Writing a bad review!

If you type “badly written book review” into Google, one of the first things that comes up is Fifty Shade of Grey, simply because Google picked up key words. Such as ‘badly written book‘.

I feel that doing a review on a book that I strongly disliked would be a change of pace that might be good for me. Plus it is part of my ‘Reading Like A Writer‘ assignment to write about the work of others that I find ‘abysmal’ and this is definitely more relevant than what I mentioned in last week’s post.

When the Fifty Shades books first came out, I made it my mission in life to read them. My theory was that I couldn’t say terrible things about them unless I read them and could prove how terrible they were. And they really were awful. This may not be completely relevant to my copyediting career dreams, but I must say that if I were E.L. James’ copyeditor I would have done something to make these books less of a train smash.

I read the first book in the trilogy (which I borrowed from a friend because there was no way I was spending money on those books) while I was travelling overseas to London and New York in July of 2012. I soon found myself ashamed to take out the book on the plane or on any bus or train (or anywhere public at all really). This was not because I didn’t want people to judge me for reading a book that is so openly raunchy; it was because almost every second person at the airport, or on any public transport wherever I went, seemed to have the book open in front of them. The idea of conforming to what every other person across the world seemed to be doing horrified me. However, I convinced myself that I had to get through it or I couldn’t openly judge it, so I settled for reading it at the hotel, where no one could see me.

People actually write about copyediting?

During the course of this week, two incredibly relevant posts appeared on my Facebook newsfeed about copyediting. I had been wondering what to write about in this week’s blog post for ‘Reading Like A Writer‘ and I had made up my mind that I wanted to talk some more about my ideal future profession, which is to be a copy editor. The assignment brief said that it was necessary to have one post that talked about the ‘writing of others that you call abysmal’, and this is where I got stuck. Where was I going to find abysmal writing about copyediting?

Luckily, Buzzfeed gave me my answer. Don’t get me wrong, I love Buzzfeed. If I can’t get a job in the editing world, I am going to be knocking on the door of the BuzzFeed Books office. However, some of the posts that come out of Buzzfeed are not the most journalistic or accurate pieces of writing. The two posts that popped up on my wall this week were strikingly different from each other, so I thought it would be perfect to compare them.

The first piece that I read was written by Maris Kreizman, a blogger and ex book editor, and it is called Books, New York, And The Internet: A Love Story. The post was excerpted by Buzzfeed from Never Can Say Goodbye: Writers on Their Unshakable Love for New York. I was drawn to the post immediately because the title mentioned three of my favourite things: books (duh), New York (the city I have dreamed of moving to for as long as I can remember), and the Internet (where I spend most of my time). As I read the post, I became more and more convinced that Kreizman and I are very similar people. Her love for books is clear and she has a vast knowledge of writers and their works (I’m not quite there yet, but I’m working on it). A few paragraphs into the piece, Kreizman speaks of the people that she blames for her passion for books. She says, “I especially blame Margaret Atwood and Lorrie Moore and Susan Sontag and Charles freaking Dickens. I blame Toni Morrison and Roald Dahl and all the uncelebrated ghostwriters known collectively as “Francine Pascal” for the Sweet Valley High series”. I found myself agreeing with her, especially about “Francine Pascal” because I basically grew up reading those books. Kreizman talks about wanting to become a book editor because it meant that she may get to meet and hang out with famous authors. Or even better, she might get to be the person who discovers and publishes the next big book. I feel the exact same way; it may seem like a big dream, but it’s possible!

More Reviewing of Reviews

Last week, I went through a few reviews of Lena Dunham‘s Not That Kind of Girl and I talked about the different ways in which the book was reviewed and the different styles of the reviewers. This week, I will look at the last three reviews that I found.

