Jul 6 2009
Sarah of SmartBitches and Maili were discussing on Twitter about being out of step with popular opinion regarding books. I admit that I had some qualms when I posted my B review of Joan Johnston’s Outcast and saw that Sandy at AAR had given the same book a D! I wondered whether I had missed something or whether I had not been paying attention while reading Outcast. In the end, though, I felt comfortable with my decision.
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Jul 06, 2009 @ 10:28:54
Could care less what anyone else thinks. Remember, AAR also gave The Smoke Thief by Abe a D as well and I and many other readers thought the book rated much higher (B). So tastes differ, I say get over it.
Jul 06, 2009 @ 10:34:23
I always call that feeling Reviewer’ Angst. I sometimes feel left out and like I obviously missed something that a lot of other people enjoyed, kind of like entering a circle of conversation after a joke has been told and hearing only the laughter, not the cause.
The biggest fear I used to have when disliking a romance that others liked was, “Am I really a fan of romance, then?” I’ve been reading romance for about 2 years now and when I just started out, I wondered if I’m not getting the same thing out of romance that other readers evidently were. “All these other romance fans liked it, maybe the thing I dislike about the book is what makes it a romance.” But authors like Julia Quinn, Jo Goodman, Loretta Chase, and Mary Balogh soon proved me wrong, though. :)
Ultimately, I’m always okay with my own decision, though. I have reasons for the things I like and the things I don’t.
For instance, I adored Sophia Nash’s “A Dangerous Beauty” but despised her follow-up “The Kiss,” even though AAR (a review site whose ratings I generally agree with) gave the former a C and the latter an A. I also loathed Julie Anne Long’s “Runaway Duke,” although nearly every other review went mad over it (I did love “Perils of Pleasure,” though). I’ve also felt a bit left out over Nalini Singh – I read “Slave to Sensation.” Must have missed the Sensation, because it was decided “m’eh” grade for me.
It’s weird at first – I think everyone naturally loves being agreed with – but, I mean, reading positive reviews isn’t going to make a book that’s bad in your eyes look better.
Jul 06, 2009 @ 10:38:24
The only time it bugs me is when it’s a book where the themes themselves really upset me. If I just don’t enjoy a book that’s one thing, but if I read something and perceive it to be full of alarming misogyny and then see rave reviews, I do start to wonder if I’m crazy, and how something that seems so hateful to me can be seen as totally acceptable.
Jul 06, 2009 @ 10:40:09
My taste has always been out of sync with most other romance readers. The only person I really trusted was my mom. She knew my taste and I knew hers, so we could always recommend to one another. Everyone else? Not so much. The first time I actually read a review, bought the book AND liked it was here at DA. For me, that’s a major rarity. I’m actually leery of Deidre Knight’s book for this very reason. Everyone else loves it, but then everyone else loved another book here (and every other blog on the planet) recently that I loathed. So, I always take other people’s opinion with a grain of salt.
Jul 06, 2009 @ 10:49:12
I do sometimes wonder when several reviewers who I typically trust rave about a book, which I then find…ok. Especially when it’s the type of book I typically like. Was it me? When I finally read a negative review or two, there is a bit of relief. Not sure why I’ve felt this way, because I know that tastes differ.
Jul 06, 2009 @ 10:49:33
While I would like to claim that I don’t give two twinkies what people think of a book I liked/disliked, I would be lying. There is a difference, though, between what the dude down the street thought of a book I read versus a reviewer or fellow reader I respected. I am way less likely to care what some random person thought of a book.
My mother and I had a recent conversation about Simply Love by Balogh – other people loved it, she liked it, I didn’t. And I racked my brain for days trying to figure out WHY I didn’t like it – there must be something horribly wrong with me! Maybe I am a terrible person! I have reconciled myself to the fact that I just didn’t like it, but it took several days of discussion to bring me to that decision.
Jul 06, 2009 @ 10:57:14
I can’t choose any of the choices above because I do care what others think about books I’ve read. Otherwise I wouldn’t be coming to blogs like this one to read the reviews and commentary on books. Also because I love to discuss books and that involves the opinions on both sides.
