Dear readers
I won’t be writing as many lengthy reviews as I used to. Instead, I will also write shorter reviews. See the discussion in the comments below, and in comments to the next post, if you’re interested why.
To avoid clogging your WordPress readers or mailboxes with short posts, I’ll combine a few short reviews in one post.
Should you wish to get updates of that short stuff quicker: I’ll generally post the shorter reviews on Goodreads and LibraryThing soon after I’ve finished a book, so you can always friend me there.
Those of you that have been reading my reviews for some time know my tastes, and hopefully these shorter reviews will still be useful, even without a high word count.
Thank you, and best regards to you and yours.
Weighing a pig doesn't fatten it. 
I wish I had your self-control — I get going talking about a book and can’t seem to stop!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m not sure self-control has anything to do with it – a part of me wishes I’d have more self-control and commit myself to keep on writing.
LikeLike
Meh, priorities. It’s always lovely to share in an enthusiasm, but sometimes other stuff has to take over.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m always hoping for more of your reviews because I like reading them a lot.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks!! Much appreciated!!
LikeLike
Thanks for the updates. I made sure we were Goodreads friends as well, to make sure I’ll catch all your bookish thoughts 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I very much enjoyed your long, thoughtful and balanced reviews – but I do know life has a habit of getting in the way of even the most carefully laid plans and best intentions… Looking forward to reading the short reviews as well! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for the kind words, as always much appreciated!
I made the decision based on a combination of life getting in the way and being a bit burned out of starting a long review each 2 weeks – as you know writing is time consuming, and although the books themselves change I had the feeling I started to repeat myself in reviews – there’s only so many ways you can start and end a review, and as I want to keep it fresh for both myself and my readers, writing original text becomes harder and harder to do after 4 years of reviewing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s always a challenge – and it’s difficult to a critical author to discern whether what he’s writing is repetition or his own original style, but for what it’s worth, I always really enjoy your reviews 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I hear you, Bart. Like the other commentators I’ve always enjoyed your detailed and thoughtful reviews. But I know how long they must take to put together so I completely understand. There must be something in the ether because I’ve been thinking of doing the same thing. I don’t know about combining books because I’m not reading as much as I used to. But I will be reducing the word-count. Looking forward to your next post:)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, we’ve been talking about this on your blog as well, and I wrote a bit about it in more detail in the comment to Ola’s comment above.
Reviewing like this takes time. I feel I’ve grown a lot as a writer and a reader, so I’m still glad I started it, but after the learning curve plateaued the returns in a way diminish, and that has an effect on motivation. On a sidenote, recently also Jesse of Speculiction – I think my favorite online speculative fiction reviewer around – decided to go on hiatus.
And thank you for the kind words, much appreciated, as always!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great news, I’ve just noticed Speculiction’s hiatus is over.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, me too. His reviews are always very well written. I am a fan, too:)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Whatever length, I’ll read ’em, man.
LikeLiked by 1 person