About the blog
Reviews
I read a lot. Rat’s Reading consists of my thoughts about books (and some magazines) I read. I review almost every book I read or even attempt to read but don’t finish.
My reviews are not particularly intellectual, though on occasion I try. I enjoy plot and character most (at least in fiction), and my reviews will generally have a plot intro or synopsis. I sometimes have spoilers in my reviews, though I try to avoid that. Books should be enjoyable whether or not the reader knows the ending. If a book isn’t, then someone is doing something wrong. I do consider other aspects though. In particular, for non-fiction works I believe one of the seminal questions is whether or not the facts are true. Unfortunately, I am rarely an expert and so I am often not able to make that evaluation.
I don’t give books a star rating
or other hard rating. The simple reason is that too often my opinions of a book’s quality are fuzzy. I can’t really delineate much better than didn’t like it
, not bad
, and loved it!
You should be able to tell from my writing which books I didn’t like and which books I loved and the rest are automatically in the middle.
A mention of my literary theory
: I believe that the meaning and quality of a book is a mish-mashed combination where author, society, reader and the text all contribute to a reader’s perception of the book. Consequently, all are fair game for discussion in a review. I don’t review based on any particular audience other than myself. I believe any review often reveals more about the reviewer than it does anything about the book or author.
Authors, publicists, and publishers may want to read my page on the blog’s review copy policy.
Opinion/Editorial
Articles in this category are generally my opinion or observations on reading-related topics. Generally ill-informed and frequently inconsistent too. I tend to put lots of general opinion and commentary about books and the world in the reviews themselves, but occasionally I just feel the need to expound without the benefit of an associated book.
My Pile of Books
Posts here just list books I’ve acquired more or less as I acquire them.
Free Books
These entries contain pointers to places to find free books. Book giveaways and contests, stores, events, free downloadable books, etc. This is a relatively new feature and I am still experimenting with the format.
About the name King Rat
King Rat is otherwise known as Philip Weiss. I’ve been using the name King Rat
online since BBS days in the late 1980s and on the internet starting in 1990 on Quartz BBS. There are a lot of other people who use the name King Rat. I doubt I was the first, and I’m certainly not the most famous.
The literary connection was important from the beginning. Back in my high school days at Seattle Prep James Clavell’s King Rat was assigned reading. The name comes from that.
About me
I live in the Pacific Northwest. I’m currently splitting time between Seattle, on the shores of Lake Union, and Ferndale, just north of Bellingham. I love Seattle, and hope to always have a home here.
From an early age, I read. I don’t remember what my mother did to inculcate the habit, but I read. Teachers didn’t believe that I read some of the books for which I turned in book reports, and I was tested on them. Swiss Family Robinson comes to mind there. I read above my official grade level. I cleared out the Hardy Boys series at the Shoreline Library. I cleared out pretty much everything in the young adult section. The next section over was the Science Fiction section, and I started in on it. It started a love affair with the genre that I still retain. Orbit anthologies to Eddings and Heinlein, I loved it all. I’ve since changed my opinion of Eddings.
I own somewhere around twelve hundred (I’ve lost track again) books. I have no idea how many I’ve read. There’s no real theme to the kinds of books I read. Science fiction, mystery, biography, history, technology, politics, and more are included in my subjects. Whatever looks interesting at the time.
I’m not a particularly intellectual reader. In fiction, I enjoy plot and character most. Setting, language, and other themes of more famous book reviewers aren’t things I touch on much. I read for enjoyment, though I occasionally open up something that’s great
literature to see if I can get it.
My email address is reading 
kingrat.biz.
Another, more famous, Philip Weiss blogs about Israel, the Middle East, and American Jewry. I am not that Philip Weiss. You can find him at philipweiss.org.