So that naturally makes options B and C obsolete – how can I want to discuss books fairly if I go about feeling one or the other is automatically wrong? What this sensation of “being out of step” does to for me is it makes me feel a little Twilight Zoneish. Like I’m the only one in a sea of (insert book title) lovers that doesn’t “get it”. So I then seek out some reviews or discussions and I try to see their picture too.
Jul 06, 2009 @ 11:12:19
None of the choices above.
When I’ve read and reviewed something that I think is not very good (and sometimes I don’t even bother writing up those reviews because Booklist does not publish negative reviews – its a matter of space more than anything else) I mostly just wonder what everyone else saw in it. I will still recommend something that everyone else but me liked, usually with a mention that it didn’t do much for me, but lots of other people have liked it.
When it’s something that I think is great and it either doesn’t get reviewed elsewhere or gets mediocre reviews, then I think there must be something wrong with the person who wrote the review :)
Jul 06, 2009 @ 11:21:55
@ KMont
Ditto. For me, though, how much I care about a review depends on my opinion of the reviewer or that person’s particular style of reviewing or taste in books. If it’s someone that I’ve generally agreed with in the past and, suddenly we’re at complete odds on a book or a popular trend, sometimes I try to figure out the why of it. Maybe the reviewer was right about the points made, but I was just willing to be more forgiving. Or maybe some of my issues with the book were just deal-breakers for me and not the reviewer.
Sometimes, though, it’s just a “whatever” kind of thing and it doesn’t bother me.
Jul 06, 2009 @ 11:25:34
I don’t care particularly whether I agree with others, but I do sometimes wonder how I am supposed to decide whether something’s worth reading when I am so incredibly out of step. Often, it’s an author or even a genre rather than a book that makes me feel that way. The whole vampire/shapeshifter thing just makes me nuts, for example. (I don’t dislike paranormals; there are plenty of psychic books I like but I don’t do fangs or fur.) So when whole magazine issues get devoted to squeeing over the wonderfulness of various vamps, I feel…lonely.
Jul 06, 2009 @ 11:27:06
I checked C (don’t care) because that most closely fits how I feel, but in reality I’m somewhere between B (everyone else is wrong) and C. When I love a book that others don’t, there is a small voice in the back of my head that wonders why everyone else is so blind to its merits. Or when everyone else raves about a book or author who is only “meh” to me, I’m much more likely to wonder why they are so positive than to question my own taste. But in the end I know that some people prefer butterscotch to chocolate, Brad Pitt to Sean Bean, and I know that desire and attraction can’t, in the end, be explained.
However, like Bree, if I think the book embodies objectionable themes, then I do question how people can overlook them and still find the book romantic. It’s one thing to ignore misogyny or racism or whatever in literary fiction with the explanation that “that’s how people thought back then”, but it’s much harder for me to do so in romance where I’m supposed to be feeling all warm and fuzzy. Nothing deflates warm and fuzzy like anger at offhand prejudice.
Jul 06, 2009 @ 11:55:49
I wasn’t that excited by Slave to Sensation either, and I let two years pass before reading book #2, Visions of Heat. I liked that one enough to read the third, Caressed by Ice, soon after. After Caressed by Ice I was hooked, and now the series has really caught fire for me. It does need to be read in order IMO, but I think it’s worth it to keep going even if you’re not wowed by the first or even the second book.
Jul 06, 2009 @ 12:02:21
There have been many times when I felt out of step with the blogosphere (including my fellow reviewers here at DA). I’m usually torn between “What’s wrong with me?” and “What’s wrong with everyone else?” But the “What’s wrong with me” feeling is generally the stronger of the two. There have been times when I’m able to see why someone else might love the book even when I don’t, but those times when I feel like all of the book’s charms must be going over my head are quite frustrating.
Jul 06, 2009 @ 12:04:08
None of the above–because I care what other people think but only in a “That’s interesting” way. Tastes vary and I’m frequently out of step with popular opinion. I find other people’s perspectives interesting, but I don’t consider them more or less valuable or correct than my own.
Jul 06, 2009 @ 12:13:29
It’s different, isn’t it, for those of you that write reviews than for those of us that read reviews?
