The Extra Cool Group! (of people Michael is experimenting on) discussion

Please link to the ONE review (of the many hundreds that you have surely written) that you are most proud of. Also, give a reason why.

Oh, this is fun! I'll post one soon.

Flensing Dave McKean. In a good way.

EDIT: No, wait, Martificial caves. Because I contribute to science.

http://goodreads.com/book/show/215450...

Because... it generated some good conversation. and it still makes me laugh. and I wrote it off the cuff, rough draft is final draft (as are most of mine, thus the typos and stuff...)

I've got two (I know, the instructions were clear, but I can't decide):

1) 2666 - because I enjoyed bringing in a bunch of other critics' ideas and because I felt like I really clearly articulated my response to the book.

2) Skye O'Malley - because I had a great time enumerating the varied responses I had to the book and there were some pretty ridiculous quotes in there and also because this one was part of a larger conversation about the book and got some good comments.

I do tend to enjoy writing the negative reviews more than the positive ones. It's much easier for me to articulate hatred or distaste than love or other positive emotions about a book.

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

For "I was an alien cat toy" because the book surprised me and was remarkable despite the title. And because I know the review did spur a few people to read a book they might otherwise pass up because of the title or because of the fact that it was self published.

Can we do a thread for "least proud of" reviews... cuz this one I'm not proud of... (even if I believe it to be true)

http://goodreads.com/review/show/6162378

Hard to choose just one, but I did like this one, of Wuthering Heights, which I loathe:

http://goodreads.com/review/show/6534704

Okay, my favorite at this moment is one of these two. I know, I'm cheating. Sorry.

Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian

Or Lawrence Ferlinghetti's Poetry as Insurgent Art.

I love all my reviews equally.

In reality I can't remember every review I've written, of what I remember:

holding still for as long as possible
it's the only one that I really went creative on.

among other things I've taken up smoking.
I feel like it really brings my experience and context into the reading of the book.

or


one day
Because I like that the review is completely out of line with the rating, but I think I explain the state dependent reaction to the book well

Books Ring My Bell wrote: "Can we do a thread for "least proud of" reviews... cuz this one I'm not proud of... (even if I believe it to be true)

http://goodreads.com/review/show/6162378"

I love that review.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52...

I hope I'm doing this right.

Aloha wrote: "http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52...

I hope I'm doing this right."

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Thanks, Jasmine. As you can see, I don't visit my own reviews. I write them, then I go do something else.

Okay, stupid question. I tried to backtrack to see how you got that, but all I got is a long list of my books. How did you get that so quickly?

I clicked your link and then I used ctrl+f to find your name. If you click on comments under your review it brings you to the thread page. I used that url.

Gotcha. Thanks!

Oh, Xrist. This is super difficult.

I like my review of Mrs. Dalloway. It's for sure not a traditional book review - if you are here for plot synopsis as review, this is not the review for you - but I feel like I caught how I felt about Dalloway. I wrote it mostly with my mother in mind, who read and commented on the review, and that was the best thing about it.

Hector

I love every single one of my reviews more than all of my other reviews combined!

Not a single one of my reviews stands out, which is probably rather pathetic. And now I must read every review in this thread.

My “best reviews” have been poetry reviews. Writing them is a form of self torture, since I work hard on them. On the good side of things, I like it when I feel I’ve been able to get under the skin of a good collection (which in my case usually requires multiple readings.) Frustratingly, I don’t think anyone reads them. Well, here’s one for a collection by Jane Mead titled House of Poured Out Waters. It was a challenging read, but one I felt that was worth the work of the review:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11...

(I can’t get an exact link, but my review is one of only two on this title.)

I’m including one fiction review, since the above may not be of much interest. I really liked Zachary Lazar’s Sway, which is kind of about the Rolling Stones, in the age of Manson and Altamont.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10...

(Again, I can’t get an exact link to my review. But maybe I’m doing something wrong.)

The one I'm most proud of is probably my Hour of the Star review because it's short, and because my friend asked me one day "Why'd you give that book only 3 stars? That quote on your GR review sounded amazing" and I was like "but that wasn't a quote... I wrote that!"

To be sure, the second paragraph (the italicized part) IS a quote.

Paul wrote: "http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

For "I was an alien cat toy" because the book surprised me and was remarkable despite the title. And because I know the review did spur a few people t..."

I bought the book based on your review, Paul, and now realize that I forgot to vote for it.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.

I enjoyed the chance to talk about American history and how the book could have been much cooler and true to life. And it has an awesome illustration in it.

I still can't decide if the spoiler warning should really be there.

I don't really have any standout reviews; they all basically have the same format and tone. I think this one has less typos and grammatical errors than most though:
My review of Rewired: The Post-Cyberpunk Anthology

I'm sure my review of Altered Carbon is the review I'm least proud of. It doesn't even come close to explaining how deeply the book resonated with me, the effect it's had on me, and the relevance of the book to what's going on in the world today.

This one, I think, which is, as it happens, all about How To Write A Goodreads Review

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I don't know if this is the one I'm most proud of, but it came after a spell of falling deeply in love with Graham Greene (but why kid myself? I'm in love still) and having read several* of his novels, this is one of my very favorites:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34...

*I've now read almost all of them.

