Reflections on Review 5: The Secret of Chanel No.5 by Tilar Mazzeo

This is the last review! So I thought I’d go out with something that is a little unconventional yet classic at the same time. How is that possible? Well, unconventional because Mazzeo’s book is a biography of sorts but it isn’t necessarily based on 100% fact and classic because there’s nothing more classic than a bottle of Chanel No.5.

Surprisingly I really enjoyed this book and I didn’t think I would because it’s not usually something I would read. I guess this whole process has caused me to be a bit more adventurous with my reading material! It really was a page turner and credit has to go to the author for that.

I also think that this review has been my best so far. There was good coverage of the events in the book, a good use of creative language, I thought, and it is also the longest one I’ve written so far (although to be fair, it’s not by much).The professional review I used this week was one by The New York Times so the bar was set pretty high. I don’t think I did to bad against them but when you read the two reviews its evident why Jenkins gets paid for this and I don’t. Her writing is so much more eloquent than mine, especially her first paragraph. She really did go into a lot of detail. This is still one thing that I am lacking in my reviews. I need more detail instead of just an overview. I just find it a little hard to select specific events on which to expand.

Overall this process has really improved my writing and I do think I made commendable progress from my first review. I think it’s evident when my first review on The Red Queen is compared to The Secret of Chanel No.5.

Reflections on Review 4: He's Just Not That Into You by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo

I like putting a little quote at the beginning of each review, I feel that it gives a sense of the writing style of the author and keeping in trend with my last three posts I did the same here. I had two
favorite quotes but I couldn’t decide which one I wanted to use, so I used both! He’s Just Not That Into You is different genre to the other books I’ve reviewed so far and I wanted to do that to mix it up a little. It’s a ‘self-help’ sort of book, although I wouldn’t recommend anyone reading the book to take the advice
too literally.

This review was really, really easy to write because there wasn’t a lot of recapping the story (which I personally hate doing). I think
that’s why my reviews are always shorter than the professional ones but I just feel that if you recap the whole story then there isn’t any need for the person reading the review to even bother reading the book. I like summarizing the story a little and then focusing on the main points and giving my own opinion on the
themes.

I did try to be a bit more creative with my writing but I still think that is a work in progress. Another thing I feel that I need to improve is that I need to give a bit more critique. I usually state a lot of good points but don’t really mention too many of the faults.

Reflections on Review 3: Secrets and Sins by Jaishree Misra

The novel I reviewed this week was super different from a literary aspect in the sense that it wasn’t exactly a heavy read. It was one of those trashy (in the nicest possible way) novels that one reads when you really don’t want to think about the makings of the universe. This is not to say there aren’t to say that some important themes aren’t present, e.g. loyalty, infidelity, guilt, morality, etc.

In my opinion there has been an improvement in my writing wince last week as I did keep the failings of my last post in mind as I was writing my review. I did state how I felt about this book and what I liked and what I didn’t like and I also did mention the key themes that struck a note with me.

I still think I have a long way to go with my review writing though. As I read all these professional reviews I notice that the writers use creative and witty metaphors and language that inspires images in the readers mind. I think this is one of those things that I will slowly improve on with practice. I’m being realistic here, I don’t think my next review is going to be a piece of literary art but I will try my best to come up with some quirky language so that I too can inspire imagery in the minds of my readers.

Reflections on Review 2: The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

This week my hesitation in writing was a little better than last. I had a better idea of how to start and what I wanted to say about the book, which is great!

Da Vinci Code is a really cool book when read on its own (without Angels and Demons) and so it was easy to put down my thoughts. I did try to improve on my weaknesses from last week, for example I structured my work better and in my opinion I think I managed to summarize Langdon’s character well without making it too long. This review was a little different from the last, I didn’t summarize the events in the book as much but I did this on purpose. Reason being that this particular book is a thriller so I wanted to provide the reader enough to give them a sense of what the book is about without spoiling the twists and turns.

