~ Goal ~

 

Alongside the normal day to day activities such as showering and eating, there is one constant I do innately and that is … reading books. Therefore, I have chosen to do book reviews as my topic for this class. Reading to me is more than a mere hobby, it is an integrated part of my lifestyle. It is an escape, an adventure and a thrill, to get out of this world and enter another. My passion for books is the precedent reason I plan for a career within a book publishing company. I will be able to not only read books all day but communicate with authors and promote, advertise and determine whether a book is worth marketing. This is my ultimate goal.

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I am using this class as an opportunity to further my book reviewing skills. I currently review all my books on Goodreads but I find that though my reviews are honest and very opinionated, they are also unstructured and inconsistent when written. I will be using Wix as my platform to present my work and my weekly progress.

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I aim to be able to include an all rounded consensus of the books I read and be able to determine whether the writing, plot, characters and author’s intent was well done or not. This will require me to have more of an open mind while reading and to take a step back to evaluate these components and the overall book structure. My aim by the end of this semester is to be able to write a well-structured review that consists of more than just an “I enjoyed this” or an “I do not enjoy this” but covers all components of the book. I will find online sources of professional book reviewers to help me and also take in the feedback from my peers throughout the following weeks to analyse and reflect on my progress.

 

 
~ Method ~

 

Being someone who reads so many books, I am in contact with several authors and am given Advanced Reader Copies (ARC’s) to their latest books. The purpose of ARC’s to promote, advertise and review the book before sales. If the author’s I am in contact with do not have any books being released within my weekly plan I will use the site NetGalley. This site is for any reader from a professional publisher to a book worm, to receive an ARC and promote the author’s work. In each of the following weeks I plan to read an ARC, evaluate the components in depth, rate it out of 5 stars and review it on my Wix site. While reading I will take notes of my thoughts, impressions and feelings towards certain aspects of the story when prompted. In addition to this I will be constantly reflecting over my work, feedback and weekly progress which I will evaluate in whole in my official reflection posts in Weeks 8 and 12. In total I will have read 7 books by the end of Week 11. Now ARC’s are not always available and I may not receive one every week so in this case I will read and review a book of my choosing, following the same structure as the others. I am not going to contain my choices of ARC’s/books to one set genre, it will be a range of genre’s as I like to keep a wide variety of book options. This will also help with keeping an open mind.

 

My weekly plan will go as follows…

 

Week 5: 14th – 20th August

Read ARC/book in 2-3 days. One day to both mentally and physically evaluate opinion. Use the rest of the week to write review.

 

Week 6: 21st – 27th August

Read ARC/book in 2-3 days. One day to both mentally and physically evaluate opinion. Use the rest of the week to write review.

 

Week 7: 28th August – 3rd September

Read ARC/book in 2-3 days. One day to both mentally and physically evaluate opinion. Use the rest of the week to write review.

 

Week 8: 18th – 24th September

Read ARC/book in 2-3 days. One day to both mentally and physically evaluate opinion. Use the rest of the week to write review. Write first Reflection post.

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Week 9: 25th – 1st October

Read ARC/book in 2-3 days. One day to both mentally and physically evaluate opinion. Use the rest of the week to write review.

 

Week 10: 2nd – 8th October

Read ARC/book in 2-3 days. One day to both mentally and physically evaluate opinion. Use the rest of the week to write review.

 

Week 11: 9th October – 15th October

Read ARC/book in 2-3 days. One day to both mentally and physically evaluate opinion. Use the rest of the week to write review.

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Week 12: 16th – 22nd October

Read ARC/book in 2-3 days. One day to both mentally and physically evaluate opinion. Use the rest of the week to write review.

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Week 13: 23rd - 29th October

Write final reflection post on overall work.

 

I will use the following sites (and any I find along the way) to help structure my writing and what to consider when I read and review my books:

 

http://www.writing-world.com/freelance/asenjo.shtml

http://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/book-reviews/

 

~ Reflections ~

 

As mentioned before, I will be keeping notes on my own progress, setbacks, and challenges throughout each week. I will comment these thoughts on my weekly book review posts and then evaluate the entirety in Weeks 8 and 12 on my Reflection posts.

 

My reflections will analyse my weekly reviews and if I was able to evaluate clearly my opinion of the book, plot, author’s intent, characters and book structure. I will use feedback from my peers and lecturer but also use outside resources to help improve the structure of my writing. These reflections will identify the achievements of my reviews and content in relation to my goals and method use, possible improvements to be made and an overall consensus on my performance.        

 

~ Theoretical References ~

 

“Review the book you read -- not the book you wish the author had written.” (Asenjo, 2017).

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I tend to push my own desires of how I wished the plot to go or what I would change within the book, in my review and opinion. I base it around what I wish it was instead of what it was and I intend to rectify this in my reviews.  

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~ References ~

Asenjo, B. (2002). How to Write a Book Review. Retrieved on 18th August 2017 from http://www.writing-world.com/freelance/asenjo.shtml