A Note About GoodReads

It's no secret.  I love to read.  Good Reads has been a great place to log what I've read and to keep track of what I'd like to read.  Not to mention see what all my real life and cyber "friends" are reading. But, I hate trying to write up a review on books.  It always feels like some lame statement or a 6th grade book report. (I'm speaking specifically of my own reviews.  I do enjoy reading others.)  I have a hard time with the rating system too.  So much how I feel about a book is based on my present mood, my life experiences and beliefs, standards, etc, my current stress levels, etc.  And I tend to be somewhat enthusiastic about things I like therefore tend to rate things a little higher than maybe I would if I waited a week to review/rate a book.  Same with books I don't like.  The other thing that's hard (for me) to account for in a rating system is how even if I don't like the book overall, I can appreciate it for something-a lesson, the writing, literary devices used...  Sometimes I leave my ratings blank.  If we're friends on GoodReads, assume that this is because I found the book very interesting in one way or another and want time to mull it over.  However, the whole rate and review process does make me think a little bit harder.  What I liked about the book, what I didn't, things that made some sort of an impression on me, things that changed me.  All great things to go into a review.  Too bad a lot of those things contain spoilers.  I hate spoilers.  (I don't even watch the movie trailers for the Twilight series, despite having read the books an embarrassing number of times. :)  Now the world has some insight to my mind when reading my GoodReads page.