Literary Criticism and Reviews: Goodreads Reviews
Now, Goodreads.com of course is not a peer-reviewed academic journal or a venue for work contracted by a publishing house. Most of my writing, after all, is, well, “professional” like that—either an article for a journal vetted by professors who are experts in a given topic, or something a reference publisher like Salem Press specifically asks for and then pays for. These are things that go on a curriculum vita, whereas Goodreads is not.
Moreover, I have to confess that my attention to Goodreads really waxes and wanes. That is, sometimes I get on a great streak and am really good about doing reviews of the random things I happen to be reading. Other times I mean to, but I may get behind, and then I grow a little too stale on the piece and hence end up posting nothing—highly frustrating. And occasionally I just forget altogether, and it ends up being a year or two between reviews...
Oh, yes— And the chances of my doing a Goodreads review of anything by Ray Bradbury or Robert A. Heinlein, or any other author I have read for pleasure prior to 2013 or 2014 when I first got on the site, are just about zero. I suppose it could happen after a more recent reread, though. But definitely not common.
However, my website helps me keep track of my writings, and my Goodreads reviews are somewhat entertaining on occasion, so here goes anyway--
The Argosy Book of Adventure Stories, ed. Rogers Terrill: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4169900736
At the Earth's Core, Edgar Rice Burroughs: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4496798510
The Axmann Conspiracy: The Nazi Plan for a Fourth Reich and How the U.S. Army Defeated It, Scott Andrew Selby: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2081645276
Beau Geste, P.C. Wren: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2062359734
Becoming Ray Bradbury, Jonathan R. Eller: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1142232577
Berlin 1961: Kennedy, Khruschev, and the Most Dangerous Place on Earth, Frederick Kempe: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2053455709
The Big Clock, Kenneth Fearing: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3463008583
Blitzed: Drug Use in Nazi Germany, Norman Ohler: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3594421634
The Caine Mutiny, Herman Wouk: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1281337606
California Crazy: American Pop Architecture, Jim Heimann: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4394920670
Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety, Eric Schlosser: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2265684448
Confessions of a Crap Artist, Philip K. Dick: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/985909012
The Crossroads of Time, Andre Norton: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3481008236
Damey & Grandpa Tutor, Larry Webb: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/980617335
The Diaries of Adam and Eve, Mark Twain: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1072845438
The Dog Stars, Peter Heller: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3678748346
Drawings from the Gulag, Danzig Baldaev: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4336026507
The Drowned World, J.G. Ballard: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3508149187
The Eternal Champion, Michael Moorcock: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4110643242
Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth, Avi Loeb: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3837751967
Falling, T.J. Newman: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4104875178
The Familiar Dark, Amy Engel: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3516753722
Fate Is the Hunter, Ernest K. Gann: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4123492955
Fatherland, Robert Harris: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1502761931
Firefox, Craig Thomas: www.goodreads.com/review/show/3580047821
Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said, Philip K. Dick: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3630749342
Glory for Me, MacKinlay Kantor: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3589568071
Grammar without Tears, Tabitha Ormiston-Smith: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1142035368
The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4017483836
Hide and Seek: The Untold Story of Cold War Naval Espionage, Peter Huchthausen and Alexandre Sheldon-Duplaix: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3567879637
Hold On!, Peter Darley: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/995034110
The Human Stain, Philip Roth: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1555242731
The Hunt for Red October, Tom Clancy: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3574369336
I Am Legend, Richard Matheson: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3499619641
The Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Jack Finney: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1034719193
Khrushchev's Cold War: The Inside Story of an American Adversary, Aleksandr Fursenko and Timothy Naftali: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3542154543
Leave the World Behind, Rumaan Alam: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3864831853
The Legion of Space, Jack Williamson: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/988149834
The Lost Weekend, Charles Jackson: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1147722336
The Lost World, Arthur Conan Doyle: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1042538401
Make Room! Make Room!, Harry Harrison: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3886675205
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, Sloan Wilson: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1009625789
A Martian Odyssey, Stanley G. Weinbaum: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1028584906
A Matter of Morals, Joseph Gies: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1282859634
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, Eric Hodgins: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3877875263
