When you fall in love with a book so deeply and passionately, sometimes it’s difficult to express how you feel. Like trying to confess to that person you’ve crushed on for the longest time. Or conveying to that special person how much they mean to you. It’s hard to find the right words. At least for me.
I’ve always found it tougher to review five star books rather than books with lower ratings because there’s so much to say and I don’t know how to say them. I get absolutely speechless. It’s a problem. So I ask myself questions like: How was your experience reading the book? What part or which character made you feel certain emotions? What message do you want to get across with your review?
When I do find some words at least, I feel like I’m a parrot repeating the same things over and over like: This was beautiful- every bit of it. I loved it. I recommend it. You ought to read it. I really really loved it- did I mention that yet? Naturally, I’ve reviewed several books that I loved already and more often than not, I feel like I keep using the same words and expressions with them. Though I try not to, it’s frustrating when I let myself worry about it.
Also, as a book blogger whose posts will be for public consumption, I feel the weight of not doing justice to the book I love when I share my thoughts. I want my reviews and posts to capture and impart my feelings completely. I guess it’s a challenge for someone like me who isn’t a very good writer. Or isn’t very good at expressing feelings at all. Maybe it’s a challenge for everyone else too.
With that, I feel seriously triumphant when someone tells me they want to read a book after hearing/reading my thoughts on it. It’s the greatest thing- to express your love and have someone reciprocate.
Do you sometimes find it hard to express your love for a book? Why? How do you overcome it?
24 Responses
I’ve become more into YA because of your posts (Love Letters to the Dead).. :3 I also find it hard at times to express how amazing a book is that I sometimes end up with two or three sentences..
Thank you so much! That was one book that I totally struggled to express my love for! When I really can’t form enough words to write a full review, sometimes I leave a few sentences on Goodreads too! :)
This is definitely something I struggle with too! With books I dislike I can go on and on, but when it comes to a book I really love I find it hard to write a review that does it justice. I feel your pain! And I’m still searching for the answers to fix it – maybe reading more is the solution? :p
The thing about me is that I like more books than I dislike them. I love a whole lot of books too. It’s a fact. Do you see my dilemma here? If you ever find the solution, do tell!
Yeah it can be hard to talk about how awesome a book is. I just tend to word vomit all over the review. There are usually a lot of “OHEMGEEs” and “AHMAYZINGs”.
Whatever works. ;)
We’ve all been there–sometimes it’s just too damn hard to try and express how much a book meant to you. All you can do is be genuine, write with heart and maybe include something along the lines of: In case it isn’t clear, to me, this book pretty much makes the world go round and the first bite of a good cupcake, pure joy–read it and weep and take this heartfelt recommendation, otherwise I’ll throw this book at you and no one wants that, do we?
As to how I overcome writing reviews for my favourite books? Well, if you’re talking about two of my absolute faves, I’ve yet to review them. And I think it’ll stay that way. I don’t think I have the words and I don’t want to force them out. But there are books I love and sometimes the words come and at times it’s harder than usual. I think taking notes and writing down your exact feeling can help when you sit down to review. Also, time can help. Let the words stew for a little while and come back to it.
Also, I think your reviews are amazing!
*and it’s like the first bite…
sorry, I got ahead of myself. CUPCAKES.
When I try to express my love for books, I’m tied between slamming my hands on the keyboard or throwing in massive amounts of GIF’s, haha. I also sometimes feel I can’t find the right words to convey my love. It’s like I can’t do the book and my feelings justice by just writing it down. In real life this might turn into strange noises and bouncing – which is fun, because nobody gets it :’)
Yes~It’s 10 times easier for me to write a 1-star review. But I think that the fact that I can’t pick the book apart means something. Even when I read a short 5-star review, I understand that sometimes the greatness of a book cannot be captured in a single review. :)
Very interesting topic~great post.
Yes!! This is totally me. I find that really, really great books leave me speechless, and I fear that my reviews for them suffer because of it. My review for Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe was basically just me stating over and over again that, “you probably should read this book.” I mean, really. As a formal book review, that’s kind of embarrassing on my part. But if the book is perfect, then I really feel like there is nothing for me to say. This is actually something I’m trying to work on in my reviews, so this post was timely.
