A review I found last week was written by a blogger whom had a lot to
gripe about regarding a certain piece, but it all boiled down to this:
I didn't like this story because I can't relate to it. This type of
criticism is rampant in high school and college students, and adults
who don't have strong critical thinking skills.

Don't give a story a bad review just because you don't find
it "relateable"* enough.


Here's why:
- Are you saying you can't relate to an experience you have never had
and never expect to have? Come on, yes you can. We don't always share
experiences when we relate, but we do share similar emotions. If you
can't relate to the characters or situation, figure out how the text is
not conveying the right emotions.
- You don't always have to relate to a story to find it worthwhile.
Finding worth in a story you can't relate to is the sign of a reader
with a wide purview of the human condition.
- Saying a story is bad because you've never experienced similar events
makes you sound ignorant. Last semester I sat in Representing
Adolescence in a room of 30+ students two days a week, and listened to
person after person say they didn't enjoy that week's reading material
because they had experienced something different in their childhoods.
This is not how we should think about stories. Not every story is going
to be about you. I'm not saying you should feel like a bad reader for
not enjoying a story you can't relate to. I just don't think you should
go on a rant about how the story is worthless because you don't get it.
I have a rule for giving a story a bad review. If I can speak
articulately about the sloppy writing and the problematic ideology,
I'll write the review. (Sloppy writing includes poor pacing, flat
characters, clunky dialogue, etc.) If the only thing I have to say
is, "I didn't find this interesting because I couldn't relate," then I
won't waste any time or space writing about it; I'll bring it up with
friends or a book club. Again, I don't think the story is bad just
because I can't relate. Sometimes we can't get into a story because the
emotion quality falls flat for us, and we really can't relate or care
about the story. That's totally fine! Ranting about it like a kid who
is pissed he has to write a book report isn't.
*"Relateable" is not a word.

Bestselling author Gregory Maguire’s remarkable series, The Wicked
Years, comes full circle with this, his fourth and final excursion
across a darker, richer, more complex landscape of “the magical land of
Oz.” Out of Oz brilliantly reimagines L. Frank Baum’s world over the
rainbow as wracked with social unrest—placing Glinda the good witch
under house arrest and having the cowardly Lion on the lam from the law
as the Emerald City prepares to make war on Munchkinland. Even Dorothy
makes a triumphant return in Maguire’s magnificent Oz finale—tying up
every loose green end of the series he began with his classic Wicked,
the basis for the smash hit Broadway musical. ~Amazon.com


I was lucky enough to snag a numbered and signed galley of Out of Oz in
July from V.P. & Group Publicity Director Seale Ballenger from William
Morrow.


Since then, I've been cooking up a blog tour for this beauty of a
novel. I'd like to put together a tour of about 6-10 bloggers that'll
read the book before it's release on November 1. The reviews should up
within a week before or after the release date.


If you live in the US and you're interested in participating in the
blog tour for this highly anticipated work, please read below for the
application process!






Send an email to jazzlsexton{at}gmail{dot}com with this info:




- A link to your blog
- A link to a review that best exemplifies your writing style
- Why you want to review this book
- Your experience with The Wicked Years and The Wizard of Oz series
(It's okay if you haven't read the preceding Wicked Years books. Maybe
you've seen the musical, and want to read about what comes next. I'm
looking for people whom are passionate about this new title.)
- Can you read a 563 page book in 1-2 weeks?
- Are you willing to pay shipping within the US?
- What state do you reside in? I hope the requirements don't feel too
stuffy. This blog tour is meant to be high in quality and fun!

This is the cabinet beneath my TV. Where people usually keep movies, I
keep books.

My days are often filled with rollerskating werewolves.

Foxie is a sweet cat owned by our idiot neighbor across the street. Our
neighbor is often busy getting drunk and having drunk arguments, so we
feed Foxie whenever she and her persistent meowing show up.
I wanted to take a really interesting photo today, but nothing exciting
is happening on my quiet block or in the house.

My local mall is the Monroeville Mall a.k.a. Zombie Mall. Along a
hallway in the middle of the mall that leads to restrooms and the Armed
Forces Recruiting offices, old posters remind shoppers that advertising
is weird. I couldn't find a year for Store Wars, but I bet it was the
best summer ever.

"Please bring your own camera." Someone willingly missed the
opportunity to make $5/photo.

Female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail collecting pollen

The unoccupied house next door has a broken basement window stray cats
have started using recently. This house has a weird history. A man
named Ed used to live there alone. From what I'm told he was an
alcoholic, and when he died, people discovered that his house held a
horrifying amount of garbage. A boy in the neighborhood told me the
Devil's footprints were found inside. Since then I've always wondered
what the Devil's footprints would look like, and how someone would know
what they were.

Left to Right: Primed and unpainted Frankenstein's Monster, Steampunk
Bunny, Cyberpunk Bunny, and The Great Pumpkin.
I <2 customizable vinyl toys. I'm thinking of painting the Monster like
Frank-n-Furter from The Rock Horror Picture Show. The Great Pumpkin
needs to be redone; you can see where the paint is chipping off.
Steampunk's eyes are cogs, and Cyberpunk's visor is made of wires I cut
from a computer plug I found at a Goodwill. I don't think I want to
paint mouth on them. I am thinking of giving Steampunk a cloth vest.

Sh1ft.org is hosting a 31 Photos in 31 Days project for August. I'll be
hosting my photos here. My aim is to take as many strange photos as
possible because I'm longing for October right now. I want crisp air,
red leaves, scary stories, and a month of Halloween. To that end, here
is a picture of a Barbie doll without hands.