How I Review Books | Olivia J

"We read to know we are not alone," -William Nicholson 

Now, this is a strange one, because I feel like, to the moderate reader, rating books is simple: one-through-five stars. However, I review books very differently than other people. I say this because, to me, a 2.5 star book isn't a bad book. Just an average one. 

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First, I think it's important to understand how I read. 

I read - and watch - VERY critically. I try to be both objective and subjective when I read or watch anything. The objective side of me analyzes the writing style, the character development, the story structure, and the overall effectiveness of these elements. The subjective side of me considers how much I like the story, how much I love the characters, and my overall enjoyment of the work. 

Now, these two things do intersect a tad. I tend to enjoy a book more if it's well written and constructed. I certainly have preferences that effect both my subjective and objective reception of a book. 

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Onto how I rate books, specifically. On my blog, it's a little different than how I rate books on Amazon/Goodreads. 

On my blog, I use two different rating scales. The first is my 'Objective Rating'. With my Objective Rating, I evaluate the book on technical levels. Does the writing flow, and does it fit within the story and character context? What events and elements add or detract from furthering the story's plot? How are the characters developed, and why is it effective or not? , et cetera. 

Strangely enough, there is a small gray area that contains books that are objectively good, but that I didn't enjoy. For example, I thought Charlotte from Retribution Rails was a well written character, but I just didn't like her all that much. Looking back, I think Frankenstein is a brilliant exploration of the ethics of science, groundbreaking science fiction, and the state of monstrosity, but I absolutely hated my life every time I had to read it. Books, and elements from stories sit in this small gray area, where the said work is technically good, but it just didn't connect with me personally, so I didn't enjoy it. 

Secondly, the other way that I rate books is on my 'Enjoyment Level'. This one's pretty self explanatory. For this category, I consider my personal preferences, the entertainment value, how engaged and invested I am, and of course, how much I enjoy the overall reading experience. 

Some books (and stories) that I think are objectively not very good, but I still enjoyed them include the tv show Riverdale, and the ACOTAR series by Sarah J. Maas. The ACOTAR series is problematic and cluttered and corny, but the first two books sure did hold my interest and provided more than enough smutty entertainment. 

I rate both of these scales on a zero to ten scale (although I've never rated anything a zero before). This influences my overall out-of-ten score, which I frame as "X out of 10 would recommend." I usually omit how I rate the book on Amazon/Goodreads, since that kind of undercuts my previous three ratings in the first place. 

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In conclusion, when I rate a book 2.5 out of 5 stars, it doesn't mean that I didn't like the book, despite what the rating looks like aesthetically. Truly, it means the book was average. However, I do save 5 star ratings for books that blew me away. 

I hope this helped you better understand how I rate and review books! What's your process for reviewing something? Let me know in the comments of this post or on Instagram @olivia.j.the.wordshaker!

~The WordShaker

Owl City & Changing As An Artist | Olivia J

"Almost all good writing starts with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere," -Anne Lamott

In my (professional) opinion, the best Owl City Era was from 2011 to 2014. All Things Bright and Beautiful was - and is - an iconic pinnacle of Young's classic 'Owl City'. Despite the initial backlash against Young's 2012 album, The Midsummer Station, it has found it's place among the classics for what it is - a solid pop album with an Owl City flair. The climax of this era came with the release of the EP, Ultraviolet. Universally loved, Ultraviolet was the direction we all imagined The Midsummer Station would go in, but it was still characteristic of all of the places Young had been, TMS included. 

However, Mobile Orchestra of 2015 changed the game a bit. Fans were unhappy with nearly everything about the album. Buzzwords like 'uninspired' and 'generic' were tossed around. And while I agree to some extent, there are songs on the album that are filled with greatness - I Found Love, Thunderstruck, and Bird With a Broken Wing. I do go back and listen to individual songs on the album frequently, but rarely the whole album at once. 

Mobile Orchestra's main problem is that it doesn't have a cohesive tone. I believe that this arises from Young changing as an artist. And with that territory comes danger on all sides. 

But I think I'm writing about this because I only now understand where Adam is coming from. 

follow me on Instagram @olivia.j.the.wordshaker

A Panther In the Snow is a massive departure from A Cactus In the Valley in both tone, style, and content. And . . . I'm afraid people won't like it because it's so different from my last book. 

