Books - Reading Reviews

I love to read! More than watching television or movies, I like to sprawl out and read a book. Hardback, paperback, it doesn’t matter. I even have the programs on my computer so I can read ebooks - though this is not as enjoyable (reading a book at the computer can be tiring, I gotta say) - and if you have an old ebook reader you don’t use, why, just send it to me!

I don’t often read reviews of books. Most seem to be written by professional critics and tend to be overly critical and demanding. But every-so-often I’ll find a review that does a good job, giving enough information to make me want to buy and read the book reviewed.

Steven Brandt has a blogging site called “Reviews From the Deep”. On it he reviews the books he has listened to and lets you know what he thinks. I say ‘listens to’ because Steven has been going blind for some time now. So he buys audiobooks - mostly on CDs, and gives a review of the tale, as well as the production - namely the narrator.

The reviews are from the viewpoint of a reader, not a critic. So even if you disagree with his opinions you'll enjoy reading them, anyway. :)

When I could afford it, and had a long commute, I was a member of audible.com. Rather than novels I would purchase biographies and histories to listen to - on an mp3 player - on my way to work. At that time I was spending a good 45 minutes to an hour to get to work. Instead of fiddling with the radio, to try and find music that wouldn’t annoy me, I could listen to a history. And I enjoyed it.

Now audible had abridged and unabridged recordings of the books. Abridged books, of course, are edited down a bit, sort of like a Reader’s Digest version. I never bought these, preferring the full version. So now, when I read one of Steven’s reviews I don’t know if he’s using an abridged or unabridged version of the book he’s reviewing. I suppose I should ask.

Anyway, if you like to read, and want to see a review of some of the books he’s read, I recommend heading over to Reviews From the Deep and checking out what he’s got there.

And leave a comment, too, why don’tcha? He’d appreciate that.

:)