03-19-2013, 02:16 PM | #1 |
Witcher
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Some people read so they can hate
This was a conclusion I came to after accidently coming upon a woman who reads so she can bitch about it. Excuse my language but that's what it is.
This person (who I don't know) has 172 ratings on goodreads with 2.8 average rate. 65 out of those 164 (read books) are 1 and 2 stars very negative, very complaining in nature reviews. That is 39.6% of the books she has read, she absolutely hated them. My mind was blown. Why the hell would you read to hate? And don't you have enough experience and sense to choose books for you which you WILL like? This is especially true of fantasy books she read because that genre is interesting to me. 1 star books include Mistborn: The Final Empire (Mistborn, #1) The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1) The Warded Man (Demon Cycle, #1) The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower, #1) The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive, #1) I wont even list them all, or the other 2 star reviews that aren't any better. Clearly this women doesn't like fantasy. Why the hell is she keep reading it?? She is presumptuous, arrogant and ultra hard core (lol) feminist in her reviews. I honestly felt confused by her understanding of female characters. According to what I read from her, all female characters should be strong, independent, nonsexual creatures that turn men into pulp at the first sign of flirtatious behavior or god forbid sexual act. (I'm a girl btw, but this kind of thinking blows my mind) Have any of you come across this kind of reader? What do you think about this? I'm mostly just confused Last edited by Geralt; 03-19-2013 at 02:19 PM. |
03-19-2013, 02:24 PM | #2 |
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There's a few of them like that on Goodreads. I just ignore it after chuckling at their reviews. There's also the morality brigade on there. All worried that their kids or even other adults will be corrupted by the books with drinking, drugs, sex or violence in them.
I feel bad for kids with parents like that. I was not really policed at all with my reading once I passed the age of 12. |
03-19-2013, 02:42 PM | #3 |
Wizard
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My mother must read every book she starts. Often she complains about a book ad finitum. I tell her life is to short, just read something else, but she is compelled to finish them.
The person in question hated 64 out of 172 books, about 30%, which doesn't seem outrageous if she is adventurous in her reading. Higher than me as 90% of my reading is stuff I know I will like. Too many books, too little time. |
03-19-2013, 02:56 PM | #4 |
Grand Sorcerer
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It's easier to generate network traffic with piss and vinegar than roses.
I don't remember what rule number that is, but negativity sells at least for traffic. |
03-19-2013, 02:58 PM | #5 | |
Autism Spectrum Disorder
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03-19-2013, 03:02 PM | #6 |
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I have read books that I disliked so that I could have a proper, well-informed dislike of the book. But generally, I usually filter out books that I am not likely to enjoy.
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03-19-2013, 03:05 PM | #7 |
Omnivorous
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I can agree that reading one or two books in a genre to find whether I like the genre or not is adventurous. Continuing to read books in the genre after you find you don't like it is just plain crazy.
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03-19-2013, 03:08 PM | #8 |
Guru
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Hard to say much of anything without seeing this individual's profile for ourselves.
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03-19-2013, 04:06 PM | #9 | |||||
Witcher
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I too was never censored. Quote:
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I don't care for discussing this individual, I'm more interested in this kind of behavior. She's not an isolated case I think. |
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03-19-2013, 05:05 PM | #10 |
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If you're the type of person that finishes every book you start, and you review most, if not all the books you read, then you're bound to have a higher percentage of books that you dislike or even hate than people who give up on a book after a certain amount of pages. For the woman cited in the OP, it's not as if every book she reads is given a 1-2 star rating. The majority of the books she reviews still have a three star or higher rating. So I don't get how she is reading to hate. Are all the books she reads suppose to have glowing reviews?
I like chick lit. So I decided to see how many chick lit books I had given a low rating to. It turns out that I've 39% of chick lit I've read a 1 or 2 star rating. This doesn't mean I don't like books in that genre though. Maybe it's a high number because I've read more of those books and hence I've had a better chance of encountering books in this genre that grind my gears for whatever reason. |
03-19-2013, 05:16 PM | #11 | |
Nameless Being
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I have the opposite problem. I've read books convinced that I would dislike them and wanted to develop a well-informed dislike of them. I ended up liking them. Well, there was one exception ... As others have mentioned, it is far easier to put down a book that you don't like. Or simply to avoid picking it up again, which is what I usually end up doing. |
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03-19-2013, 05:16 PM | #12 | |
Wizard
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03-19-2013, 05:20 PM | #13 | |
Witcher
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If you like it so much, why are you not enjoying it? |
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03-19-2013, 05:26 PM | #14 | |
Grand Sorcerer
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She may only bother to enter books she cares to say something about. And that something may be negative, a lot of the time. She may not bother to even mention books about which she thought "meh, was okay, but I'm going to forget I even read it in six months." She may only review books she likes, books she hates, and books she finds interesting even if they're somewhere in the middle. |
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03-19-2013, 05:49 PM | #15 |
Is that a sandwich?
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I just checked my GR stats. Average rating is 2.65 but I am rather critical to the point of snobbish.
20% of my reads are 1 and 2-stars. In addition, I have a greater number of abandoned titles most receiving 1-star ratings. |
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