Along with reviewing on the internet for Bookslut and Eclectica I also review books for the American Library Association's magazine, Booklist. The magazine is a bit of a big deal as public libraries across the nation read it and decide what books they will order. So, a very good review in Booklist will result in high orders from libraries (theoretically) and for many many authors that is the way to break from a low seller to a decent midlister. (And how you go into more than one printing.) For YA books in particular I can see that it would be a huge big deal, as so many of their readers are from school and public libraries (at least in the beginning). I like being associated with Booklist because I like libraries - my local library meant the world to me when I was growing up and when you come from a family without a lot of money (that would be us), a good library can make all the difference for a kid.

So love the libraries!

But man, sometimes writing a review that is between 175 and 195 words is really hard. It is especially hard when it's a book that you don't personally love, but you know that other people will like a lot (or even love). You have to reach beyond your personal feelings and find words that make it appealing because you know it is going to be appealing to somebody else. I don't have to worry about this for my other reveiwing gigs because I pretty much always request those books myself - they are books I want to read in the first place - but the Booklist titles come from my editor and they are drawn from a pool that needs to be reviewed. I've been lucky most of the time as they are books I really enjoy (see my reviews for On the Ice and Afterlands), but sometimes it's tougher.

I struggled a bit with one today - can you tell?

The thing is, I know this recommendation is important to this author and I don't want to shortchange the person's work just because it's not my thing. Oh, but it's so frustrating to be writing about a book that I don't want to scream about from the rooftops when their are other reviews that I could be writing instead. But this is important and I know it. So I did it - again. This is my second try for this book and I think much better than the first stab. Hopefully it will be accepted by the editor. I think it does the job, but I really don't know.

My brain is spinning over 195 words. How crazy is that?

What I really like about Booklist is that my name goes on every review - non of that anonymous bullshit. So I have to write something I can stand by; something I believe. It's all a lesson in writing and certainly in reviewing. I don't think many people realize just how hard reviewing for this magazine can be some days. And in the back of my mind I always think of those librarians from my youth, now looking to me for guidance on what to place on their shelves. I guess I'm a geek, but I find this to be a very awesome responsibility. So I tried really hard today to say the right thing about this book that I do not love. (And I do realize that as difficult as it can be to write a concise review in a few words it can not compare to how hard it was for my grandfather to drive an oil truck in New England for over fifty years or for my father to run a wastewater/sewage treatment plant for thirty years. Hard is just the only word I have.)

There are readers out there who will love this book, I'm sure of it. And I want to be certain that they have a chance to discover it at their library in the future, so I need to find the right words so librarians will understand just what this book is about and why it is important. I hope I've done my job, I think I have, but I'm not sure. Of course that's what editors are for - right?! ha! Now I'm going to go read some more Lulu Dark. My brain needs to rest and a spunky girl detective sounds like just the right way to do that!