Books for You & Them

Plus, why I don’t write reviews & why I left Goodreads

Even as a kid books were my favorite Christmas presents. My Aunt Marie always sent books and I still have Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates, Parsifal Rides the Time Wave, and Runaway Pony, Runaway Dog, even though my little sister colored in them. I think books are the best presents for book lovers. And even for those who don’t read much because it may be the book you give is the one to turn them on to reading for pleasure.

I write an author interview column for Reckon Review focusing on books published by independent presses called The Nitty Gritty. I interviewed eight authors this year whose books I recommend for you to read and/or give as gifts. They include:

Home is a Made Up Place by Ronit Plank - Flash Fiction Collection

Maybe This is What I Deserve by Tucker Leighty-Phillips - Flash Fiction Collection

A Brief Natural History of Women by Sarah Freligh - Flash Fiction Collection

Small Burning Things by Cathy Ulrich - Flash Fiction Collection

The Last Year by Jill Talbot - Essays, Memoir

Melt With Me by Paul Crenshaw - Essays, Memoir

Blur by Dan Crawley - Flash Fiction Collection

Jaded by Wilson Koewing - Flash Fiction Collection

My interviews with them all can be read here and I do recommend reading them because you’ll get wonderful insight into their writing process and behind-the-story stories.

In addition, many other of my writer friends have published books this year. Although I’ve bought a good many, I haven’t been able to read them all yet. Here are a few that I read and recommend (in no particular order):

Another Appalachia: Coming Up Queer and Indian in a Mountain Place by Neema Avashia (West Virginia University Press) Memoir

Hard Mountain Clay by C.W. Blackwell (Shotgun Honey) Fiction

The Girl Singer, Poems by Marianne Worthington (University Press of Kentucky) Poetry

Child Craft by Amy Barnes (Belle Point Press) Flash Fiction Collection - My interview with Amy for The Citron Review here.

Hard Skin by Melissa Llanes Bownlee - Flash Fiction Collection (Juventud Press)

Here in the Dark by Meagan Lucas - Short Stories (Shotgun Honey)

Summer 1969 by Sheree Shatsky - Flash Fiction Collection (Ad Hoc Fiction)

Letting in Air and Light by Teresa Tumminello Brader - Memoir Hybrid (Belle Point Press)

Beer Breath Kisses by Damon McKinney - Hybrid Prose (Belle Point Press)

Daughters of the New Year by E.M. Tran - Fiction (Hanover Square Press)

Once These Hills by Chris McGinley - Fiction (Shotgun Honey)

You can Google all of these titles to find where to purchase them or visit the press websites.

I recently deleted my Goodreads account which I’ve had since shortly after they became a website. It started as a good place to keep book lists. I usually gave stars to my read books but very seldom wrote reviews. My personal interpretation for stars was that 3 stars = a good solid book, 4 stars = a very good book, 5 stars = an exceptionally great book that I really loved. I never posted less than 3 stars because I felt if I didn’t like a book or finish it, there was nothing to gain by being mean about it. Also, my opinion (and everyone’s) is subjective. The star ratings are subjective, too, because your star ratings might not be the same as someone else’s. And that’s really not fair to the writer. IMO, Goodreads should have parameters for the star ratings, otherwise…..well, they don’t mean a lot.

As I became friendly with more and more writers online I saw how Goodreads ratings (and Amazon, etc) affected them. I clearly remember a writer being downcast about a 3 star rating which surprised me. But it made me think. A rating that to me was a solid, was a negative to them. In the real world, though, 5 stars is not going to be sustainable for every reader or every writer. I cannot give 5 stars to someone just because I “know” them - that would be insincere. It bothered me that what I gave as a good solid rating actually hurt someone. That, in turn, made me not want to rate books at all. So, I decided to quit the game and deleted my account. You might say, well this is going to hurt your writer friends. They depend on ratings and reviews. To that I say, I will not take a chance on hurting feelings unintentionally. If Goodreads institutes an across-the-board rating system, I’ll return.

As for reviews, I’m just not good writing them because I’m not a critical reader. I’m an emotional reader. I want to connect with the story, feel for the characters and situations. I take each book as it’s written without mentally comparing it to anyone else’s book. The components I see sometimes in book reviews are things I don’t think about so therefore can’t write. Some reviewers are just too academic, too dry, too critical. Those are not reviewers I will read. And, again, I wouldn’t want to write a review seen as inadequate or disappointing by the writer.

Speaking of books, Best Small Fictions 2023 is available for purchase, info here. This is my second year in a row to have a story included in this anthology - with thanks to whatever saint is in charge of writers and to the editors, readers, and publisher, Alternating Current Press.