The first review can be found on The Independent and was written by Alice Jones. The headline depicts the book as a ‘Roller-coaster’ from the ‘voice of a generation’, which gives a somewhat conflicted impression on what the reviewer’s opinions are going to be. Jones then goes on to describe some of what the book contains in two quick summaries, one from Dunham’s childhood and one from young adult Dunham. Both paragraphs end with a short quote from the book. This gives the reader an idea of what to expect in the book, and it indicates a number of things about it, such as how much of Dunham’s life it covers and what kind of a writer she is. This review is a relatively long one and it covers many aspects of Dunham’s book, from the style of writing, to the cover and the possible themes.  Jones seems to like the book for the most part, often using positive words like ‘ballsy’, ‘quirky’ and ‘fascinating’. She says that, “This is Dunham’s life, from childhood to now, wonky ovaries and all. It is honest to the point of making you squirm, often admiringly, but sometimes, just squirm. Dunham is not the kind of girl who worries about over-sharing”. She describes the book as being reminiscent of the show Girls, but that does not come as a surprise, seeing as the show is also based on Dunham’s experiences. Overall, her review made me want to buy the book as soon as possible. The little snippets from the book were tantalizing and showed the book to be clearly amusing and extremely personal. Definitely something that many women from Dunham’s generation and the ones following it will be interested to read.

Reviewing reviews?

I decided to write this week’s ‘Reading Like A Writer‘ post with a focus on other people’s writing, and more specifically on other people’s reviewing. There are too many books and too many reviews for me to be able to narrow it down to one reviewer that I enjoy the most. Instead, I took a different approach to the idea. I decided on a newly released book that I would like to read at some point and then I googled the reviews for it. I then singled out the ones that I liked the most. The book that I chose for this exercise is Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham.

Lena Dunham is a woman of many talents. She has risen to fame over the last few years when the show that she writes, produces and stars in, called Girls, became popular around the world. The show is known for it’s humour and is appreciated for the way that is represents women and their relationships in a realistic way. Dunham grew up in the spotlight, with both of her parents being New York City artists, and so has lived a life of privilege and self-obsession. Her book is made up of a collection of autobiographical essays and has been released as her memoir. Soon after it’s release, the Internet was swarming with reviews. I narrowed these reviews down to four. This post will cover the first two and next weeks post will cover the others.

The first is a review that was published on NPR, and it was written by Annalisa Quinn. The review is relatively short, but succeeds in covering everything important that the book is attempting to get across. Quinn’s writing is upbeat and easy to read. She quickly relates herself and the reader to Dunham, saying that there are many types of Lena’s, but that the one we relate to most is ‘Your Friend Lena’. This Lena is the one that is charming and friendly and just like us (the readers). She says that, “Indeed, YFL is so nonthreatening that, if it weren’t for occasional references to her “work,” a reader might be forgiven for thinking that YFL spends most of her time bopping around in patterned jumpsuits, eating vegan cheese and having bad sex. This is a comforting image: the hugely successful Lena Dunham is just like us — overfed, undersexed, not appropriately dressed for the occasion”. However, Quinn then goes on to describe the ways in which Dunham is not like us. Quinn describes the reasons that she is not like us (her popular TV show, her writing talent and her charm), and then goes on to describe the ways in which Dunham’s book still succeeds in making the reader, who would most likely be a woman, feel comforted and empowered. Quinn’s style of reviewing is personal and accessible. It can be understood and related to by the majority of readers, which makes it preferable as a review in many ways.

The Key to Copyediting

So I was supposed to write this post last week, but I suddenly came down with a nasty case of Pharyngitis, which left me pretty much bedridden for about four days. I am finally feeling better today, so I decided to post the first of about five posts that are writing assignments on the topic of ‘Reading Like A Writer’.

I already know that I do not want to be a writer when I grow up, so I have chosen to focus this series more on editing. I would ideally like to become a copyeditor or book publisher when I have finished my university degree. While researching more on the topic, I came across a book called The Copyeditor’s Handbook: A Guide for Book Publishing and Corporate Communications by Amy Einsohn, which contains everything I would ever need to know about becoming a copyeditor.

It took me much too long to find this book in the library. It’s true that the library has four floors and contains thousands of books, but it also has a very efficient search system which I am, for some unknown reason, incapable of using. I was eventually guided to the correct book by a helpful library assistant and was soon lugging the almost 600 page book home in my backpack.