Natives of Space, Hal Clement: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1036418510
Operation Storm: Japan's Top Secret Submarines and Its Plans to Change the Course of World War II, John J. Geoghegan: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2048502335
Out of Space and Time, Clark Ashton Smith: www.goodreads.com/review/show/4269685373
The Penultimate Truth, Philip K. Dick: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3646567758
Planet of the Apes, Pierre Boulle: www.goodreads.com/review/show/3992003255
Planets Three, Frederik Pohl: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/986232680
Player Piano, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3489521194
The Pocket Book of Dog Stories, Harold Berman, ed.: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3511238215
A Princess of Mars (Barsoom series #1), Edgar Rice Burroughs: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4027080520
The Gods of Mars (Barsoom series #2): Edgar Rice Burroughs: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4032978321
The Warlord of Mars (Barsoom series #3), Edgar Rice Burroughs: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4042486090
Thuvia, Maid of Mars and The Chessmen of Mars (Barsoom series #4 and #5), Edgar Rice Burroughs: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4065456260
The Master Mind of Mars (Barsoom series #6), Edgar Rice Burroughs: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4068466285
A Fighting Man of Mars (Barsoom series #7), Edgar Rice Burroughs: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4077954927
The Smell of War: Lessons from the Battlefield, Roland Bartetzko: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4272202191
Swords of Mars (Barsoom series #8), Edgar Rice Burroughs: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4081235256
Synthetic Men of Mars (Barsoom series #9), Edgar Rice Burroughs: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4092929356
Llana of Gathol (Barsoom series #10), Edgar Rice Burroughs: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4096842379
John Carter of Mars (Barsoom series #11), Edgar Rice Burroughs: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4101243970
John Carter of Mars: Gods of the Forgotten (new Barsoom series), Geary Gravel: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4471348983
Pstalemate, Lester del Rey: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1031264524
Ray Bradbury Unbound, Jonathan R. Eller: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1051331889
Red Harvest, Dashiell Hammett: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2226874943
Restless Legs, Tabitha Ormiston-Smith: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1260133793
Roadside Americana, Eric Peterson: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4398260874
Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue with His Century: Volume 1 (1907-1948): Learning Curve, William J. Patterson, Jr.: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1186185286
Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue with His Century, Volume 2: The Man Who Learned Better, William J. Patterson, Jr.: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1222027415
Rocket to the Morgue, Anthony Boucher: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1022796955
Route 66, Michael Karl Witzel: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4409270533
A Scanner Darkly, Philip K. Dick: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3603326596
Secret Commandos: Behind Enemy Line with the Elite Warriors of SOG, John L. Plaster: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3717281759
Serpico, Peter Maas: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3881067318
The Sirens of Titan, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3499453751
A Spy in the House of Love, Anais Nin: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1097665436
Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Gene Roddenberry: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4275707784
Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, Vonda N. McIntyre: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4306182456
Tiki Pop: America Imagines Its Own Polynesian Paradise, Sven Kirsten: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4381888230
Two Years before the Mast, Richard Henry Dana, Jr.: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3475197769
Ubik, Philip K. Dick: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3612618180
The Ugly American, William J. Lederer and Eugene Burdick: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1016746356
Undersea Quest (Undersea Trilogy #1), Frederik Pohl and Jack Williamson: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/981489525
Undersea Fleet (Undersea Trilogy #2), Frederik Pohl and Jack Williamson: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/985896201
Undersea City (Undersea Trilogy #3), Frederik Pohl and Jack Williamson: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3487372853
Vietnam: A History, Stanley Karnow: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3837594605
When Worlds Collide, Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2225388142
After Worlds Collide, Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2231438849
Who?, Algis Budris: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/986810102
Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Observations about Race, revised ed., Beverly Daniel Tatum: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4349534795
Wind, Sand and Stars, Antoine de Saint Exupery: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4148559786
Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America, John McWhorter: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4359064501
Moreover, I have to confess that my attention to Goodreads really waxes and wanes. That is, sometimes I get on a great streak and am really good about doing reviews of the random things I happen to be reading. Other times I mean to, but I may get behind, and then I grow a little too stale on the piece and hence end up posting nothing—highly frustrating. And occasionally I just forget altogether, and it ends up being a year or two between reviews...