I can see where a reviewer might question him/herself about what they missed or or preferred that another reviewer didn’t, but as a reader I can truly say: not so much.
I may get angry about someone not ‘seeing’ how great an author is or how abhorrent a plot device is but it doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of what books I buy and pimp or bad mouth. My opinion is just that: mine.
A reviewer puts their thoughts out there for anyone to argue with or agree with and that may cause them to dig in deeper to defend those opinions — or waver a bit — but none of those things buy my books for me.
And in the end it’s all about me. (or you, as the case may be).
Jul 06, 2009 @ 12:37:35
I don’t feel out of step, because I usually agree with the raves. Loved Spymaster’s Lady and Private Arrangements, for example. When I don’t like a popular book, which also happens frequently, I chalk it up to taste. Sometimes Mrs. G gives one of my keepers an F, and Katiebabs adores a book I couldn’t even finish. It’s a mystery.
Jul 06, 2009 @ 12:47:44
I checked B, which is not accurate and I was trying to think of why I picked that over C. So, here is my reasoning.
I don’t think there is anything wrong with my taste. I don’t really think there is anything wrong with other people’s taste either. But, I do care about other people’s opinions. I want to know what they like and why. Not necessarily to know if I missed something, but just because I’m curious.
Jul 06, 2009 @ 12:58:17
I don’t care what anyone thinks of my taste in books. I spend the $$ to buy what I like to read. There are people whose judgement I trust enough that I may buy a book out of my usual tastes and give it a try but money’s so tight that it may be bought used lol.
I’m happiest when I can articulate why I like or dislike a book and when who I am conversing with can too. Only in grade school should you really care that people must like the exact same things you like. As adults we should have the sense to realize everyone has different tastes and be ok with that.
Jul 06, 2009 @ 12:58:30
@Susan/DC:
Yes, that’s it exactly. I think sometimes there’s a fine line between realism and romanticism. Ideally a book will have both, but sometimes there’s a character who realistically would behave in an extremely unsatisfactory manner, and my personal opinion is that it brings the book into murky territory. Something has to happen to redeem the character before I can be remotely invested in a happily ever after, and if the prejudice or misogyny is an underlying theme that is never addressed and just happens to exist because “that’s the way it would be” then I start to feel it was a poor choice for a romance storyline.
Of course, I also have to recognize that my line is a lot less blurry than some people’s. I have some hot buttons with sketchy consent issues and men who demean women for owning their sexuality, and stuff like that will ruin a romance for me in chapter one. And that’s when I look at other people enjoying the book and wonder how they could want that hero to get the hot-hot loving instead of an inconvenient itch.
Jul 06, 2009 @ 12:59:37
As a reviewer, second-guessing is not something I like doing, and after 6 years of dealing with reviews (mine, my team’s, and those of sites I visit) I have learned to stop doing that to myself. I like what I like and that’s pretty much the end of it.
I read reviews and I like to find those reviewers that have a different taste to mine as much as those that share my taste. It helps me when I find reviewers with whom I disagree on books I’ve also read, particularly when making decisions about authors-new-to-me that I would like to try, if ever that makes sense.
Anyway, don’t second-guess yourself (if you are a reviewer). Not worth it because, in the end, you’ll realize that no matter how much you may discuss the differences in opinion with a reviewer not sharing your pov, chances are that you will still stick to your original assessment of the book ;)
Jul 06, 2009 @ 13:01:27
My first reaction is usually to wonder what I’ve missed or what I’ve misunderstood – to assume that I’ve got it wrong. However, I usually go over it in my mind and come to the conclusion that I can stick by my thoughts, and it’s just a difference of opinion and I’m not objectively wrong.
I do care what other people think about a book, but it’s not the be all and end all: I’m usually happy to agree to disagree with others. Besides, I’ve read enough, and broadly enough, to have some idea of what I’m likely to enjoy or loathe – even if I do get some surprises sometimes.
Jul 06, 2009 @ 13:13:11
For me, I don’t care how other people rate or grade a book, it is all about me and what I like. I do look at reviews though to gauge whether I may or may not buy a new author. Like Toni Blake for instance, I only looked at Amazon reviews for Tempt Me Tonight and bought off those reviews. After I had finished the book, I disliked it ALOT and wanted to throw it against the wall more than once, I went and checked out DA and found that DA more closely aligned with my thoughts about the book, in retrospect. I took all the TBs I had in my TBR pile to the USB. So I do heavy duty research on reviews on new authors now.
