Do You Need to Review ALL the Books You Read? | Book Snacks Babbles

Book Snacks Babbles is a discussion feature here at Book Snacks where I talk about all things bookish & bloggish! For more info, check out my intro post here. 

Hello! Welcome back again to another Book Snacks Babbles discussion post! Like last week’s discussion post, today’s post is another reviewer-type question—the question is directed more towards book reviewers. But, anyone can offer opinions!

Ever have those times where you fall into, say, a reviewing slump? No? Well, it’s one of the times where even though you’re still reading books, you don’t feel like reviewing them. I’ll be honest with you; this has happened to me before—unintentionally, of course. I’m reading, reading, working on schoolwork, reading, and suddenly I don’t feel like finishing the reviews of the books I recently read. Soon one becomes many and, well.. you probably know what that leads to (a very exasperated and frustrated Analee, if you didn’t know… oh, and a lot of books to review.) Which is how this question sprung to me… do we, as book bloggers, have to review each book we read? Well, get comfy and let’s babble!

Reviews have a few purposes, I find. One, of course, is for yourself, to either rant about a book or have a record of how you felt about a book. The second is for others. Because reviews are when you write down your thoughts on a book and with that other readers can make the decision on whether THEY want to read the book as well.

But… what are some reasons we wouldn’t want to write reviews? Because those are the causes for this question to occur at all, right?

Well, I’m gonna answer my own question here and name off a few (with a few tips on how to deal!):

1) Sometimes, it just takes too much effort. I can’t really say for sure how this one works because this was never a situation I found myself to be in, but I can definitely understand it. Just like blogging and reading slumps, sometimes it’s just too hard to take the effort to write reviews.

Tip: Nothing to do for this one other than find motivation! Read some reviews of other bloggers, check out their style and see if it inspires you to come up with your own. 

2) Not enough time. I know some people might think of this as a poor excuse, but it’s really not! I think EVERYONE can agree with me when I say there’s not enough time to read/blog these days. Well, it can be the same for reviews! So many to write (depending on the books you read), but not enough time to write them—we’ve all been in some kind of similar situation I’m sure.

Tip: I’ll get back to you on this one…! LOL, just kidding. This one is definitely one I’m subjected to, so right now I’m failing at offering any useful tips other than try to find time on the weekends! Hopefully you’ll be better at finding time on the weekends than I am. If any of you have any other tips though, I’m all ears!

3) ‘Uhhh… I can’t remember what happened in the book.’ Ah. Those pesky reviews that you have avoided writing since 6 months ago have finally caught up with you! In this situation,  since you’ve forgotten what happened in the book and your thoughts on it, you’ve abandoned writing the review, am I right? 😛

Tip: If you know you’re going to have a hard time remembering things in the book, take notes! How you felt at a specific moment, a quote you liked that reminds you of the story, etc. If you’re not much of a notes-while-reading person, I recommend just quickly making notes after you read to keep track of your thoughts for later.

4) Sometimes, there’s just nothing to say ABOUT the book. Oooh, this one can be tough! When you feel indifferent about a book or found it boring, it can be hard to find something to say about the book, hence you put off writing the review on it.

Tip: Dig deep and see if there’s anything, anything, anything at all you can say about this book, whether positive or negative. No book is without some merit!

Okay, so I’m going waaaay off topic now. All this is good and well, but the question still remains; do you have to review each book you read? Well, it’s time for a pros and cons list so we can find out!

Pros of reviewing each book you read

• Great for future reference. By reviewing each book you read, you have more records of your thoughts on different books, so if you ever need to remember how you felt on a book (like for first book in a series or something) then you can always look back to your review.

• Practice makes perfect! Through writing reviews of each book you read, you’re getting more chances to experiment with your reviewing style and practice using the one that suits you and your voice best. And that’s always a good thing, right? 🙂

• More reviews! Yay! A well-thought out review is always fun to read, especially if you’re reviewing a hyped book. It opens possibilities for discussion and different perspectives to be seen, and that’s definitely a pro.

Cons of reviewing each book you read

• It becomes more of a requirement (at times). When you start to review each book, there becomes this expectation for you to do a review for ALL the books.. and if you’re anything like me then you know once you start something, you don’t want to stop because it’ll ruin the pattern (even if you want to or should stop). SIGH. My own personality if working against me.

• Less time to read (and maybe do other stuff like school.. sigh). Now, this isn’t always the case, but as with any kind of activity, the more time you spend on it, the less time you have for other important stuff (also known as READING)!

• More reviews to organize in your review index! (ugh.) Yes, this is a valid reason. (Unless you don’t have one.) Most of us know how bothersome it can be to update our review index(es) with newer reviews! Once you forget to update it for a while and then have a huge pile of reviews, it becomes quite the time-consumer.

I’m sure there are much more pros and cons to add, but I’ll leave it at that. (But feel free to suggest some of your own down below!)

So… do we HAVE to review ALL the books we read?

Personally, I say no! Even though my (pitifully small, I admit) pros and cons list are basically even, at the end of the day, it’s your choice and your choice only. If you don’t want to review a book, don’t! If you do, go right ahead. It’s all up to you.

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What do you think? Do you have to review ALL the books you read? Do you ever fall into a reviewing slump? What is the cause for it? What are some pros and cons do you think I missed? Let me know whatever thoughts you may have below! ❤