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

Since we have a thread going where people are patting their own backs...I'm not judging, I was in there doing some vote sex work as well...here's a thread where we can post our very favorite reviews we've read by others. Post one, post two, post a handful.

Ceridwen's review of Dune and Mrs. Dalloway are two of the finest pieces of writing on this site.

I think Bellsy's [hot-off-the-presses] review of The Year of Magical Thinking is certainly a contender.

Of course, Dead Flamingo Jessica has written wheelbarrows full of high-wattage, superstar-grade reviews, but the one I always remember best (probably to her horror or chagrin) is her review of The Valley of the Dolls, a short, evocative riff on the attitude and aesthetic of the book's decadent wallow. But she has many more (strictly speaking) even better reviews, so check them out!

I'll come up with more later. I'm going to try to hock up some phlegm.

A lot of great, really funny reviews were written by that one guy. I can't remember his name. He was gay, in his twenties, and blonde. You remember him. Some of the best reviews around. And I hated him for it.

Imogen Binnie is also one of the absolute best reviewers on this site. No question. Pour example: Zeitoun.

I am scared of her a little because she's kind of a badass Goodreads rock star (in my mind).

Oh! I remembered the guy from comment no. 2. The blonde/twenties/gay guy. Joe S.! He was a Master Reviewer!

AND he hasn't been active since December 2008. Now THAT is straight-up Golden Age, kiddies!

Here's an example of the master at work, but you can check out any of his reviews really...



Joe S., please come back!!!!!!

Am I the only one who likes this thread?

Yes.

Although, I have to admit...

David's Giving Tree review was one of the few reviews I have demanded my husband read from start to finish.

Compulsory reading. I approve.

Now it's totally apocryphal.

No! I like it, too. But these bastards I work for are actually trying to get me to work instead of playing on the internets. I've only had time to keep up, haven't had time to post my favorites. Oh, but I will. So, how long have you been on Goodreads, David? In internet years, you must be a Goodreads geezer to know all these old timers.

You're right. Once I enter a thread everything withers and dies.

I agree with David's picks, though I was unaware of Joe S. I've always really liked Jessica's reviews even while I withheld my votes for them because I thought that she loathed me. And I like Imogen's reviews quite a bit as well, even when I strongly disagree with them.

This is my favorite reviewer of late, and he's totally underrated:

http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/18...

And I think these two reviewers are underrated as well (they both write short reviews, but ones that pack a lot of substance into fewer words than the average review):

http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/86...

http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/44...

Also, I think that next to Caris's book and perhaps brian's Twilight review, David's Giving Tree review is the most covered in ejaculatory praise thing 'round goodreads. It's the stuff of legend. The kind of thing that sparks religious movements.

I love this review of one of my favorite books, Perdido Street Station.

Michael, I've been here since November or December 2007, I think. (In my first incarnation. There have been three.)

Fleshpot, Chris Sastre's avatar always dissuades me from reading his reviews. I think I was friends with him at some point but dropped him (maybe?). I don't know why. Cleaning house maybe.

Imogen Binnie does a great job reviewing, and she scares me too...If I'm writing or have just written a review and then check for other reviews about the same book, voila! there she is, justifying her reasons for loving a book I hated, or hating a book I loved. And her arguments are usually enough to make me want to run away with my pitifully unjustifiable stars and hide.

I love reviews from Mike Reynolds.

He going to pay me for writing that.

David, I love his profile image. It only sweetened the deal for me. I'm actually a little surprised that you don't feel the same about it.

well yeah, especially given your bloody avatar, you know the one (one of my faves)

Oh, Fleshy, it's less about the blood than the lemon yellow crewneck sweater.

I'm a huge fan of Sir David Giltinan's reviews.

and Kowalski's as well.

and you know what? Kim Doubleday is very, very good, I'll find a favorite and post it.

Yes, Kim is a VERY good review writer. But she's kind of under-the-radar.

Wow. Thanks for the nod, David. Check is in the mail!

