I wish I’d written this post myself…
Image source reddit.com
“Bilbo Baggins was a Hobbit who lived in his Hobbit hole and never went for adventures, at last Gandalf the wizard and his Dwarves persuaded him to go. He had a very exiting (sic) time fighting goblins and wargs. At last they get to the lonely mountain; Smaug, the dragon who guards it is killed and after a terrific battle with the goblins he returned home — rich! This book, with the help of maps, does not need any illustrations it is good and should appeal to all children between the ages of 5 and 9.” Rayner Unwin’s review of The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
In 1936 a ten year old boy was given a book by his father. This was not just any book, nor just any boy… Rayner Unwin was the son of Sir Stanley Unwin, founder of the publishing firm George Allen…
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deborahjay 
Thank you, Deborah, for the reblog.
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Thanks for writing the article – saves me from having to do it!
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That’s one way of looking at it 😀
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Nice article, Sue.
The ‘Hobbit’ story shines an important light on this subject.
To you and everyone that is prolific in their review writing, you are owed a tremendous debt.
I am uncomfortable with being critical. I left a critical comment {not mean at all!} on a someone else’s writing one time and immediately felt terrible. Then I found myself saying nice things about books, when I did not mean it. Together, these things caused me to back off on leaving reviews lately. I need to dust myself off and get back on the wagon helping out fellow writers.
Thank you, Deborah, for posting.
Happy Review Writing everybody!
Your pal,
~Icky.
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I do understand your reluctance to review, Icky. I don’t leave any really negative ones, largely because I also don’t like being critical. Having said that, I feel if you can leave helpful comments on what might have turned a book from okay into awesome, most authors are happy to learn.
If I feel I can’t give 3 stars or above, I simply don’t review. I might email the author and ask if they’d like my comments in private, which so far, they have, although I’m sure I will offend someone one day. It does leave my reviewing history looking a little skewed, as I only leave positive reviews, but somehow I’m happier with that than damning someone who might retaliate – always a risk for an author.
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What a fantastic article! 🙂 So sharing!
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It is, isn’t it. So eloquently put.
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