DA – We sometimes match.
SBTB – We sometimes match.
TGTBTU – I match with their views quite a bit.
Bookbinge – Match quite a bit.
AAR – Very rarely match.
Mrs. Giggles – I just read for her sarcastic zingers and snarkiness, but I find we don’t agree very often.
Amazon – I no longer look at for reviews.
So I only care that a concise truthful review was giving, because it helps determine a buy of a new author for me.
Jul 06, 2009 @ 13:14:57
I occasionally struggle with this when reviewing a book that just turns me off completely. Intelligently written, but the content just hits all my hot buttons – in romance this is usually anything that has serious consensual BDSM, rape, or abusive behavior. It might be the central theme, as with Sweet Surrender and Sweet Persuasion, or a part of the plot set-up, as in Only Pleasure, but I see red and can’t get past it.
I know a reviewer is supposed to be objective, but what person can ever be truly objective? Just look at differences of opinion with professional reviewers. You’ll find book and movie ratings differ greatly all the time. Flaws might be considered less tolerable by some than others. That’s why sports like gymnastics and figure skating and diving have multiple judges and toss the highest and lowest scores. I don’t lose any sleep when I disagree with Dear Author. :-) I’m pretty sure you don’t either.
Jul 06, 2009 @ 13:52:17
I generally pick up a book by a new-to-me author only after I’ve read one or more reviews. What triggers me isn’t the grade but the way the reviewer describes the book. The reviewer may hate amnesia plots, but I rather like them. The reviewer may not mind a hero traumatized by his nasty parents, but I’m sick of that particular bit of whining. Etc.
And since I don’t care for paranormals/ fantasy/urban-whatever-it-is, I know I’m out of sync with many readers. I stopped caring many decades ago.
Jul 06, 2009 @ 14:23:56
I’m mostly C but there are times where I’ll think “hmmm, what am I missing?” when many others rave about a book I thought was meh or didn’t like at all. I just chalk it up to individual tastes.
Jul 06, 2009 @ 14:44:24
I picked C because it was the best option but there are caveats. If it’s a negative or a low-grade review for a book I haven’t read then I’m less likely to run out and buy it or even bother borrowing it. If it’s a low-grade review for a book I read and enjoyed then I tend not to care so much outside of wondering if maybe I missed something.
If I dislike something that has a good review I tend really not to care. Nothing any review says is going to change my mind once I’ve decided I don’t like a book and I chalk it up to taste.
I do care about what other readers think of a book I’ve read and enjoyed or didn’t enjoy and I do like reading differing opinions about those books but not enough to change my opinion.
Jul 06, 2009 @ 17:07:04
It really doesn’t bother me when I’m all gaga over a book and nobody else likes it or vice versa. I always say that’s the beauty of reading — what I like someone else may not like and vice versa.
Jul 06, 2009 @ 17:26:49
Yeah, I chose “what’s wrong with me?” but really it depends on the book. If I hated a book that got some really good reviews, I tend to think the people who loved it are on crack (or alternatively, completely lacking in taste). But if I just didn’t love a book that everyone else loved, I get more of that left-out, “what’s wrong with me?” feeling.
I wouldn’t say I don’t care what other people think, but I also wouldn’t say I care excessively. A lot of it has to do with how strongly I felt about the book in the first place, positive or negative. If I’m just “meh” on a book then I’m probably not even going to pay attention to popular opinion – the book hasn’t engaged me enough to care to spend any more time thinking about it.
Jul 06, 2009 @ 17:29:49
Lori, you took the words right out of my mind.
I was going to choose “C” on the poll, but the wording icked me out (sorry).
I spent my teenage years (the 1960s) being just about totally out of step with my peers and survived with myself in tact. I am flexible enough to change my opinions when reasonable explanations are produced, but I KNOW that my opinions are just as valid as those of others. I have been reading romances since my teens; I no longer bother to finish those that don’t appeal–like Private Arrangements.
