Regular visitors to this blog who pay attention might have noticed by now that the blog links I had on my side bar have vanished. Thanks to someone out in Blogland (and I know it was a romance reader, but dang I can't remember who now), I discovered Google Reader - which has quickly become my new addiction. Such an easy way to keep up with my favorite blogs, plus I've added a slew of others that I only kept up with periodically when I "remembered" to check them. Now, Google Reader does my checking for me. Very handy for those of you who don't update all that often ::wagging my finger, you know who you are::
I thought about keeping some blog links on my side bar, but honestly they were starting to get on my nerves. So bye-bye linkage. I'm sorry if that offends, but I just got sick of my side bar. If you need links that badly, hit Romancing The Blog, or check for the occasional embedded links I provide in blog posts.
In it's place I thought I'd add a breakdown of how I "grade" books that I post reviews for here. Frankly, I always thought it was self-explanatory, but I once got a very puzzling comment about my grading on one of the many e-mail loops I'm on. The poster was horrified that I only gave a book a "B" when "everyone else" she knew who had read the book just gushed endlessly over it. So there I was, justifying a "B" grade and trying to convince this person that hey, a "B" is really good in my eyes. So in case any of you out in Blogland are similarly horrified, there's now a handy breakdown for you on the sidebar.
As a general rule, I'm pretty stingy with the A grades. The book really has to knock my socks off to the point that I'm contemplating a reread. I have zero time for rereading people, so if I want to reread a book you know it has to be good. On the other end of the spectrum, I'm also pretty stingy with the F grades. The book really has to be horrible for me to hand down such a grade. I'm the sort of person who looks (really looks) to find that one redeeming quality, and if it's there the book escapes the dreaded F to land in D territory. See how nice I am?
5 comments:
I've been thinking of taking out my links because I use Kinja to keep track of my blogs and their updates. Although the way everyone has been raving about GOOGLE reader I guess I should check it out.
Just finished Cheryl Reavis FORBIDDEN WIFE. Not exactly a western NC mining in 1845. Good book though, not great, but good.
I'm going to have to hurry up and use this google reader thing. LOL
I can't explain my grading system because it's always changing. But yeah, B's are not bad grades. Although, I would have freaked in high school if I got a B on anything. hehehe
LOL, welcome to the club. I'm totally addicted to GReader and I've been prosyletizing left and right.
Every day, it seems I add more to it. I'm loving it!!!!
La Karibane
Rosie:
I have Forbidden Wife in the TBR. Still.
Reavis' historicals tend to stick to the East coast and for a long time HQ was labeling them "westerns." I don't care how far back in time you go - North Carolina was never the "west." LOL
As a general rule, I'm pretty stingy with the A grades. The book really has to knock my socks off to the point that I'm contemplating a reread.
That's how I feel about my 5 grades, too. I've only handed out a couple. My average grades fall into the 3 range. But then, I'm picky.
I love Google Reader. It makes things so much easier. Then again, it also makes me lazier about commenting, because I tend to think "I'll comment later" and then don't.
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