My First Book Review

I wrote my very first ever book review last week. I'd never written a book review or even really thought about writing one when suddenly I was asked to review two different books by the same author, who happens to be a friend of mine. One was a Bible Commentary that I've owned for a couple of years or so but haven't gotten around to reading all the way through yet. The other was the author's first attempt at fiction. The request to review the commentary came from the author, while the request to review the novel came from Amazon.com.

Amazon.com wants reviews to be quite short and to not give away the plot. Hmm. How does one do this? Perhaps I should first have read some book reviews to remind myself what they are supposed to do. Do people care how much of the info about the hero and his romantic interest seems to be autobiographical? Or that some of the words may be a tad bit larger than usually show up in a New York Times bestseller? I don't know any of these things. However, I gamely set myself to writing in the small space provided by Amazon.com about a book I found surprisingly good.

Mind you, I wasn't surprised because I'm not sure about my friend's writing skill. He is a really good writer. It's just that it's always a little scary to read anything written by a friend. You hope you're not going to have to give any kind of backpedaling left handed compliments if the author should ask the dreaded "How did you like it?" and you didn't. I try not to ask my friends what they think about my writing, hard as it is to refrain. I'm pretty sure they don't notice me dancing around carefully not asking their opinion.

Now that I have written one book review, which I suspect won't convince anyone to buy the book, perhaps I'll finish reading that other book and write another one. Or perhaps I'll write about the first book in a way that will actually interest people in reading the novel. But maybe first I'll read some reviews so I know what I should be doing. You know what they say, "When in doubt, follow directions."

Is all that social media chatter TMI?

Have you seen the TV commercial about search overload? You know, the one where someone mentions a word and everyone in the vicinity goes into free association mode, babbling everything they have ever heard or read that relates even vaguely to that word. The implication is that the currently available search engines are too general in scope to be really helpful and that everyone should immediately sign up for whatever the newest thing is.

I can kind of relate to that commercial because sometimes it feels like I am constantly inundated with TMI (too much information). On Facebook and Twitter I follow the moment by moment activities of hundreds of my closest friends. Much of that info is kind of random, in the "I don't know what to cook for dinner" category. Some of it is really specific, replies to some specific event that I don't know anything about and thus confuses me. Some is in response to important local and national and global events. There are blogs posted, links added, photos shared, and celebrations lifted up. There is also great pain posted - words and images of tragic personal loss. Just this morning I learned that one friend's cancer returned and another has lost a nephew.

Meanwhile I am writing. I'm writing about what's going on with me and responding to what's going on with my friends. I'm writing newsletter articles and website updates and sermons and notes to parishioners. I'm trying to remember to post blog entries, and trying to figure out if I can maybe find one place to post an entry that will automatically update everyplace. I feel overwhelmed and sometimes I wonder if all this information is really serving anyone.

But y'know, I find that I really don't mind hearing the minutia of people's lives because in between all the "what should I have for dinner" and "I just bought a new pair of red shoes" posts are writings that tell me what is happening in the depths of the soul. Cries of pain and shouts of joy. Commentary that helps me see another perspective. Opinions from people I never would have heard, because my group of friends overlaps with your group of friends which overlaps with someone else's group of friends, and I see all those comments from people I'd have never "met" otherwise.

I have learned over time that I see God most clearly in other peoples' eyes and lives. The more people I connect with and learn about, the more I learn about God. The more I participate in relationship with other people, the more I participate in my relationship with God because God lives within each of us.

Is all that social media chatter TMI? I think not. I think it helps bring me closer to you and him and her and God. And that can only be a good thing.