The Benefits of Writing Book Reviews

This year is the first year where I have started writing book reviews. This first month of writing them has shown me why they are so valuable and why I will continue to write them going forward. Personally, I do not read reviews until after I read the text. I do this to avoid spoilers and to formulate my own opinions about the book with as little influential bias as possible. I would encourage you to write reviews if you haven’t started doing so already. Reviews help you articulate your opinions about a text, retain the story and characters better, and have a memento to look back on. This memento can be useful when re-reading a text because you can then see how your perspective and opinions may have changed from the first time you read a text. It can also allow you to notice different aspects of a text such as characters, plot, writing style, etc., that you might not have noticed before. By recording what you noticed after the first read-through, you have more freedom to deepen your understanding of a text during the second reading of it. Each reading of a text will allow you to deepen your understanding of the story and the writer. By writing a review each time you read it, you will obtain a catalog of what you noticed and how your perspective may or may not have changed over time. If you are an avid reader, especially, it will promote your comprehension of the books you read. These reviews do not have to be as formulated as the ones you may see on Goodreads or YouTube. You do not have to include a summary and then review the book. That is insane to me when you can find a whole summary on Google. Rather, I would encourage you to focus more on your own thoughts and opinions. This way, you will be engaging in critical thinking while immersing yourself deeper into the story making the story easier to retain. In the process, you may gain a greater understanding of yourself, too.