I feel like a genuine book reviewer!
I just found Martin Shepherd's latest blogpost at The Cockeyed Pessimist where he writes about book reviews, anonymous and otherwise, and their effect on the opportunities available to authors. He mentions a new Publishers Weekly program, called PW Select, which will provide a service that, for some unspecified registration fee, will include self-published books and reviews in a quarterly supplement. It sounds interesting, though fees always scare me. But what was even more interesting was reading the quoted reviews for a few of the Permanent Press's recent releases.
If you've followed my book review posts, you'll know I'm kind of a fan of the Permanent Press. I know their editors pick and choose the best, because every book I've read of theirs has enthralled me. Martin Shepherd writes (quoting the late James Agee) how a good reviewer should try to identify what the author was intending to achieve in writing the book, then judge how well the author seems to have succeeded. I think (I hope) that's what I do when reviewing the sort of book that I read from them--so far, their books have always intrigued me enough to make the author's goal feel like a vital and rewarding part of reading.
The blogpost continues with quotes from a number of reviews, and there, among them, are ones from Sheila Deeth on Gather.com!!!! Suddenly I feel like a genuine book reviewer! Thank you Martin, for your comments, and for the wonderful books I've had the privilege of reviewing from the Permanent Press.
If you've followed my book review posts, you'll know I'm kind of a fan of the Permanent Press. I know their editors pick and choose the best, because every book I've read of theirs has enthralled me. Martin Shepherd writes (quoting the late James Agee) how a good reviewer should try to identify what the author was intending to achieve in writing the book, then judge how well the author seems to have succeeded. I think (I hope) that's what I do when reviewing the sort of book that I read from them--so far, their books have always intrigued me enough to make the author's goal feel like a vital and rewarding part of reading.
The blogpost continues with quotes from a number of reviews, and there, among them, are ones from Sheila Deeth on Gather.com!!!! Suddenly I feel like a genuine book reviewer! Thank you Martin, for your comments, and for the wonderful books I've had the privilege of reviewing from the Permanent Press.
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