A very interesting discussion, thank you for sharing all of this!
A comment on the question of judging, from a European perspective which might be different because of the traditions both of academia and of categorizing literature: I believe that there are two ways of reading and writing, depending on the "hat" a book reviewer wears. If he or she writes about, say, a novel in their capacity as a book critic doing a review for a magazine, the attitude towards this creative work is different. Their reading experience is that of a visitor to a foreign landscape who takes it all in and describes the views and passes a judgement on whether it is beautiful or not. If that same visitor is an academic writing for an academic journal, they might have the attitude of a geologist or a geographer using the tools of their field to analyze what shaped this landscape. In short, they dissect what they see - whether they enjoy the view or not, is of no importance.
I do both - sharing recommendations for books I loved here on Substack, and I write for an academic journal. And in my experience, that's totally different.
A very interesting discussion, thank you for sharing all of this!
A comment on the question of judging, from a European perspective which might be different because of the traditions both of academia and of categorizing literature: I believe that there are two ways of reading and writing, depending on the "hat" a book reviewer wears. If he or she writes about, say, a novel in their capacity as a book critic doing a review for a magazine, the attitude towards this creative work is different. Their reading experience is that of a visitor to a foreign landscape who takes it all in and describes the views and passes a judgement on whether it is beautiful or not. If that same visitor is an academic writing for an academic journal, they might have the attitude of a geologist or a geographer using the tools of their field to analyze what shaped this landscape. In short, they dissect what they see - whether they enjoy the view or not, is of no importance.
I do both - sharing recommendations for books I loved here on Substack, and I write for an academic journal. And in my experience, that's totally different.