my arrogant 20-year-old self (who had no idea what an undertaking that novel must have been). I was reading that particular book for pleasure, between semesters as an English major at the University of Georgia, and I threw the damn thing against a wall. I’m aware there may be something wrong with me. Let’s call it a passion for getting things right in writing. I notice when authors get it right, and it keeps me coming back for more. But like most people with a critically-wired brain, I notice more often what is not right. It’s the sand in the oyster. This can be a good thing, when someone asks me to critique their work, or when I am turning my glare on my own work to make it better. Not so good when publicly reviewing books written by people I might see at a conference next month. Mr. Conroy, no hard feelings, right?
4. Hypocrisy, Level II. Whenever I have attempted to sit down and write a review of a book I’ve read recently, I find that the critical things I want to say, the things that would actually be helpful to potential readers, are things people might just as easily say about one of my books. I’ve done much worse than write “my native tongue” one time too many. This is a terrific discovery for me when I find it; it helps me see where my own work needs improvement. But it doesn’t seem fair to call out another author for making mistakes that I’ve clearly made myself. Maybe that’s silly, but it’s how I feel.
5. My reading lacks focus. I read whatever interests me, from any genre. I read more in the genres in which I write, obviously, but I’m not an “expert” in any one genre, which I believe lessens the quality and context of my reviews. It’s hard to accurately rate how well a book fulfills the expectations and compares to others of its genre when you’ve only read a handful of books from that genre lately. It’s great for my writing and I love reading this way, but it can make me a poor reviewer.
6. I am a slow and inconsistent reader, and my brain works more by intuition than methodology. Often my experience with a particular book depends on the context in which I’ve read it and what was going on for me emotionally at the time. It’s often difficult for me to separate my experience of the book from the book itself, making my opinions less than useful for other people. “Patience” by Guns N’ Roses will always be THE song about love and longing as far as I’m concerned, because it was the soundtrack to one of my earliest experiences with yearning and heartbreak. You couldn’t pay me enough money to go back and be thirteen again, btw. Does that mean it’s an empirically good song, from a critical standpoint? Would I recommend it to someone looking for a power ballad to crush an adolescent girl’s heart in 2014? Maybe not. Same with The Lovely Bones or A Soldier of the Great War.

I’m not saying my opinions are useless, of course. If you’ve read this blog ever, you know I am pretty free with my point of view on things. And there are certainly exceptions to my book review policy, if you can even call it that. I have put short reviews on Goodreads about writing-related books because I see myself in the consumer/student role for those books rather than a peer/professional role. And if a fellow author or friend ever thinks I’m important enough to invite me to write a blurb for their book or to ask me to review their book, I will do that as long as I can honestly and without reservation say that I love it. But if I don’t have anything nice to say… well, I’ll change the subject.

Chime in! Have you ever read (or avoided) a book because of a review by another author, or the blurb on the front cover? What is your reaction when authors review other people’s books? What about my fellow writers? Do you guys do book reviews? Why or why not? Under which circumstances?

While you’re thinking about your comments, please enjoy six minutes of pre-90’s tormented adolescent lust.

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I’m M.J. (Manda) Pullen, an author and mom in the Atlanta, Georgia area. I blog about writing, publishing, motherhood, health, psychology and whatever else strikes me in the moment. I’ve been walking the streets at night, just trying to get it right…

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My current roster of books includes The Marriage Pact series, a trilogy of Contemporary Romance/Women’s Fiction novels. You can find them for all eBook formats and in paperback here.

MJ Pullen

M.J. Pullen is a distracted writer and the mom of two boys in Roswell, Georgia, where she is absolutely late for something important right now. Her books include quirky romantic comedies and playful women's fiction. She blogs erratically with writing advice, random observations, and reflections on raising very loud kids and dogs. Join her Distracted Readers newsletter list for updates, free content, giveaways and more.