Oh, yes— And the chances of my doing a Goodreads review of anything by Ray Bradbury or Robert A. Heinlein, or any other author I have read for pleasure prior to 2013 or 2014 when I first got on the site, are just about zero. I suppose it could happen after a more recent reread, though. But definitely not common.
However, my website helps me keep track of my writings, and my Goodreads reviews are somewhat entertaining on occasion, so here goes anyway--
The Argosy Book of Adventure Stories, ed. Rogers Terrill: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4169900736
At the Earth's Core, Edgar Rice Burroughs: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4496798510
The Axmann Conspiracy: The Nazi Plan for a Fourth Reich and How the U.S. Army Defeated It, Scott Andrew Selby: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2081645276
Beau Geste, P.C. Wren: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2062359734
Becoming Ray Bradbury, Jonathan R. Eller: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1142232577
Berlin 1961: Kennedy, Khruschev, and the Most Dangerous Place on Earth, Frederick Kempe: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2053455709
The Big Clock, Kenneth Fearing: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3463008583
Blitzed: Drug Use in Nazi Germany, Norman Ohler: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3594421634
The Caine Mutiny, Herman Wouk: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1281337606
California Crazy: American Pop Architecture, Jim Heimann: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4394920670
Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety, Eric Schlosser: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2265684448
Confessions of a Crap Artist, Philip K. Dick: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/985909012
The Crossroads of Time, Andre Norton: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3481008236
Damey & Grandpa Tutor, Larry Webb: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/980617335
The Diaries of Adam and Eve, Mark Twain: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1072845438
The Dog Stars, Peter Heller: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3678748346
Drawings from the Gulag, Danzig Baldaev: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4336026507
The Drowned World, J.G. Ballard: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3508149187
The Eternal Champion, Michael Moorcock: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4110643242
Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth, Avi Loeb: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3837751967
Falling, T.J. Newman: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4104875178
The Familiar Dark, Amy Engel: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3516753722
Fate Is the Hunter, Ernest K. Gann: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4123492955
Fatherland, Robert Harris: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1502761931
Firefox, Craig Thomas: www.goodreads.com/review/show/3580047821
Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said, Philip K. Dick: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3630749342
Glory for Me, MacKinlay Kantor: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3589568071
Grammar without Tears, Tabitha Ormiston-Smith: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1142035368
The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4017483836
Hide and Seek: The Untold Story of Cold War Naval Espionage, Peter Huchthausen and Alexandre Sheldon-Duplaix: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3567879637
Hold On!, Peter Darley: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/995034110
The Human Stain, Philip Roth: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1555242731
The Hunt for Red October, Tom Clancy: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3574369336
I Am Legend, Richard Matheson: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3499619641
The Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Jack Finney: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1034719193
Khrushchev's Cold War: The Inside Story of an American Adversary, Aleksandr Fursenko and Timothy Naftali: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3542154543
Leave the World Behind, Rumaan Alam: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3864831853
The Legion of Space, Jack Williamson: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/988149834
The Lost Weekend, Charles Jackson: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1147722336
The Lost World, Arthur Conan Doyle: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1042538401
Make Room! Make Room!, Harry Harrison: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3886675205
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, Sloan Wilson: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1009625789
A Martian Odyssey, Stanley G. Weinbaum: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1028584906
A Matter of Morals, Joseph Gies: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1282859634
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, Eric Hodgins: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3877875263
Natives of Space, Hal Clement: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1036418510
Operation Storm: Japan's Top Secret Submarines and Its Plans to Change the Course of World War II, John J. Geoghegan: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2048502335