Truly, this is an irrational fear because I don't have enough readers or an established enough style as an artist for A Panther In the Snow to take them off guard. But the fear is real and persists, nonetheless. 

Looking forward, I've always been afraid of being . . . typecast, or pigeonholed as an author. 

Yikes, Olivia's never written fantasy before. 

Mmmm, I don't know how I feel about this book. It's just too . . . different. 

Olivia's lost her touch as an author. I want to see more of her older stuff. 

Like how Stephen King writes horror, like how Nora Roberts only writes romance, I don't want to be the author who only writes a certain type of book. (Granted, that option is a lot safer because you're always catering to one audience.)

And I feel like this is what has happened with Owl City. He's almost written himself into a corner. People have come to expect one thing from him, and when he doesn't provide, we're disappointed. And I'll even admit, I've fallen into this mindset myself. 

However, it's a two-way street. When you're an artist, you're almost expected to adhere to a certain level of . . . sameness within your body of work. But we - the consumers and the artists - crave something new and fresh, but something that feels just familiar enough. 

It's a paradox. And truly, I don't have an answer to this riddle, this middle ground we find ourselves in, straddling the line of what's familiar and what's new. 

All I do know is that Adam Young will always be my favorite musical artist, and what I think of his music doesn't matter all that much as long as he's growing and changing and experimenting as an artist. Because I want people to expect no less of me. 

~The WordShaker

I don't want to be here. | Olivia J

"One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple," -Jack Kerouac

A really bad poem about wanting to leave for college. Enjoy as best you can. 

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I don't want to be here.

Stuck in this place

 where dreams come to die.

Stuck in the place

 where people come to settle. 

I don't want

my pieces to settle 

in the bones of 

someone else's life. 

The lines that separate us

are sprawling suburban lawns

and the ones that cleave status. 

The places I found myself

were somewhere else. 

Somewhere far from 

the mundane 

the ordinary

the stereotype. 

I don't want to be here

where the stars flicker out at 5pm

where everyone pretends they're different

where what I do is a novelty.

I want to be somewhere

where the city never sleeps

where my people are

where adventure and life springs at the corners. 

I want to be somewhere

where my strings

sever like autumn leaves

where my roots are exposed

like the breathings of my heart

where each new day

brings a new face

where I can forget

the person I was

where I can forget

the person you think I am. 

This place would be beautiful

colorful

lively

passionate

hard

soft

new

old

everything

in between. 

This place would be

everything

my home

cannot be.

I have overstayed my welcome.

My soul has traversed on

while my body remains here

stuck in an all-to-familiar place. 

I dream of a place

where my eyes are painted in color

where the streets are paved in gold

where the city bleeds words

where I can find my place

outside of nowhere. 

And this place

it would be me

really

truly

me. 

~

This would probably be better as a slam poetry video but I don't know how to do slam poetry or make a good video so. 

Oh well.  

~The WordShaker

twenty seventeen | Olivia J

"Be courageous and try to write in a way that scares you a little," -Holley Gerth

2017 didn't even feel like a year. 

And now, looking back on it, I can see that it was more of a transition year. A year of transitioning into the transition period of college and moving away from home. 

Only one big thing happened this year, and if you've been following me for a while, I think you can guess it. I published my novel! That's significant in its own right, and could fill up its own blog post. 

An honorable mention goes out to the author community and the bookish community on Instagram. You've been an amazing and kind community where I've found so many awesome friends!

But I think it's more worth it if I looked forward to 2018. These are not necessarily my goals for 2018, but the things that will fill my hours. 

I'm planning on publishing my second book, A Panther In the Snow. I'm going to graduate high school and start college full-time. I'm going to be a writer on The Branches of Jesus emag. 

And who knows what other adventures will find me. 

To close, some photo documentation of the year. 

This year wasn't great, but it surely hasn't been one of the worst. 

But, to quote the first lines of my new novel: 

"Some days, everything's a-okay. Other days, it's not. But Terra says that's just how life works. There'll never be a time when you have all good days or all bad days."

~The WordShaker