For what it's worth, I never read the 1 star reviews. I always read the 4 and 3 stars. 5 are likely to be avid fans who gush and gush, while 1 and 2 tend to be people who either have a grudge against the author, or who just woke up on the wrong side of bed. I learn most from the 3 and 4 stars. I also take more notice of the good reviews and take the bad reviews with reservations (like the stuff about sex, drugs, violence - I think those things belong in YA books, so I take no notice of such complaints). People's tastes are just too different.

When I read books today, after having learned all that I've learned in the past year, I can't stop myself from mind-editing the novels I read. I think this is probably something most of us writers do, and I think it's a good thing. We learn to compare our work AND our writing. All of a sudden, I notice all the adverbs and consider if they were really necessary (they usually weren't, are my usual conclusions), and I cringe when I see a passive voice. This is something I never would have noticed a year ago!

I've never read Little Women before (hey, I live in Iceland!), but I picked it up for my Kindle a week back and the first thing I notice are all those pesky adverbs! There's hardly a sentence that doesn't have one. I'm still going to read it, though.

Stephen King advices people to read badly written books, because we learn most from them.

It's absolutely gorgeous. I'm tempted to buy it just because of the cover, but I'm not too fond of Angel stories. I don't know, maybe I'll buy it.

The trailer is also amazing.

This is amazing!