Kay
Jul 06, 2009 @ 17:34:19
I’m totally out of sync with reviewers, ESPECIALLY when they love a book to pieces. From Joanna Bourne to Sherry Thomas to Erin McCarthy to Victoria Dahl…none of their books (that I tried) clicked for me. At first, after trying highly recommended books, I went back to the reviews and attempted to figure out what I missed–and eventually accepted I simply want different things out of the books I read than most other readers. Give me SEP, JAK/AQ, Jennifer Crusie (even her collaborations with Bob Mayer), Anne Stuart, and Susan Napier and I’ll be happily lost in their worlds for hours on end.
In short, critics and I very, very rarely agree. And this applies not just to books, but to movies and music as well. I unabashedly love Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and watched and own every Michael Bay movie except for one.
Jul 06, 2009 @ 17:39:51
Apparently there are millions of people out there that enjoy Dan Brown’s stories, and Oprah’s picks.
I don’t. Lots of people I know don’t.
The world would be a very dull place if everyone had exactly the same taste.
I do regret it when I find what I believe to be a jewel of a novel, and no one else has ever heard of it. It bugs me no end that some excellent writers are overlooked and the bestseller lists are full of … authors I don’t like so much.
I don’t look on reviews as being right or wrong – they are hints towards what I might enjoy in the future.
Jul 06, 2009 @ 19:35:22
There is not an option for me to vote with on the poll.
While I like looking at reviews to gather information before buying, and I do like when I find a review that agrees with my view of the book.. Realistically reading is such a personal thing, I think most people get something different from each book, so I am not too upset about reading a bad review of a book I enjoyed.
Plus I have some odd tastes, and I read for purely escapist purposes so I would never read reviews if I took them too seriously. ie. I love escaping in Lora Leigh’s worlds, I can fully get past her average writing skills and just enjoy the books, I do not think I have seen a good review of any of her books yet.. LOL
Jul 06, 2009 @ 20:20:05
After almost 30 years of reading romance I know that there are an infinite number of taste levels. My pet peeve is readers that insist on judging others for their tastes. Just because a book pushes your hot button doesn’t mean I am wrong to enjoy it.
Jul 06, 2009 @ 22:57:14
The longer I read reviews and then check the books out myself, the more I veer towards C.
I am paying Aussie prices for books and if an author lets me down its cost me heaps more than a US reader. I’ve cut back on other things to continue buying books so a good review that sets things out about the reviewers experience allows me to make informed choices.
Polarised reviews also serve as a method to choose reviewers. For example, Victoria Dahl’s Talk Me Down got a D review on AAR and a major push here and on the SBTB blogs. I read it and found i agreed with AAR only it was a total DNF for me. I will not be reading any more contemporaries by this author but I have her historicals which I bought in my tbr pile. Her writing was good, I just gave up on her heroine 3/4 of the way through is all.
I am also looking for Lynsay Sands Devil of The Highlands which got a very good grade on TGTBTU site and 1/100 on Mrs Giggles. Polarised reviews like that make me “want” to know where I sit. They are also fun unless the book really pisses me off. I swore off contemporaries after Talk Me Down but friends made me read Jennifer Crusie whom I adored so I’m still in for now.
Bad reading experiences aside, I read because its fun, and finding an author that can make me forget everything while they tell their story is gold. A reviewer prepared to be honest makes me feel like I’m listening to a friend talk about something I might like to try, just like real life. Feel blessed when it works out.
Everyone is different and there are so many books to read I’ll chalk “misses” down to experience, and relish the times I am in sync with others. The times I have talked to people who loved a book as much as me, have been awesome and have served to make us friends. I extend a similar regard to reviewers who have spoken for me fully aware its one sided and happy to agree to disagree when my reading experience hasnt matched theirs, if I feel they were honest to their experience. If it keeps happening? Right now I cant afford them.
On another note I too have given up on Amazon reviews. 5 of them usually, four of them 5 star and gushing with some poor bewildered 5th soul posting “Huh? Did we read the same book?”
Not a good look. Lifes too short.
Jul 07, 2009 @ 01:34:33
Aussie prices suck arse big time!