Yes! It is so hard to figure out how to review books that you love. You’re right – you do get absolutely speechless. I end up blabbering about how “awesome” the book is, which makes me conscious of how many times I use awesome as an adjective and how it detracts value from it (my go-to word is now brilliant, which isn’t doing too bad for itself!). Ways to overcome the euphoria you feel after reading such a beautiful, inspiring, heart-rendering book is brain-storming beforehand the plus points of the story. And instead of talking about some negative points (which you’d do normally in books you didn’t find SO FREAKING BRILLIANT) you’ll just talk about all these plus points of the story. And I guess, in that way, your readers will realise just how amazing the book really is if all you’ve got in the review is substantial praise. :D (but hey, leave a paragraph or two for the gushing that is bound to happen…it’s going to happen, so you might as well make it part of the plan right?)
I agree reviewing 5 star books is much more difficult then lower rated books. For me the main problem lies into the fact that if I don’t write my review immediately after finishing the book I can’t keep that right feel. I find it hard to really describe my feelings for a book and be passionate about it and not just say I love it. So if I want to have any chance of adequately reviewing a book I loved I have to write the review after I just finished the book.
And it’s the best feeling when someone tells you they want to read a book based on your review, it’s like the best compliment you can get!
I have that feeling all the time. It seems like it’s easier for me to review books that I hate and books that were just enjoyable than it is to review books I loved. I haven’t reviewed any of Marie Lu’s books on my blog. I tried with Legend and more recently with The Young Elites, but I couldn’t find enough words to express how much I loved them.
I totally agree! I never know what to say and I usually resort to flailing and fangirling and a lot of GIFs (which I know some people hate… sorry!). I wish I had the words to express my feelings towards books that I love, but I just don’t and it seems like because of that, my five star reviews often end up as mini reviews.
Oh I am so glad it’s not just me! I just can’t find the words to express how I feel about a book I love. I also tend to use the same words over again and then feel it takes away from the specialness if the individual book. So frustrating – I am also worried I come across to danger and that may put people off reading the book!
Meant to say fangirl not danger… predictor text not friendly!
I feel the same way! It is so easy to state all of the reasons why a book was not good enough, but when you really like a book its so hard. I feel sometimes that my reviews when I really love a book are not as interesting as my other reviews. Do other people feel this way?
I totally get you! I feel like a parrot when writing reviews of books I love. I bet I repeated “I like this b/c…” a lot of times. I sometimes have a hard time expressing myself in reviews too because what if I didn’t cover all of the important things in the book, or what if my review doesn’t make sense?
I absolutely agree! It’s always most challenging to review the books you loved with your whole heart. I, too, have the tendency to repeat myself, simply saying things like “READ THE DAMN BOOK” or “THIS IS INCREDIBLE” etc, etc. I do note however, that I talk about my absolute favorites consistently – on all platforms. I can’t help shouting about my love ;)
I can totally relate to this! I’ve tried to write reviews for books I loved before and all the words just fall flat. Sometimes I can write a sound review, but other times I basically just end up raving and saying THIS IS PERFECT, READ IT NOW. I remember doing that with The Archived by Victoria Schwab–it felt so flawless I didn’t even know what to say to capture my feelings! On the plus side, though, I thought you’d like to know that your reviews always seem well thought out to me, so I think you’re doing okay. :)
So spot-on! It’s totally a struggle to express so much love. For one, when you love a book so much, it takes your breath away and renders you speechless so yeah, all you can do is flail. I guess this is why GIFs in reviews are a hit, because they do better justice than words. :)
“I feel the weight of not doing justice to the book I love when I share my thoughts.” I totally get this. And when I think about this, it sort of weighs me down because then people would see my review and I feel that they’d be like, “Nah, you could’ve said it this way” or something like that. Most of the time though, I tend to really ramble or I’d like to call it as “word vomit”.