Book Blogger Confessions is a meme that posts the 1st and 3rd Monday of every month, where book bloggers "confess" and vent about topics that are unique to us. Feel free to share, vent and offer solutions. Just keep it respectful - no bashing authors or other bloggers!
If you want to participate just grab our button and include it in your post with a link to either Tiger's All Consuming Media or here on For What It's Worth. We will be providing a linky at the end of our posts so people can "hop" to see all the participants answers.
Question: Everyone LOVES that book! Why don't I? How do you handle being the one reviewer who doesn't like a book that's taking the blogosphere by storm? Do you write a review? Pretend you didn't read the book?
I used to love every book I read. I really did. Even minor flaws were overlooked. I was with the majority of people saying every book was AWESOME!
But the more I read and the more I blog, the more books start sounding similar to me. Maybe it's just the nature of blogging and reviewing. I now look at books with more of a critical eye than I used to.
Either way this situation happens to me about 80% of the time with any book I read these days.
At first I thought something was wrong with me because I wasn't "getting" a particular book. What exactly am I not seeing?? Maybe I read the book wrong. lol How did 500 people on goodreads give this book 4 or 5 stars and I gave it two? How is that possible? Should I read it again and expect a different outcome?
This is a little off topic but I finally realized what was happening.The book reviewing blogosphere is vast but we do tend to read/review the same books for the most part. When I see a gorgeous cover & dozens of great reviews over the course of a week I start thinking "maybe I should read that book" even if it wasn't something that interested me before. I found myself not liking most of the books I was reading because of the way I was choosing them. Don't get me wrong, I have found a lot of great books through blogger recommendations and reading outside my comfort zone. However, I've found that what works best for me is to chose my next book for a number of different reasons, with good book buzz being just one of them. Since I've changed how I select my books, I find this happening less often but it doesn't really bother me anymore anyway. It's just my opinion - one among thousands - and I'm allowed to have it.
When it does happen I review the book. Every time I write a negative review for a popular book I hold my breath after I post it, waiting for the onslaught of "you stupid moron….this is the best book ever & you are the dumbest person ever for not liking it." Despite all the drama that seems to thrive on twitter & goodreads, I have found bloggers to be very supportive of differing opinions. Most have disagreed with me but understood where I was coming from with my thoughts. The other side is that even though you feel all alone in not liking a particular book - there are always others who feel the same. I get a lot of comments that say "omg, I thought it was just me!" There is no way that 100% of readers will like every book. Not possible. You are never alone.
Now, just to contradict myself, there have been a few occasions where it has made me feel awful that I didn't like a book; like when it's my BFF's favorite book. This makes me feel like dog poo. I feel like it's a direct insult on them and their reading tastes even though I of course don't mean it that way. I feel like I'm insulting their mother.
The Soul Screamers series by Rachel Vincent. This is one of my BBC co-host Tiger's favorite series. It makes me feel horrible that I don't like it because as she has stated in the past, we are 90% book compatible. I want to be 100% book compatible! I've tried reading it, I keep trying, but nothing….sorry.
Put down that tomato right now! Do not throw it at me! I know you all love the series but I don't.
The other book is Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi. Again. I'm sorry, I didn't like it. It's Brooke from Brooke Reports favorite book ever! Have you met Brooke?? She's THE most adorable person and I had to tell her I didn't like her FAVORITE book after she begged me to read it. That girl is passionate about her books! I admit it…..I tried to avoid THE conversation. i didn't add my rating to goodreads right away. I considered adding one star to cushion the blow. I haven't written a review for Shatter Me but it's because I didn't have strong feelings either way, not to avoid Brooke's wrath. lol (btw - she eventually found out that I didn't love the book and still loves me anyway - whew! Crisis diverted)
I think the bottom line is that it's difficult to feel like a party pooper especially when everyone is talking about a great book on Twitter/Facebook etc. You want to be part of the fun. You want to LOVE every book. I love discussing & pimping great books so it makes me sad when I'm not feeling the love myself but I just keep reading until I find the next great book that I can swoon over.
**This wasn’t part of this week’s question but I’m curious……how do you feel when people don’t love a book that YOU LOVE? My answer: It doesn't really bother me but I tend to avoid reviews if it's anything the might upset me. *anti-Peeta=death glare* I want the right to to be honest about what I read so I should allow others their opinion too.
Upcoming Questions:
April 2nd - Spoilers in reviews: Do you read them, do you include them? How to you describe (or avoid describing) spoilery parts of a book?
April 16th –: Review/Guest post requests: Do you have a review request policy? Has it changed over time? How do you handle requests that don’t meet your criteria?
In the past, what types of "pitches" have caught your attention? Are there any (non-specific) examples of requests that are off-putting to you as a blogger?
P.S. Love you Kevin. Here’s to 25 more!
