Confessions of a Reader | Book Chatter

It’s time for Confessions of a Reader! You can read more about the idea here, but here it is in a nutshell:

Whenever you have something you want to share, just spill it (you know you want to). Just create a post of your own, grab the button thingy above and then add your post link to Mister Linky below.

I will be here every Saturday, but you need not commit to a weekly post. Post when you have something to share.

Posts can be rants about something you are reading, or a deep, dark secret. All I ask is that the post relates to reading or blog reading in some way. If you want to piggy-back off of what I post, then that’s okay too.

Posts can be as short or as long as you like and can include more than one topic.

The goal is to get to know one another better.

Here’s mine:

I’ve asked myself this question a million times but does it really matter if I use a rating system for my reviews? Right now, I do not. However, I about 6-8 months ago, there was a
Twitter conversation about the issue and some bloggers mentioned that they won’t visit blogs that DO NOT employ a rating system of some sort. Really? I was surprised to hear this.
I know that there are plenty of blogs that do use them, but I would never avoid a blog for not using them. Would you?

For me, stars just don’t mean much to me. I would much prefer to read what a blogger has to say. There are some bloggers that have completely different rating systems. Bethany over at Dreadlock Girl has her ‘Stellar Five Chicken Book’ award which I think is brilliant. She awards this to books that are exceptional. Click here to see an example of it. Diane over at Bibliophile by the Sea has a unique rating system as well. Diane assigns ‘faces’ to her reviews to let us know whether or not she liked them. Sort of reminds me of the pain chart at the hospital but it’s clear and I know right away what she thinks of a book. For an example of her system, click here.

I use the rating system on Library Thing and Goodreads but I always feel weird doing so. Also, I have to tell you that when I heard that people may not visit without a rating system, the rebel in me automatically decided not to use one. Isn’t that funny? I’m like a little kid sometimes when it comes to stuff like this. So as it stands now, no ratings for me and I blow raspberries (phwwwtttt) at anyone that won’t visit because of it.

However, I realize that they won’t see my virtual raspberries which is sort of funny in and of itself.

If you’d like to include your own confession, enter the name of your blog below and then add the permalink to your post. Or, if you aren’t quite ready to post your own confession then comments are fine too 😉

Today marks my very first Confessions of a Reader post. You can read more about the idea here, but here it is in a nutshell:

Whenever you have something you want to share, just spill it (you know you want to). Just create a post of your own, grab the button thingy above and then add your post link to Mister Linky below.

I will be here every Saturday, but you need not commit to a weekly post. Post when you have something to share.

Posts can be rants about something you are reading, or a deep, dark secret. All I ask is that the post relates to reading or blog reading in some way. If you want to piggy-back off of what I post, then that’s okay too.

Posts can be as short or as long as you like and can include more than one topic.

The goal is to get to know one another better.

Here’s mine:

I recently went through my reader and dropped some blogs from my follow list. These were blogs that I enjoyed, but after following them for several months and posting regular comments, these folks never once visited my blog…ever. At least not that I know of.

Now I realize that some bloggers are not in this for the comments. They blog about what they love and that’s fine. The difference with them is that they never comment on any blogs. I get that. What I don’t get are the ones that do comment elsewhere, but not on mine, yet I read and comment faithfully on theirs.

Is there such a thing as comment etiquette? Am I wrong to feel a bit jilted?

If someone posts a comment on my blog, and they sign-in with their contact info, then I almost always pay them a visit back. Why? Because I like to check out new blogs. I’ve met a lot of nice folks this way. I realize that everyone cannot do this, but stopping by to say ‘hi’ once every couple of months? Sounds doable to me. Would you agree?

So, there you go. I dropped them because interaction is important to me and I’ve never been a fan of one-sided relationships. Also, if you leave regular comments and wonder why I never visit your blog, then it’s probably because you post anonymously. I cannot pay you a visit when it posts as a “no-reply comment.” Some of you anonymous folks have wonderful things to say and I always want to respond to you but I am never sure if you will come back to see my comment. I need to figure out the threaded comments thing to make this process a bit easier.

On another note, I went to the bookstore last night and saw the Her Fearful Symmetry display and thought that the cover was u-g-l-y. Sorry, but it doesn’t look anything like the ones that have been floating across the blogosphere. I realize that I tossed this in here and that it has nothing to do with my topic but it was on my mind.

Chatting with friends about books and life…