This one, not necessarily a favorite of mine, gets the most comments or votes out of the blue:

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Ah, Paul. I loved that review. I just re-read it and wanted to vote for it all over again!

i think i love all of my reviews equally. how do you choose between children? i suppose i should be most proud of the reviews that got the most votes. which would be my review of The Carnivorous Lamb. a mind-bending 5 votes!

in general my votes never get near to cracking double digits, and half the time i think folks are simply being polite or good friends by voting, so in some ways counting votes seems meaningless. votes in general seem somewhat meaningless to me. not that i don't appreciate it, of course. maybe i would feel differently if i received dozens of votes but i rather doubt it.

but if i had to pick a favorite, it may be the nice, simple review for The Temple of Gold, mainly because it felt espcially good to write it and made me recall the book with pleasure. i'm also proud of the fairly personalized reviews of Little, Big and The Twyborn Affair, but because they are so personalized, there is some embarrassment in re-reading them. i guess they may be my favorites not so much because i consider them to be awesome reviews but because they are personally meaningful to me. and those kinds of reviews tend to my favorite kinds of reviews to read overall.

just realized i ignored the parameters of this thread; my apologies, should have read from the beginning first. although in my very slight defense, i posted links to the books themselves, not to my reviews. i think everyone should read all 4 books and skip my reviews! there, now i feel better.

I like this review for Red Spikes because it's silly and makes me laugh.

Michael wrote: "Or Lawrence Ferlinghetti's Poetry as Insurgent Art."

i really liked this review. revisited it a few times since. it even inspired me to write a poem in response to your poem, critiquing your poem, and critiquing ferlinghetti as well. but then i became suddenly shy and deleted it before posting. who am i to critique ferlinghetti? or michael from arizona? but oh, all those lost words!

i was going to link to my top vote-getting review for the girl who kicked the hornet's next (72 and counting!) but it's not really my favorite, even though it has the only parody section i have bothered to write.

but my real favorite in the "probably funny only to me" category is the mysterious affair at styles.

not my best review. just my favorite.

Joel wrote: "but my real favorite in the "probably funny only to me" category is the mysterious affair at styles...."

this is a wonderful little review! i disagree completely (i'm a fan of the author) but what a pleasure to read. if reviews are children, this is an adorably cheeky one whose cheek i'd have to pinch.

I don't know how to post links, but the review of mine I most like was of Cryptonomicon.

Brian R. wrote: "I don't know how to post links, but the review of mine I most like was of Cryptonomicon."

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Nancy wrote: "I bought the book based on your review, Paul, and now realize that I forgot to vote for it."

I think I must be a GR dolt as I don't know what the "vote" thing is about. I'm so out of the loop. (That whole other thread I don't even understand).

Paul, it just means clicking on 'like' at the bottom of review. Doing so constitutes a vote. :-)

(Clicking a second time unvotes...should one want to do that).

Jessica wrote: "Paul, it just means clicking on 'like' at the bottom of review. Doing so constitutes a vote. :-)

(Clicking a second time unvotes...should one want to do that)."

OH, OK...now I understand. =-) LOL. Sometimes I'm a bit dense.

I feel like these comments would be better placed in the "pandering vote whore" thread.

I tend to do my best work on non-fiction reviews, and recent reviews tend to be better than older ones. Selecting just one is beyond me, but a few that make me smile are reviews of The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan, Packing for Mars by Mary Roach, Being Wrong by Kathryn Schultz, and a token fiction review, Caribou Island by David Vann. Sorry, I could never have made Sophie's Choice.

I loved your review of Caribou Island, Will. Even with its harsh climate and unforgiving landscape, I'm not yet over my fascination with Alaska and the people who call it home.

Books Ring My Bell wrote: "http://goodreads.com/book/show/215450......"

my god.
fantastic review :)

*blushes*

fantastic... no.

But that was my raw reaction to the book and that's how I talk and by GOD I still get mad when I think about it!

:)

Your Republic Is Calling You, by Young-ha Kim

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

i think it is a decent review. i remember really feeling happy when i was done with that book and the review accurately reflected this.

Nancy wrote: "I loved your review of Caribou Island, Will. Even with its harsh climate and unforgiving landscape, I'm not yet over my fascination with Alaska and the people who call it home."
Thanks Nancy. Alaska is a fascinating place. I hope to visit in 2011, but hopefully I will have a happier experience than Vann has had. Vann's earlier work, Legend Of A Suicide is also pretty good. A couple of non-fiction items deserve some attention as well. Tide, Feather, Snow: A Life in Alaska by Miranda Weiss is a memoir of her experience in Homer. I did not like Weiss as a person much but there is some very nice writing in the book. Finally, an outstanding policy book, After the Ice: Life, Death and Geopolitics in the New Arctic, should be must-reading for anyone concerned with global warming, the Arctic Ocean, any of the communities bordering the Arctic, energy or wildlife.

My favorite is my review of
Don Quixote (Book I) .
The one that gets most votes is my review of Lolita.

Mike wrote: "I'm still fairly new to this site and haven't posted all that many reviews, but the one I was most pleased with was done with a specific group in mind--a group to which I had recommended the title..."

Nice review, Mike. This is a book one has to read at the right time in his* life. I read it as a freshman in college, in 1963 or 64 and was blown away. I actually considered leaving college and wandering for a year. In retrospect I should have done. Now, it would be a reminiscence, like all those coming out novels I've accumulated.

I was in my 'beat' period and read Ginsberg, Burroughs, Ferlinghetti and others. My entire group was at the time haunting coffee houses, listening to bad poetry and staying up all night for BS sessions. Then we moved on to the existentialists and moved on to bars and beer. We were a bunch of "fantastic foolybears" while "Christ climbed down"!
_____________
* Since there is not an agreed upon, gender neutral, 3rd person pronoun besides it, I default to his and him. I am in no way excluding 'her' from consideration.