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What is this place?

What is this place and why am I here?

This is where I, Theo Malings, post book recommendations.

Ah. Book Reviews. I see.

No - book recommendations.

There's a difference?

I hope so! A review tells you what the reviewer thinks of the book. I recommend books I think are worth reading. 

Is that ... not the same thing?

No. There are plenty of books which are good but which I didn't personally enjoy - maybe I'm not the audience, maybe I wasn't in the right mental place to read it, maybe it just wasn't for me. It doesn't mean somebody else won't enjoy them.

So, why not just write a review and say that?

Because reviews demand star ratings. I can personally rate a book two stars, but still feel it's a book worth reading.

That's weird. Why not just write your two-star review and make clear it's your personal opinion?

Is it your first time on the internet?

Maybe.

A lot of people seem to have a lot of feelings about low star reviews and while I do not share them, I wanted to find a happy medium between what I wanted - to give honest opinions about what I read - and what I didn't want - to tread on anybody's toes or inadvertently insult them. I also don't want to be accused of trying to sabotage other writers, or end up awkwardly sitting next to them at a literary festival while they ignore me. Hence, book recommendations rather than reviews.

How can you recommend something you didn't like?

Let's give you an example: The Selection by Keira Cass. It's a huge international bestseller usually described as The Hunger Games meets The Bachelor. If I gave that book a star rating, it would not be a high one, but it's incredibly readable. And it's an interesting example because the second book in the series isn't - it's really boring and nothing happens.

If it's so readable, why wouldn't you rate it highly?

Because reviews are personal opinions and readability is just one aspect of what forms my overall opinion. The point of this blog is to tell you about books I think are worth reading, not just the ones I think are amazing, although I'll be doing that too.

And how do you decide which books are worth reading?

Quick rule of thumb: I can have a conversation about them afterward. It might be a list of things I hated or ways in which the book disappointed me, but the point is, I connected with the book enough to have a reaction. Good job, Author!

Can I send you a book to read and recommend?

If you are a book publicist, please feel free to get in touch: info at theo malings dot com. 

- I read fairly widely, but I tend to like upmarket and bookclub fiction. 

- You can fill my veins with Japanese contemporary fiction and with pretty much anything from Asia and South Asia. 

- Anything set in Ukraine or by Ukrainian authors. 

- Technothrillers! Why aren't there more technothrillers these days? 

- Audiobooks are welcome.

Not so much my jam: Historical, Crime, Domestic Thriller, proper Romance, the "nicer" end of Women's Fiction, the Mary Sue end of Young Adult, but if you think I'll like it, send me the details.

Not interested: Books by Great White Males, Books about The War, Books which bring nothing new to old ideas, Very Hard Sci Fi, Extremely Epic Fantasy, Children's Books.

Physical proofs will get featured on my cursed Bookstagram.

Cursed ... Bookstagram?

I photograph books beside a Karcher Window Vacuum.

... why?

Because I have a lot of complicated feelings about Bookstagram which deserve more than a pithy answer in this Q&A, but it began as a response to the identikit, middle-class aesthetic which dominates the hobby. Plus I have single glazing, so my window vac is generally handy. 

Well ... good luck with it.

Thanks. You too!


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