Op-eds, book recommendations, and quick explainers. Check back here for the latest bookish conversations.
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Novellas in Book Series: Valuable or just a money grab?
Are novellas in book series worth the read? Discover why some readers avoid them and when they can be valuable additions.
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Character vs Plot-Driven Stories: Does it Matter?
In this blog, I explore plot-driven and character-driven stories, and why it matters to readers to know the difference.
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The True Function of Scary Stories
A lot of people tend to acknowledge that comedy is an effective way to get people to think critically. But what if I said that scary stories do this too?
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Social Media isn’t Ruining Books
When it comes to social media’s impact on reading, there’s lots of gatekeepers out there. But they’re wrong, and here’s why.
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3 Classics I Actually Enjoyed
The classics I actually enjoyed reading are few and far between. So as a non-classics reader, here are 3 I actually liked.
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Flawed vs. Problematic Characters
Not all flawed characters are problematic, and vice versa. So what makes the difference between these character types? Let’s dive in.
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Internal Monologuing: A type of info dump
As a reader, internal monologuing in books is a turn off for me. In this short article, I quickly analyze why.
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The Importance of Embracing Diversity in Fiction
Fiction has the power to shape our perceptions and understanding of the world around us, which is why it’s important to read diverse stories.
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Purple Prose: Atmosphere over Clarity
In this blog, we discuss purple prose, what that is, and why it’s not always an effective tool in writing.
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4 Reasons Audiobooks Count as Reading
In this blog, I break down four reasons why reading with your ears is just as good as reading with your eyes.
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Banned Books in the US: What everyone gets wrong
Banned books are not a new topic. In fact, book banning spans human history – as long as books have existed, humans have had polarizing opinions on them. During the 200s BCE, Chinese emperor Shih Huang Ti is said to have executed hundreds of scholars and burned books to control the political narrative. In the…
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Explanatory vs. Immersive Writing as a Reader
As a reader, I enjoy analyzing writing style because if I’m not enjoying a book, I want to understand why so I can better to hone my preferences. This allows me to more often select books I will like, and waste less time on the ones I probably won’t. Most of the books I’ve read…
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A Case for Negative Book Reviews
There has been some conversation online recently about negative book reviews. This isn’t the first time (as evidenced by a 2014 NY Times article on this same topic), but the cultural zeitgeist always seems to circle back around to the idea that it’s bad to leave bad reviews. As social media has blurred the lines…
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Exposition: A gateway drug to info-dumping
Exposition is an important element of storytelling, and it plays a particularly important role in literature. However – I often hate exposition and find myself glazing over when I come across it in a book. I have to admit it’s sometimes necessary, so what’s the difference between effective exposition and boring info-dumping? Let’s dive in. What is exposition? Exposition…
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The Genre Identity Crisis of Kingdom of the Wicked
This post contains light spoilers for the Kingdom of the Wicked series. The Kingdom of the Wicked trilogy has been a popular fixture in the online book world over the last couple years, and for good reason. Book 1 was an instant favorite for me, and I gave both it and book 2 four stars each. But then we got a…