This is when I wish there was a "store to favorites" button so I could quick reference some of them. (hear me, OTIS?!?!) Guess I'll have to have a few beers and do a little reading later...

I think those of you that have been on this site recall that GINNIE JONES had the best damn reviews ever! EVER!

Books Ring My Bell wrote: "I think those of you that have been on this site recall that GINNIE JONES had the best damn reviews ever! EVER!"

Nah, I'm not a fan of the New York Times or the L.A. Weekly's book reviews.

*snort*

ah, the old days.

Exactly. Ginnie usually just plagiarized from dull blurbs. If you're gonna plagiarize, steal something interesting.

Ah, but the votes that bitch raked in!

Yeah, I feel like this angle didn't really get addressed during the whole GinnieGate thing (though it may have somewhere I didn't see): the plagiarized reviews were FUCKING BORING, on top of being plagiarized.

I'm trying to remember... Is there an easy way to see all the reviews I have "liked" in the past?

One of the few times she stole something interesting was that one review that included personal details about her and her husband visiting the site in Japan or somewhere where he fought in a WWII battle... which of course was somebody else's experience that she just borrowed.

Did she erase their memories of their trip to Japan?

I was hoping there would be a thread like this... Now I can't remember which ones made me bitterly jealous.

I liked this, this, this. Everything on Brian's list 'cept for The Giver 'cause it was impossible to read that.
There are more. I'll have to go find them. I didn't pay attention to reviewers until two months ago even though I've been using this site regularly since september of '07.

This one was funny:

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

Jimmy wrote: "I'm trying to remember... Is there an easy way to see all the reviews I have "liked" in the past?"

Jimmy, on your home page, in the menu at the right, click "comments." On the new page, in the menu at the right, click "reviews I've liked."

I forgot! I also love AJ Griffin's reviews! But sadly he's also inactive...

His Winesburg Ohio review is a good example...

And this one.

Aerin writes lots of great ones. I liked a recent one by Paul Bryant I don't remember which one. It was better than his other ones.

My favorite single book page for reviews is Lonesome Dove.

Better than which other ones? All the other ones? You're too kind!

Remember the one I prematurely ejaculated over? That one.

Jessica wrote: "I'm a huge fan of Sir David Giltinan's reviews.

and Kowalski's as well.

and you know what? Kim Doubleday is very, very good, I'll find a favorite and post it."


Awww...shucks....


I think my favorites are brian's Twilight, David's Everything is Illuminated, geez... Too many... probably already mentioned. I'll be back.

Mariel, I've been enjoying your reviews...

Ben Harrison is also a very good reviewer.

He's been quiet of late.

We have to get him back into action. Kim? Get that Ben-guy going.

Benji is a Silver Ager who has grown disillusioned with the Bronze Agers. Sounds like a malaise.

I liked David's Everything Is Illuminated review so much that I jealously mocked it like a jerk.

Which Age am I in?

Definitely Silver, Fleshpot. You are a classic Silver Ager.

I'm booking my flight now, Chairy... Ben is a very enthusiastic reader. His Graham Greene reviews are great.

What was my Everything Is Illuminated review about? Was that the one where I was having some kind of total mental breakdown? Or was that the Coetzee?

My reviews used to be much more informed by drunkenness and insanity than they are nowadays. Maybe I've been gentrified.

Oh, I remember. I was changing meds while I was reading EII! That was a horrible time for me...

Horrible, horrible, horrible...

I have a copy of it if you'd like to re-break down, David.

I like the tortured reviews... I'm all for emotion and baring all.

A breakdown was described. I cried reading it. I wanted to give you one of those trauma teddy bears and blankets that are given to children at crime scenes.

It was about yourself and about how everything eventually dies and fades into oblivion. It was beautiful, but I was being a cynical jealous jerk in the comments section. Why don't I have dozens of people screaming about how beautiful my meditations on the transience of everything are? is basically the thought process informing my one snarky comment there, if I'm honest about it, which I can be in retrospect. And the answer to my question was simple, too: because I hardly ever write anything.