Which is why I am still sulking about the DRM on the main NY ebook releases!
Price is the reason I discovered the reviewing blogs.
Jul 07, 2009 @ 07:05:10
@ REG I adore Dan Brown’s books, but I know that there are many people out there who do not. :-) I thought Angels and Demons was a better story than the DC and I am salivating over getting The Lost Symbol.
@marci, I was one of the ones that loved Victoria Dahl’s Talk Me Down, I know the heroine got a little tedious at times, but I was able to get around it and look forward to reading Start Me Up. I just finished reading both her historicals back to back and I thought the characters were richer and deeper than her contemporary and that is saying a lot for me since I have only recently got back into historicals. So I hope you like those better.
Jul 07, 2009 @ 09:01:21
I frequently find myself out of step with the masses . . . many of my favorite authors are currently out of contract, while authors I think are mediocre to downright awful hit the best seller lists again and again. *sigh* And I'll see gushing reviews for books that when I read them I'm left cold by, or-’worse-’utterly puzzled (as in, Hey, did the reviewer read the second half of the book wherein the amazing heroine transforms into a TSTL wilting twit?).
And then there are the books I ADORE that are given Ds, Fs or DNF (I'll admit this is mostly an AAR phenomenon).
Jul 07, 2009 @ 09:28:19
As with movie reviewers, I pay attention to some more than others, some because their tastes seem to match mine, and others because they’re precisely opposite. If the latter like something, I hate it — so when they really loathe one, I know it’s going to be great.
I’d like to see someone do a Siskel & Ebert style review blog. Two argumentative, opinionated souls doing dialogued reviews on the same books at the same time, calling each other’s crap and maybe even occasionally changing each others’ minds. Now THAT would be useful.
Jul 07, 2009 @ 11:23:23
I usually don’t care, but sometimes I revisit something if people point out something good about it that I missed.
For instance, I was never a Jennifer Crusie fan, but my very picky reader of a husband really liked her collabs with Bob Mayer, so I went back and reread a couple of her books and focused more on the humor (which I liked) than the plotting (which was what turned me off the first time) and enjoyed them a lot more.
On the other hand, I occasionally have my liking-bubble burst when someone points out a serious problem I had missed (usually racism or sexism, but sometimes bad science. Or plagiarism.)
Jul 07, 2009 @ 12:56:52
broke right wrist. trying to type shorthand w/ arthritic left hand, so pls forgive bad grammar, no caps, etc
i sometimes question my own tastes. don’t get the loretta chase love. her books were ok, but didn’t blow me away. same with kinsale’s flowers in the storm. got bored by 3rd chapter.
Jul 07, 2009 @ 13:13:53
I chose C, but I do feel left out when someone really loves a book that I don’t.
I feel out of step when it comes to Kristen Higgens. I don’t find her books to be romantic at all, but I’ve seen others give them DIK status, and I feel a little envious that I don’t get that much out of them. I think she’s a good writer and her books are often funny, but they just don’t work for me as romances.
Jul 07, 2009 @ 19:12:50
I remember watching Ghost back in the day and everyone loved it. I hated it. I felt like something was wrong with me and wondered how I, a lover of all things romantic and schmaltzy, could hate a film that others loved so much. It was only when I recognized that I loathed the fact that the “hero” couldn’t say “I love you”, instead saying “Ditto” in response to the heroine whenever she said it, that I stopped feeling out of it.
These days, I couldn’t care less. I’m usually out of step with reviewers in blogland. I visist review blogs because either I find the bloggers to be funny, snarky or intellectually interesting. I’ve recently picked up some books that everyone seems to be squeeing about and have found them to be meh. There’s also many books that I love that get bad reviews. No biggy, to each their own.
Jul 08, 2009 @ 11:45:07
I picked B because I get annoyed when something I think is awful gets a lot of awards. (A recent YA comes to mind). I actually do think “What the heck is wrong with these people?”
I also feel disappointed when I reviewer I usually agree with recommends a book that I find to be bad. I feel let down. How could they not see the glaring flaws, etc. :)
I think this is only in my favorite genres though. If it’s a genre I’m not that much of a fan, I don’t regard the reviews at all — I expect to be out of step with them.