Okay, so I’ve been noticing lately that my ratings vary somewhat based on how soon I review a book after I’ve read it. I usually review books relatively quickly once I’ve read them. Sometimes I have so many feelings about a book that I just have to get them out! They’re impossible to hold inside!
Or sometimes I have to review it right away because I’ve read it for a tour and waited until the last minute to finish it. (I can’t be the only one!) Of course, reviewing right away means that I won’t forget any of those details that I wanted to point out. So, it’s best to review right away, don’t you think?
But, here’s the thing – when I review right away, I’m often still on that just-finished-an-awesome-book high. Which is great! I mean, if that’s the way I’m feeling, my review should reflect that, right? I mean, if the book made me feel like this …
Or like this …
Or even like this …
I should tell you about it.
But, then sometimes, I just can’t get to a review right away for whatever reason. Maybe I have too many already scheduled reviews coming up and I’m just too busy to squeeze in an extra (even to write the review and save it for later). Or maybe I can’t get my thoughts together enough to coherently say what I want to say. Or maybe I’m just being plain lazy. (Totally been known to happen). For whatever reason, time goes by. Sometimes days, sometimes even weeks …
Only now that new-book high has worn off. Do I still love it? Maybe. The fact is that I find some books lose their shine after a little while. I can remember that I really enjoyed it, but I can’t quite get hold of those feelings to remember why. (Case in point.) Sometimes I can’t even remember details about the books and I have to go refresh my memory before I write my review (I know – bad reviewer!!). I do write notes for myself when I read, though, which helps a lot.
But what does that mean? Which review is the “real” one? The review where I’m still kind of feeling giddy from that awesome ending or the one where I’ve let the book and my thoughts sit for a while? I’m torn. Sometimes I feel like I’ve rated books really high and then a few months later have pretty much forgotten them – they just didn’t leave much of a permanent impression. And then there are some books that I rated slightly lower that I find coming to mind on a relatively regular basis. Books that stick.
So, were my reviews wrong? I don’t know. I don’t think so. Still, I can’t help but think that I’m giving books an unfair advantage (or disadvantage) based on when I rate them. What’s the solution? I guess, ideally, I’d wait exactly a week before I reviewed any book. That way I’d have time to come down from the high, but not enough time to forget stuff. But, I know myself well enough to know that’s probably not going to happen. I’m just not that organized!
What do you think? How soon after you read a book do you review it? Do you have a rule? Am I the only one who has this problem? Have you come up with a brilliant solution that doesn’t involve being really organized? I want to know!
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Very rarely do I write my review the day I finish the book. Why? Because I’m lazy, LOL. But it also varies widely when I review… I might review the day after, two days after, maybe a week after, and shamefully, sometimes… ahem, a couple of months after. Right now I’m actually trying to catch up on my review because I ALWAYS fall behind! lol. But I think you actually make a good point though… I never even thought that waiting a certain amount of time could affect my review/ view on the book! Hmmm…
P.S. I love that you use Frozen gifs as much as I use Supernatural gifs 😀 *sigh* I have serious problem… LOL
Yes, Frozen is definitely my gif of choice for some reason. Guess I just love it!
Thanks for coming by and commenting – since I moved to WordPress, some of my older posts are looking kind of lonely (my Intense Debate comments won’t transfer, so all of my comments still appear on the old Blogger blog, but not on this one). It’s nice to see some love on these WP posts too! 🙂
I always write my review after finishing the book and before I start the next one. If I feel giddy about a book I want to put those feelings on paper, right now. Because if I don’t I’ll never get that feeling back again and I already find it hard to put my enthousiasme on paper, so when I do feel giddy I try to write my review instantly after finishing the book.
I do agree that sometimes it’s better to wait a bit till you have some time to process it, although I still would like to write the rveiews soon after finishing a book, at the latest up till one day after finishing it.
Yes, sometimes those instantaneous reviews are the best because you just want to gush about the book. Even four months later, I’m still torn on this blog topic, though. Sometimes I think that first impression is best and sometimes I think I should have cooled my jets a bit.
[…] instance, I wrote a post about a year ago (one of my first discussions!) asking how soon you review. Like I said, I’ve been thinking about this for a while. At the time of that post, I noticed […]
I agree. If I don’t review right away, sometimes books lose their shine. Especially depending on how I feel about the “next book” I read. I am working on trying to review as soon as I get done, while my feelings and thoughts are fresh.
I’ll confess that I’m still pretty horrible about waiting a long time to review sometimes. Some things will never change.