Comments on: I Didn’t Know It Would Be a War

By: The Ethics of Book Reviews, Part 1 « Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin’?

The Ethics of Book Reviews, Part 1 « Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin’? — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 01:55:37 +0000

[...] I wanted to go back to address a few things about THIS, aka That Which Will Not Be [...]

By: A Change of Pace and Policy | She Reads Books

A Change of Pace and Policy | She Reads Books — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:10:18 +0000

[...] recently about the role that book bloggers do and/or should play in reviewing books, and about authors behaving badly (here too), and such other sundry things. I haven’t been commenting on this much on other [...]

By: Sher

Sher — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:46:10 +0000

You know… the aftermath of this is uniting us book bloggers and having us discuss a code of ethics. I think that this happened for the a good reason, although you had to suffer for it. This will be long remembered and your class, character and integrity will what be remembered the most!

Keep up the good work.

I like your blog!

Sheri
anovelmenagerie dot com

By: chartroose

chartroose — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 20:13:55 +0000

Damn, Trish, I’m so sorry! I’ve never been lambasted by an author, but I’ve gotten some nasty e-mails about my favorable opinion of “American Psycho.” Let me know if there’s anything I can do.

Huggies,
Char

By: Sunday Salon - November 16, 2008

Sunday Salon - November 16, 2008 — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 18:44:19 +0000

[...] books they did not like; others go ahead and review them but wonder if they should be honest; still others have had to deal with angry authors when they’ve given that author’s book a negative review. I have had only one nasty [...]

By: Wendy

Wendy — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 01:44:20 +0000

Sorry you are being harassed, Trish. This guy is a no-name idiot – don’t worry, he’ll eventually crawl back under the rock he came from like all good insects.

By: stephanie

stephanie — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 12:44:45 +0000

Trish, I’m glad to see that you stuck to your guns! As a blogger, you have a right to your opinion. All of us expect to come here and read honest reviews. That’s how I blog. I have a lot of respect for all the book bloggers out here and that’s why I listen to their opinions.

I’m really sorry you’ve had to go through all of this. But just know we are ALL behind you!!

By: Amy @ My Friend Amy

Amy @ My Friend Amy — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 07:41:33 +0000

I’m late to comment over here, but just wanted to say Book Binge has my favorite review policy, it makes me laugh everytime.

http://thebookbinge.com/2006/04/if-you-have-any-questions-or-concerns.html

And we know you’ll bounce back Trish!

By: Heather

Heather — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 21:14:05 +0000

I am a little late in responding to the situation, but I’ve been reading responses on just about everyone’s blogs and the first thing I have to say is – I am SO sorry, Trish, that you are going through this. What we do here in book blogging land is mainly for our entertainment and enjoyment, and also for other readers to get a number of opinions on books (completely free of charge!) that they may be interested in. I do not think we have a responsibility in any way to write positive reviews of books we do not like or even think are so-so.

I do think, however, that if I were an author I would probably have a difficult time reading negative reviews of my books, so I can understand where they might be coming from in their hurt feelings. But most authors understand that not everyone is going to like every book – what we do here on the blogs is talk about books, give our OPINIONS, and they are not always going to be what the authors would like to hear. That’s just life… there’s no other way to put it. I personally try to always find something positive in every book, even if I detest it, and always try to be kind about my negative thoughts, but I do not think we HAVE to do it this way. If you want to rip apart someone’s writing on your blog, you can. It’s YOUR blog. In this case, you handled the “negative” review amazingly well, pointing out exactly why you did not enjoy the book without being rude at ALL. I still can’t quite figure out why the author had such a problem with what you wrote.

What upsets me the most about this whole thing is the fact that the author personally attacked you on another blogger’s comment section, stating numerous times how he does not like you as a person. Excuse me, but I’m pretty sure he absolutely does not even know you and therefore would have no WAY of knowing whether or not you are a good person. That really got on my nerves because even though all the rest of us bloggers only know you through cyberspace (well, most of us anyway), we can all clearly see what a fabulous person you are and that you have EVERY good intention when writing reviews. The fact that he would attack your personality and sense of morality is very upsetting and I’m sad for him that he did this as it does not reflect very well upon him.

The whole thing is just sad, really, because us bloggers are just trying to give fair and balanced reviews for everyone reading the blogs, and for each other and ourselves. If authors start to have issues with us doing this, then what’s the point?

UGH. Sorry Trish. The whole thing just sucks. (But you’ve totally handled it beautifully, by the way. Much better than I would have, I think.)

By: Tracy

Tracy — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 16:56:04 +0000

Bless your heart for having to go through this. It is not fair at all. Please let me know if I can do anything too.