Quandary over the best way to write a book review

Now that I am back from my almost three month long vacation, its time to get back into the stream of everyday living in Bangalore. I thought I would start by writing up a storm on my blog about the huge number of books I’ve read, to the places I visited and other life improving moments that came along my way.

My books and My Kindle

But writing a book review has never seemed harder. My friend presented me with a Kindle in January and there has been no looking back since. According to my Goodreads tally, I have read approximately 103 books as of last week, since the beginning of this year. And have written hardly any review. Enough material to last me for at least two years one would say.

And therein lies the catch. I read books by one author at one go. Some I liked, some I loved, while others I just wanted to get finished and scratched off my list. But how do I review what I read? Should I begin with an author and just club together all his/her books in one blog and my views on them in one or two lines? Because that doesn’t seem fair, since some books are obviously better than others and some might have some redeeming factor, or might be great in a completely different way from the other’s in a particular writer’s set. And author’s are a tricky lot in themselves. Some of them remain constant throughout their books, others take complete about turns while some just move back and forth to make life interesting.

Writing a review about each and every one of the books seems a very long and drawn out process and since I will continue reading even as I write, the list will never really stop. Even if I split them genre-wise. But still every book deserves a review on its own as a tribute to the effort that has gone into the making of it. And yet pick-and-choose is not easy either.

Maybe, I need a timetable first.

More books and Kindle

Plus, I am worried about printed books surviving another 10 years with the way things are going digital. Space is the major concern as we move into houses in cities with less and less room and higher and higher prices. And what with the concern for the environment, the ones that will be printed will probably be as precious as gold by then. Even now, I am hard-pressed if asked to choose between books and my e-book. I immediately think about the number of books and cost and storage and the e-book wins hands down every time and yet a book is piece of nostalgia, of connection with a sunny childhood that I am reluctant to let go just yet.

P.S. Sometimes when I read what I write on my blogs, I realize how much I jump from one topic to another in my head. No wonder people give me odd looks in my book club meetings when I start talking. Must get better at public speaking and stop being George Bush-like.