I think what I lacked in this review was some emotion and I failed to mention how I thought the book resonated with me. Which I hope to improve on with my next review!

Reflections on Review 1: The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory

Going into writing my first review I was a little lost on where to start and what to put in there. I have read reviews before but I hadn’t actually paid much attention to the structure of it. I thought that summarizing the novel would be a good start and then I added to the review from there. I don’t think I did a great job to be honest; it’s not very in-depth in terms of the character analysis. I found it really hard to fully go into Margret’s character without making the review ridiculously long!I also realize I lacked when it came to properly structuring the review. In the future I need to pay more attention to the chronology of the events in the novel and structure my review accordingly.Hopefully as I progress through this semester I can improve on these aspects!

Week 3

This week my momentum has been steady and I’ve continued to make great progress. Over the course of the past week I managed to complete brief one and because I’m so awesome, I also finished my proposal for brief two! I think someone needs to give me a gold star :D

Being the bookworm that I am, I decided to write my own book reviews and compare them to professionally written reviews. And hopefully, the idea is that I’ll slowly improve my review writing skills (secretly, one day I hope to write reviews for a living. When I grow up I want to be a respected literary critic…. Sigh… a girl can dream can’t she?).

In regards to the speed bumps I encountered last week, I found that I can’t really do much about the academic sources. I want to use them as part of my research; therefore I must weed through pages and pages in order to find something relevant to my cause. Sadly, I don’t have a choice. Guess I should stop moaning because chances are that you guys are going through the same thing. I’m just lazy.

I think that in order to stay on top of brief two, I better start thinking about which books I want to read and review. Hhmmm… I don’t know where to start! Also another thing I’m worried about is, do I have to read a new book every week? How am I going to start and finish a novel in a week?! Realistically, I don’t have the time to do that. I wonder if I will be able to write reviews on books I’ve read already in the past? That would make things significantly easier, but I think my reviews won’t be as good. I want to write about the expectations you have of a new novel before you open the cover. The speculations you make as you journey through. And the fresh opinions you form once you reach your destination. In my opinion, all of which are slowly lost as time passes.

Seems like I have much to think about!


Until next week, amigos.

Adios

Week 2

So here we are once again, in a rather nostalgic mood, looking
back on the 3 hours that was ‘Week two of iReflect’. Melodramatic? Maybe. But nonetheless
a lot of progress was made by me this week and I am rather proud of it.
Therefore, I think this introduction deserves all the theatre I can give it.

I managed to stay on task for the whole session; there was
no unnecessary YouTubing or Facebooking (astounding, I know! Even I’m shocked).

In regards to what was actually accomplished, I managed to create a page for part of Brief One and covered some key aspects of ‘Reflective Practice’. Firstly, I did some research on the subject
and covered four key questions about reflective practice. Also came across a
very simple and self explanatory diagram on the reflective cycle and a somewhat
strange but effective clip on the topic. Check it out guys, feedback and
thoughts would be appreciated.

I did find some things a little difficult this week. For example,
I wanted to use mainly academic resources for my research and although there
are a number of sources available, I find it tedious having to scavenge though
all the gibberish to find something that I could use. Do academics always
waffle this much?

Another thing I found a little challenging (and this may
come as a surprise to you) is writing these reflective blogs. I find it hard to
firstly, think about the things that were obstacles AND THEN having to write
about them! It’s a major thorn in my backside. In other words: Pain In My Ass. Maybe
self reflection isn’t one of my strong points. *Sigh* yes I know, I don’t have
a choice. After all, this paper is called iREFLECT.

Wrapping it up for another week, overall not a bad attempt (in
my opinion that is, Frank may think otherwise). Plan for next week is to do
finish up the rest of Brief One (this time cover ePortfolios) and begin
thinking about possible options for Brief two. I do have some ideas floating
around in this noggin of mine and I shall fill you all in soon.
¡Hasta la proxima semana!