What makes an interesting review?

[wshaffer]

So, last week when I polled you guys about cross-posting Twitter updates and Goodreads book reviews over here, the response was very clearly "Meh" on Twitter, and clearly positive on posting at least some book reviews. You may have noticed the book reviews starting to crop up here and there.

A healthy chunk of you voted for only posting the "interesting ones" of my Goodreads reviews. I'll admit that when I set that up as an option, I wasn't entirely clear on what would constitute an "interesting" or an "uninteresting review". I most clearly had in mind those instances where I go to check something off as read on Goodreads, and can't think of much more to say than to give it a rating and say something like, "Wow, that was good," or "Yeah, it passed the time pleasantly enough." I don't really consider those interesting enough to cross-post.

Beyond that, what makes for an interesting book review? Is it the subject matter of the book? (I know that only some of you are interested in the reams of Doctor Who stuff I read - fear not, I do read other things.) The format? (I know that only some of you are interested in audiobooks, and probably only some of you are interested in comics.) Whether the review helps you decide whether you'd want to read the book yourself? Whether the review itself is entertainingly written? Something else entirely?

Comments

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Some of all of the above: if it's something you can write entertainingly about, however briefly, that's a plus, and if you have a position of some sort ("this book is morally bankrupt" or "I would recommend this especially to those who like potbellied pigs" or whatever) that's good, too.

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

It's a combination of all of the above for me--I might not normally read/listen to an audiobook; for example, but if your review is interesting, then I'm definitely going to be more open to it in the future. Entertaining is great, too, but don't feel like you have to perform for your readers.

Generally, when I blog about books/comics/movies/etc, I try to think about what made them successful with me and try to go from there; if there's great dialogue, I like to quote it; if there's a good scene in a film, I'll try to describe it. Really, what I wish would happen as the result of the review is that everyone I know would read/see the work in the question, and then we could talk about it for longer, either snarkily or positively, depending. :)