Au Contraire

One of the things I enjoy about being an author is that I can review friends’ books without apology. I am not unbiased. I am thrilled to death and proud of them and excited that they’ve managed to succeed in the dicey, chancy, heart-filling business of writing, and have managed to be published. I don’t need their publicists, their editors or their house to convince me that I need to read their book. I’d do it anyway.

That being said, I’d never write up a glowing review of a book I didn’t like. Ever. No matter where I got the book — from an author, from a PR person, from a publishing house — I take seriously what I put in writing. It means a lot to me to have an independent opinion, and I think it’s helpful to other readers or people looking for books to know that some people haven’t been bought or sold.

One of the things I appreciated most about my graduate school experience was the realization that I was part of the conversation about literature. I wasn’t expected to blindly agree with the literary criticism; just because I was reading Great Books and all, I didn’t have to like them. MY critical sense mattered. My input furthered the discussion. I had something to give.

That was pretty heady.

As we head into Banned Book Week and get ready to kick off a new season of the Cybils Awards, I realize there are probably a lot of bloggers and YA/children’s lit reviewers who don’t feel that way, who are afraid if they ever say they don’t like a book, don’t understand the hype and/or are –*gasp!*– sick to death of zombies and fairies and vampires, they’ll get kicked out of the sandbox. Especially those of us who flinch from confrontation worry that there’s no difference between polite dissent and playing nicely. There is a difference. Every opinion counts, even yours.

Don’t hold back. Join the discussion. The more booktalking, the better books we’ll discover, share, and ultimately, the better books we’ll read. See you on the independent reviewing blogs.