Does it bother you when someone dislikes a book you love?

xina · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 6630 Location: minneapolis

At first I thought you meant WWW= World Wide Web and I thought, oh my goodness, I don't know what xina is smokin' then I realized you meant Wild Wild West.

Well, I myself am getting a little tired of ME so I'm going to shut up for a bit and see what fills in the newly opened potential space -- as much a part of message boards as in "live" discussion -- I firmly believe.

-Gail[/quote]

LOL, Gail. When I wrote that I thought it looked like that too! Anyway, I think this is mostly a friendly board, so it's hard to go to Wild Wild West board/forum and talk politics. In this election there are very few gray areas. It's hard to discuss a favorite book with a poster, then go over there and throw barbs at them or get them thrown at you. So, I'm just going to observe, I think....over there.

PatW · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 618 Location: Central Maryland

To return to the discussion of liking/not liking books that others have the opposite opinion of - a remark was made on the review board about not being able to "get past the writing" - that is, being always conscious of the authors choice of words or sentence structure (or dialect to mention another thread) that one cannot get immersed in the story itself. I had not thought of describing my reaction to certain books in this way but I think it an excellent reason for not liking certain authors!
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Niftybergin · Joined: 27 Mar 2007 Posts: 1068

KathieO · Joined: 12 Aug 2008 Posts: 69 Location: Alaska

I want to say that I am pretty cautious when approaching any blog sites since the "attack" characteristic in many people's personalities scares the "bajeezes" out of me, and, if I feel particularly vulnerable that day, can let it ruin my day. That said, I lurked around here for a couple of years before I made a post! I love, love, love romance novels in most of the genres, and particularly enjoyed reading posters' opinions here!! Everyone seemed pretty respectful and particularly smart writers (which isn't the case on all boards as you know Wink

)! Of course we all do a LOT of reading . . . !

As for whether I care if someone has a difference of opinion on a particular book and whether it bothers me, I'd have to say no. Our individual perspectives on life is why one author will resonate with me and not at all with someone else. (As Dr. Phil says (yeah I like his psychology) - "There is no reality; only individual perspective." This statement is particularly applicable to reading fiction IMO and how we will each relate to any given story. I also find there is always enough other posters who do like what I like to support my "normalcy," so to speak. Very Happy

I.e. I posted re: my dislike of "The Windflower," and posted for support of the "Bride Hunt Ball" recently. One a classic and clearly loved (I'm in the minority), and one a new author with issues, but style that I believe could be developed further along my taste lines. Although there were posts both ways, no one attacked me personally for either, and if they had I would have been surprised if it was personal enough on these boards to really get to me.

Mostly I'll just say the general traffic of people here have somewhat intimidated me a little in the past because of their overall intelligent point of view (negative or positive), but now that I've had a few posts, they are just as supportive regardless of the side of the debate, if the post is respectful. Alternatively, everyone will seem to not be too supportive of those who post outright attacks Smile

That's why I particularly like these boards. (They are nurturing (tee hee) . . . even if I do come across as less than Einstein (Steinbeck?, err Austin?!)! Laughing

)
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Kass · Joined: 23 Mar 2007 Posts: 722 Location: under a cockatiel

Hey, at least you outdo the author of "The Eye of Argon," almost universally seen as the worst science fiction story ever written... Very Happy

And so do I!
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dick · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 2263

I agree that taste determines whether we enjoy reading a particular book. For example, I enjoy reading one or two of Connie Mason's books. But, even though I enjoy reading her books, I know, even while reading them, that were I called upon to make a judgement about them, that judgement would be primarily negative.

kspears · Joined: 11 Apr 2007 Posts: 373

It doesn’t bother me if I like a book that no one else likes, what bothers me is I usually can’t remember why I like a book or why I don’t like a book. I read so many books that by the time some one brings that book up on a review book, its three books in the past. I’m one of those people who will say, “I love that book” and not remember why. I’m also one of those people who put a grade on their books and the reason is my faulty memory. When I first started reading books I would stick those little gold stars from grade school days on them. Eventually all I ended up with was a floor full of stars.