When writing a book review I try to be fair and accurate, and I try to portray the book without bias. That is pretty much impossible. Some books speak to me and touch me, and I like those.  Others don’t get through to me, and I don’t finish them. That does not make a book bad; yet, I am probably going to give it a few less stars  than I would to others.

One of the things I NEVER think about when I write a review is what the author might think. Why would the author care about one lonely reader out here? Well, authors are interested in the chatter about their work and I imagine they google themselves and their work. In the last few weeks, I received brief comments from two different authors, the most recent one Patrick Maney of The Roosevelt Presence. I always find it an honor when an author actually bothers to comment back. And, of course, I am self-conscious about what I wrote and how I rated the work. I assume, of course, that if I had rated the work poorly, the author would not bother and ignore me. Hopefully.