Lately, I've been reading a lot of books. I read so fervently that I often get carried away and start skimming the pages. But no matter how many books I read, I've put a simple star rating on them, added them to my just-read list on Goodreads and just shelved them away.
That simple routine has me feeling guilty.
Like I'm not contributing...just consuming.
That wasn't always the case.
Back in the day I'd review movies on Flixster but that teetered out when I kept seeing more and more garbage. The great movies are rare now. And I didn't feel it was worth my time.
Books on the other hand, need more encouragement. It's gotten to a point where if someone asks me what's good to read I go into reviewer mode where I give them a five paragraph speech on the latest book that not only thrilled me but changed my life.
In a way, it feels like cheating, people. It's been on my mind.
When I did have an urge to review books, I setup an amazon account under the name of The Film Noir Fedora.
I wrote a total of 207 reviews and a lot of them were on books I've read through the years. The last one I wrote was for Elisa Lorello's book Faking It. Which, by the way, is a very good book. It's staying strong at four stars with 209 reviews. These are committed reviewers. They took their time to add their two cents and made that book skyrocket to exactly where it needed to be.
Speaking of which, Elisa's not the only one who has been writing. Paul Lorello has just come out with a new novel called Compounded of Dust. A book I've had the joy of rereading. And you should too!
The last book review I put up on amazon was Feb 16th, 2010. That's too long to stay silent...especially in regards to books, which I love talking about the most.
I've realized that a lot of effort has gone into these books and that, I feel, has to be matched by reviews as well. After all, the more you write reviews, the more you encourage your favorite writers to write more books. It's just that simple, folks.
So, for this year, I am going to make an effort and write at least 100 reviews of books I'm currently reading. If you feel you need an honest review of a book you have recently written, do not hesitate to email me at
Robertoscarlato@gmail.com
I know I won't be able to read every single book out there but this will at least help me stay more committed to the craft of writing and will, hopefully, get people to read better books.
In short, stay committed. It helps others.
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