Why I don’t write book reviews for nonfiction

I’ve been reading a lot in recent months, but I have not even been thinking about writing book reviews. Usually, when I read novels and short stories, I have a review developing in my head. I may be wrong about this, but I think of it as being a bit like a background program running on a computer.

Unusually for me, I have not been reading all that much fiction. The exception is beautiful children’s books, like Where Ocean Meets Sky by Eric Fan and Terry Fan. But that’s a post for another day. I’ve read non-fiction books from memoir to philosophy to texts for professionals in fields that are not mine. I’m gaining a lot of information. I’m synthesizing ideas and stories, studies and research.

Some of these books are better than others, but they are not exactly comparable. Taking into account their goals, I could develop evaluative criteria, or I could write about my reading experiences. I have read many book reviews of nonfiction, and they’re often quite helpful in directing my reading. I could write reviews myself. But the thought never occurs to me as I read, and when I consider the idea consciously, it holds no appeal.

What I can do, and find myself doing in a range of contexts, is recommend specific books or articles to individuals based on their questions or experiences. I can also pull key examples and pieces of information from this kind of reading and incorporate them as relevant into casual conversations. That’s very different than a book review, because what I have to say is evoked by the context. For me, reading nonfiction simply does not create a void waiting to be filled with a book review.

I titled this post “Why I don’t write book reviews for nonfiction,” but it might be more accurate to title it" “Why I read fiction part 1.” The nature of my engagement is inherently more active when I read fiction.

As much as I am curious and liable to become fascinated by all sorts of ideas and topics, the automatic book review program is not triggered except by fiction.