Out of Space and Time, Clark Ashton Smith: www.goodreads.com/review/show/4269685373
The Penultimate Truth, Philip K. Dick: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3646567758
Planet of the Apes, Pierre Boulle: www.goodreads.com/review/show/3992003255
Planets Three, Frederik Pohl: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/986232680
Player Piano, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3489521194
The Pocket Book of Dog Stories, Harold Berman, ed.: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3511238215
A Princess of Mars (Barsoom series #1), Edgar Rice Burroughs: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4027080520
The Gods of Mars (Barsoom series #2): Edgar Rice Burroughs: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4032978321
The Warlord of Mars (Barsoom series #3), Edgar Rice Burroughs: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4042486090
Thuvia, Maid of Mars and The Chessmen of Mars (Barsoom series #4 and #5), Edgar Rice Burroughs: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4065456260
The Master Mind of Mars (Barsoom series #6), Edgar Rice Burroughs: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4068466285
A Fighting Man of Mars (Barsoom series #7), Edgar Rice Burroughs: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4077954927
The Smell of War: Lessons from the Battlefield, Roland Bartetzko: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4272202191
Swords of Mars (Barsoom series #8), Edgar Rice Burroughs: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4081235256
Synthetic Men of Mars (Barsoom series #9), Edgar Rice Burroughs: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4092929356
Llana of Gathol (Barsoom series #10), Edgar Rice Burroughs: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4096842379
John Carter of Mars (Barsoom series #11), Edgar Rice Burroughs: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4101243970
John Carter of Mars: Gods of the Forgotten (new Barsoom series), Geary Gravel: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4471348983
Pstalemate, Lester del Rey: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1031264524
Ray Bradbury Unbound, Jonathan R. Eller: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1051331889
Red Harvest, Dashiell Hammett: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2226874943
Restless Legs, Tabitha Ormiston-Smith: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1260133793
Roadside Americana, Eric Peterson: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4398260874
Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue with His Century: Volume 1 (1907-1948): Learning Curve, William J. Patterson, Jr.: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1186185286
Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue with His Century, Volume 2: The Man Who Learned Better, William J. Patterson, Jr.: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1222027415
Rocket to the Morgue, Anthony Boucher: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1022796955
Route 66, Michael Karl Witzel: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4409270533
A Scanner Darkly, Philip K. Dick: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3603326596
Secret Commandos: Behind Enemy Line with the Elite Warriors of SOG, John L. Plaster: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3717281759
Serpico, Peter Maas: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3881067318
The Sirens of Titan, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3499453751
A Spy in the House of Love, Anais Nin: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1097665436
Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Gene Roddenberry: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4275707784
Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, Vonda N. McIntyre: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4306182456
Tiki Pop: America Imagines Its Own Polynesian Paradise, Sven Kirsten: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4381888230
Two Years before the Mast, Richard Henry Dana, Jr.: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3475197769
Ubik, Philip K. Dick: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3612618180
The Ugly American, William J. Lederer and Eugene Burdick: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1016746356
Undersea Quest (Undersea Trilogy #1), Frederik Pohl and Jack Williamson: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/981489525
Undersea Fleet (Undersea Trilogy #2), Frederik Pohl and Jack Williamson: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/985896201
Undersea City (Undersea Trilogy #3), Frederik Pohl and Jack Williamson: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3487372853
Vietnam: A History, Stanley Karnow: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3837594605
When Worlds Collide, Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2225388142
After Worlds Collide, Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2231438849
Who?, Algis Budris: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/986810102
Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Observations about Race, revised ed., Beverly Daniel Tatum: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4349534795
Wind, Sand and Stars, Antoine de Saint Exupery: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4148559786
Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America, John McWhorter: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4359064501
