Author's Note
Why read a recommendation or literary criticism?
Everyone and their alt friend who wears Doc Martins with a flannel shirt, a fisherman’s beanie, and their keys on a long keychain can recommend and rate a book. Some of you might ask,
-Why dedicate another page to book reviews?
Well, that would be a good question if literacy was not coming down quicker than the stock market in 1929. What I mean by that is a book reviewer’s job is not to synthesize a story so that the ‘reader’ does not have to read a book. A book reviewer’s job is to pique the interest of a person so that they read the story and want to read more of that author’s repertoire. In short, the book reviewer’s duty is to defend and to praise a writer for their hard work and discipline so that the author is immortalized in every person that reads their story.
My long-short point is that I am tired of answering the question,
-Well, what do you recommend for me to read?
That is the most irritating question to be asked because I don’t know that person’s personal interest, and every book I recommend has to come with a synopsis and an argument to prove why that book is worth reading. Thus, my reader, The Personal Bookshelf’s mission is to sing the praises of admirable writers for an audience that would not normally read books or for the reader who is looking for a similar recommendation to the books they have read in the past.
There is one promise that I can give you, I will not recommend a book that is only praised for the clout.
If you’d like to know more about what I mean, check out this article I wrote in my other publication .
Also, like all my other writing, it is AI free. I do not rely on AI to write any line for me, thus I am human-being and there will be mistakes and genuine responses in my writing. Finally, I have spent the last six years of my adult life studying literature. I have two degrees in English studies and I have taught secondary English literature for the past four years, my criticisms and recommendations are not coming from an untrained reader. Allow that to provide some comfort, and let’s dive into some book reviews.
I am excited to start this journey with you!
