Sunday, November 22, 2009

For Me, It's A Matter of Ethics

This week I read a "review" on LibraryThing that irritated me enough to comment on it. I have no problems with people's opinions differing from mine. As my friend Corey pointed out, it gives us something to talk about. What this particular person did (sorry, but I refuse to classify the person as a reviewer) was disparage the author - and his/her perceived religion - personally. This person spent as much time tearing down the author as tearing down the book.

I kept my comment to this LibraryThing member civil and professional, which is far more courtesy than he afforded the book's author. I explained that his personal attacks on the author caused me to not be able to consider anything he posted legitimate and I would not read anything he posted in the future. I simply wanted him to know that was the response he was eliciting from me. Now there are a faction of people who seem to feed off this behavior and that's a little disturbing to me, but there also isn't anything I can do about it. Unfortunately, it's exactly this kind of thing that gives bloggers and such a bad name. It's sad.

So, what I can tell you is that I would never treat another human being like that in any situation. If I disagreed with someone at work, I wouldn't insult that person on a personal level, and I would NEVER attribute my disagreement to their gender, race, religion, sexual orientation,... For me, it's simply a matter of ethics. If you're looking for snarky, malicious, disparaging, hateful please move on, you won't find it here.

At Jen's Book Thoughts we try to keep things as positive as possible. And here are some positive things to talk about:

Hey! I'm lonely over at Barnes and Noble, where Robert Crais is talking about his "first date" with the thriller genre. Go leave a comment about your "first date."

Craig Larsen just released his debut novel, MANIA, which is in my queue to read. And he's also hosting an e-reader contest over at his website. All you have to do is sign up for his newsletter by December 20th. One lucky winner will receive his/her choice of a Kindle2, a Nook, or a Sony Reader. Five runners-up will receive MANIA t-shirts. If you win, come back and let me know!

And finally, Tina, a very dear friend of mine lost her son in 1993. She has been hosting various drives in his memory over the past six years to help benefit the hospital that so lovingly cared for Ryan and his family in their time of unimaginable grief. This year, in honor of Ryan's love of reading, she's collecting books to build a library for the children who come to the hospital. They can be books appropriate for anyone between the ages of 0 and 21. On her blog, she has all the details about where the books can be sent or dropped off. I hope if you're able, you'll consider contributing to this cause. We all know that there is no greater gift you can give a child, but the children at the hospital have an even greater need to travel to new worlds.

And Tina - this is a beautiful project so very befitting Ryan's memory. Warmest hugs my friend!

I hope you all have a very wonderful Sunday. If you're not back before Thursday, Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers. Also, I have to stick a little carrot out today. The week after Thanksgiving you'll want to make sure you stop by several times. It's a monumental week for Jen's Book Thoughts, and I'll have a great giveaway for one week only. So make sure you stop back!

Happy Reading!


7 comments:

Lesa November 22, 2009 at 10:28 AM  

Interesting that you replied to a reader on LibraryThing this week. I posted my review of Bookplate Special by Lorna Bartlett on Amazon, after I read a one star review that attacked her for being liberal and talking about food pantries. Horrors! I didn't directly address the reviewer. I just gave people another viewpoint. And, Lorna's book is on this week's NYT's bestseller list for paperbacks.

Thanks, Jen. It's always better to be positive.

Lesa - http://www.lesasbookcritiques.blogspot.com

Jen Forbus November 22, 2009 at 10:54 AM  

Thanks Lesa, I agree, positive is always better. Personally, I'm like Meg Ryan in YOU'VE GOT MAIL. Whenever I say something mean about or to someone, I always feel horrible. I'm happy to have that characteristic. :)

Luckily there were other reviews for the book this person posted about and all the other reviews raves!

Kaye Wilkinson Barley - Meanderings and Muses November 22, 2009 at 11:03 AM  

I do not "get" this thing some readers want to call a "review," which is in actuality nothing more than their personal opinion, usually based on supposition, but written up as "fact," which has nothing to do with the book, but with their dislike of the writer. Makes me nuts. (also makes me write really awful run-on sentences!).

Pop Culture Nerd November 22, 2009 at 3:43 PM  

Who is this person? Where is this review? Let me go over there and give them a piece of my mind! I hate how a few bad eggs can ruin things for the rest of us.

Craig Larsen's e-reader contest sounds interesting. Not sold on e-books yet but if I can get a free reader, maybe I'll check them out. E-books will never replace real ones for me but maybe the two entities can co-exist. I'll look into your friend's book drive, too. It's a great thing she's doing.

Thanks, Jen.

le0pard13 November 22, 2009 at 7:55 PM  

Wonderfully spoken, Jen. As always, you are a class act. I, too, will look into your friend's book drive. Thank you for this.

Literary Feline November 28, 2009 at 10:41 PM  

I would have been furious too, Jen. It's one thing to explain why a particular book didn't work for you, but to disparage the author and resort to a personal attack is uncalled for.

Thank you for the links. I'm on my way over to check them all out.

Book Dragon November 30, 2009 at 4:09 PM  

A personal attack is never a good idea, well, I'm sure I can find one if I think really hard about it but anyways....can the "reviewer" be flagged? I'd like to get him thrown out of the barrel.

Thanks for the heads up on the others. Ebooks can exist beautifully with print and books at a hospital? great idea (sad reason)

First Date?

checking things out....

  © Blogger templates 'Neuronic' by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP