Delete Key Awards – Totally Unauthorized Reading Group Guides – Backscratching in Our Time – Gusher Awards for Achievement in Hyperbole in Book Reviewing – Classic Picture Books Every Child Should Read – Books I Didn’t Finish – Book Awards Reality Checks – Jan the Hungarian Predicts
1. Delete Key Awards for the year’s worst writing in books. One-Minute Book Reviews gives these prizes annually on March 15 to authors who aren’t using their delete keys enough.
oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/category/delete-key-awards/. The blog for Powell’s books calls these awards “arguably the second-best online literary award after the TOB’s Rooster [co-sponsored by Powell’s].” www.powells.com/blog/?author=20.
2. Totally Unauthorized Reading Group Guides. These guides encourage you to consider both the strengths and weakness of books (not just the strengths, as publishers’ guides do). They also have elements you won’t find in publishers’ guides – for example, they often quote from negative reviews.
oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/category/totally-unauthorized-reading-group-guides/.
3. Backscratching in Our Time. Inspired by “Logrolling in Our Time” in the old Spy magazine, this category calls attention to authors who have praised each others’ books, often in blurbs. oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/category/backscratching-in-our-time/.
4. Gusher Awards for Achievement in Hyperbole in Book Reviewing. These awards recognize over-the-top praise in book reviews. They appear on Fridays unless no review was too out-of-control to qualify that week. oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/category/gusher-awards/.
5. Classic Picture Books Every Child Should Read. Reviews of books for children and adults appear every Saturday and sometimes include an installment in the “Classic Picture Books Every Child Should Read” series. oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/2008/06/07/classic-picture-books-every-child-should-read-jeff-brown-and-tomi-ungerers-flat-stanley/
6. Books I Didn’t Finish. Book critics typically tell you why they liked or disliked book, not why they decided to not to review certain books all. This series tells you why one critic gave up on some books. books.oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/category/books-i-didnt-finish/.
7. Book Awards Reality Checks. This series considers whether books that have won major awards, such as a Pulitzer Prize or National Book Award, deserved their honors. oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/2008/05/27/man-asian-literary-prize-reality-check-%E2%80%93-jiang-rong%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98wolf-totem%E2%80%99/
8. Jan the Hungarian Predicts One-Minute Book Reviews predicts the winners of major book awards in the newest series on the site, added in June 2008.
One-Minute Book Reviews was the sixth-ranked book review site in the world on the Google Directory of “Top Arts and Literature” blogs as of May 30, 2008:
www.google.com/Top/Arts/Literature/Reviews_and_Criticism/. It has ranked among the Top 10 since the fall of 2007.
If you like any of these aspects of the site, I’d be so grateful if you’d link to them or post them on sites such as Digg. I use a free WordPress template that doesn’t allow me to show widgets for Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon and similar sites, and I’ve compiled the list partly for that reason. A thousand thanks to all the visitors who have put One-Minute Book Reviews on those sites regardless.
Janice Harayda is a novelist and award-winning journalist who has been the book columnist for Glamour, the book editor of the Plain Dealer, and vice-president for awards of the National Book Critics Circle www.bookcritics.org. Jan was named one of “25 Women Bloggers to Watch in 2008″by the site Virtual Woman’s Day virtualwomansday.blogspot.com/2008/01/women-bloggers-to-watch-in-2008.html.
One-Minute Book Reviews does not accept books, catalogs, advance reading copies, print or electronic press releases or other promotional materials from editors, publishers, agents, or authors whose books may be reviewed on this site.
(c) 2008 Janice Harayda. All rights reserved.
One-Minute Book Reviews 
Gladly added two links!
And have added significantly to my reading list – sci fi? really? gonna give it a whirl.
Comment by oh — June 19, 2008 @ 8:31 am |
Bless you! The J.G. Ballard book, “Super-Cannes,” sounded like a good sci-fi book for people who think they don’t like science fiction, didn’t it?
Comment by 1minutebookreviewswordpresscom — June 19, 2008 @ 9:08 am |
Great post! i have bookmarked this page.Will definitely look into it when im free! Keep up the good work.
Comment by Matthew Harold — June 30, 2011 @ 4:37 am |