Do you want to be an author? The first advice from famous writers is to read, read, read. “Read a thousand books and your words will flow like a river,” said Lisa See. By reading, you’ll absorb facility with language, with story, with character development and setting from reading novels, poems, biographies and family sagas. You’ll gain vocabulary. You’ll develop your own tastes for what you like and what you don’t like.
But if you want to take it up a notch and be a more active participant in your writing journey, you can learn to read like a writer. “Read everything—trash, classics, good and bad and see how they do it,” said William Faulkner. To do this, you not only read for enjoyment or interest, but analyze how the author hooked you, built suspense, transitioned from the main storyline to a subplot, covered time lapses, introduced the villain, built a world, or created an emotionally satisfying ending. It helps to annotate as you read. And if you’re going to analyze and annotate what you’re reading anyway, there’s no better tool than writing a book review to finish the process.
You can get a sense of the basics of book reviews and the etiquette guidelines, watching helpful videos like the one from Reedsy (Shaelin) (how to Write a Book Review, 10/15/2019). You can keep your reviews in a binder or folder for handy reference. You can also submit them to the Marianas Writers Movement for publication. We have a section for book reviews. New releases, old classics, discoveries from the Joeten-Kiyu Public Library—any book you liked is a good choice for a book review. Hone your skills as an author. Share your insights with other readers and writers. Write book reviews!