Here’s what you and your friends can start doing this holiday. Each of you pick your favourite book. Then sit down and review it
Now, you’ll have to unlearn some of those Facebook habits of yours. A ‘review’ is a lot more than ‘liking’ or ‘not liking’ a book. First write down the author’s name and the genre the book belongs to (is it a murder mystery, a romance, historical fiction like ‘Hugo’, an autobiography like Andre Agassi’s ‘Open’, etc)
Then give a brief outline of the story, but WITHOUT GIVING AWAY THE ENDING! In a detective story, if you reveal who the real crook is in your review, you’ve ruined the suspense for the next reader.
Since this ‘Club of Critics’ is between you and your friends, keep the tone of your writing chatty…write down why you liked the book. Who your favourite characters are; the part of the book you liked best and mention any other books you might have read by the same author. You could also criticise the book and give reasons for your opinion.
Now, your first meeting of book critics can involve some sandwiches (brains work best when stomachs are full, remember?) And each of you can bring your book, along with your ‘review’ folded inside it. Now pass around your books and let each of your friends read the reviews and pick the books they want to borrow.
After you’ve read a friend’s book, go over his or her review. Do you agree with it? If so, add a few lines in agreement with the first review. If not, write up your own review of the book and staple it on to your friend’s first review.
Here’s what you’ll discover. Not all of you will like the same books. Or, in a book that all of you liked, each of you probably have different favourite characters.
If you’ve had fun with Round 1, try out something else for the next session of the Critics’ Club’. How about discussing books that got turned into movies? Start with the Harry Potter series. Did you like the movies better or the books? Remember, being a critic requires you to give reasons for your opinions! So write down WHY.
Round 3 could be for only movies. Just as in Round 1, pass on a movie that you’d like to share, along with your review of it. And when it comes back to you, have fun reading all your friends’ additions to your review.