Announcing My Sabbatical from Reviewing Books

I began reviewing Gay/Lesbian-themed books back in 2009, and have reviewed thirty to forty books per year since that first review. During these last five years, I’ve had the pleasure of reading a score of thoughtful, well written, delightful stories by authors I admire. I’ve also read a lot of crap by authors too lazy to learn their craft before publishing. And in case you’re wondering, I seldom post a review of a book I didn’t think worthy of praise.

The only real drawback in reading/reviewing so many books per year is that it takes a great deal of time away from reading the books I’d rather be enjoying. Over the years, my to-be-read stack of non-review books has ballooned. In fact, I’ve accumulated a year’s worth of reading material, and that’s not including the books I gathered for researching my current work-in-progress.

So as of today, I’m planning to finish reading and reviewing the three books left in my review stack, and then I’m taking a sabbatical. I plan to wallow in the likes of Cormac McCarthy, Christopher Isherwood, Stieg Larsson, Alan Hollinghurst, Colm Toibin, and re-read some old favorites by Mary Renault, Truman Capote, John Steinbeck, Evelyn Waugh, John Cheever, and E.M. Forster. The list goes on and on.

So for you authors out there, please don’t send me any new books to review for at least a year.