About Auntie's Alcove

It all started with a cookbook review, of all things.
Even today, Auntie Mike doesn't think that particular review is anything special, but it seemed the many people who read it disagreed. Even so, the first time a comment implored him to start a blog, he scoffed. "I'm not that interesting," he remarked to the cat – who agreed – "and I'm certainly not likely to keep up with it after the first week or two." The idea never really left his head completely, however, and after a few more comments agreeing with the sentiment, he decided to give it a shot.

Auntie's Alcove is an eclectic space, and Mike makes no apologies for that. He gets no enjoyment from reading books for the sole purpose of writing reviews, so expect to only find those books he was interested in reading for the sake of reading. Nor does Auntie Mike make any apologies for his opinions; he's heartily disliked some very popular books, and he can think of several that he's loved despite the negative opinions of the world at large.

Despite the fact that Auntie Mike began reviewing in the first place to offer pointed criticisms to temper undeserved praise, you shouldn't think this is a blog for tearing down authors. Auntie Mike has a great deal of respect for those authors who earn it by producing quality work, and one of his favorite things to pin up in his Alcove are reports of those books he loved. But good or bad, one thing all the reviews tend to have in common is their length; Auntie Mike has never been terribly good at getting to the point.

Of course, Auntie Mike doesn't spend all his time reading, and Auntie's Alcove is a fair representation of all his opinions, not just those pertaining to books. Here and there, you may just find a recipe, or an eye roll at some current event or other, or a story about what the cat destroyed this time. In other words, this Alcove is not a professional book review blog, and Auntie Mike accepts no complaints that he's taking his own blog off-topic.

Not turned off yet? Pull up a pouf and look around!

About the reviewing system 

Auntie Mike has remarked more than once that the standard five-star scoring system popular on sites such as Amazon and Goodreads is limited; five stars don't allow for the level of nuance that some reviews require, and here in the Alcove, you'll find a ten-point system, with a full ten stars indicating perfection.

A new visitor might be surprised at the level of criticism applied to books that earned relatively high scores. This is intentional; it is Auntie Mike's belief that just because a book was enjoyable, there's no need to pretend it was perfect. 

Of course, some books are truly awful...so awful, they're not even worth finishing. When Auntie Mike abandons a book very early on, he'll leave it unscored; only those book that were read at least a third of the way through will get a star rating. (This is not to say he won't explain his dissatisfaction with those unrated books. Auntie Mike is a big believer in warning others.)