Some people read so they can hate

[crich70]

Originally Posted by voracious71

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.

This reminds me of something Stephen King (I think) wrote in one of his forwards or afterwards. He was talking about censorship and cited the example of a book about steelworkers. A kid had checked it out of his school library, for a book report and his mother happened to read part of it. Naturally being about construction workers it had some salty language and she decided to get it removed from the library. Enter the school board. They had a meeting about it and eventually it was pulled from the shelves, but not before a good many people had checked it out to see what all the fuss was about. The kid had been the 1st person to check it out but there were at least a good 20 more checkout stamps on the books card (this was before computerized card catalogs) after his before it was pulled. lol. People who complain about books often make the best advertizement for the books themselves.

[Penforhire]

That is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect .

[crich70]

Originally Posted by Penforhire

That is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect .

Interesting. You learn something new everyday.

[twowheels]

Originally Posted by crich70

People who complain about books often make the best advertizement for the books themselves.

I know that I often think to myself... "Banned? I should put that on my to-read list!" :-)

[BelleZora]

Originally Posted by Ravensknight

Go to your profile page, and under your picture there is a bunch of data:
How many ratings [average in parenthesis]
How many reviews
Etc, etc...

Thanks! Never noticed that. I've rated 232 books with a 3.76 average. That's seems Pollyannish high, but I rarely read a book that I'm not fairly certain that I'll like. I love to read and don't see the point in suffering through a book and then spreading around the misery.

[KindleChickie]

Originally Posted by Geralt

I dont get this. Sorry, but 40% of the books you read, you dont like/hate? That's a waste of time and sorry to say but it doesn't look like you are choosing well, if you say you like chick lit.
If you like it so much, why are you not enjoying it?

You keep assuming she reviews all the books she reads. So it isnt that she "hates" 40% of the books she reads, just 40% of the books she reviews. It actually makes sense to me. A book usually has to move me one way or another for me to review it. Most books I read don't. So most of my reviews will be 5 star or 1 star.

But I can't help but wonder why you even care? You are putting a lot of energy into being annoyed by a stranger on the internet. No?

Just had a peek and my average is 3.11. So there are only slightly more 5 stars than 1 stars.

[crich70]

There is also the fact that we have no idea if the person in question actually read the books that they were trashing. They might be going on hearsay like one poster mentioned about the Twilight series. I haven't read it myself, but I would try to get an informed opinion of a book (or book series) before trying to trash it.

[faithbw]

Originally Posted by KindleChickie

You keep assuming she reviews all the books she reads. So it isnt that she "hates" 40% of the books she reads, just 40% of the books she reviews. It actually makes sense to me. A book usually has to move me one way or another for me to review it. Most books I read don't. So most of my reviews will be 5 star or 1 star.

But I can't help but wonder why you even care? You are putting a lot of energy into being annoyed by a stranger on the internet. No?

Just had a peek and my average is 3.11. So there are only slightly more 5 stars than 1 stars.

All of this!

I checked my average btw and apparently I don't hate to read since my average is 3.57 stars.

[NickyWithNook]

Mine is 4.02, but the first thing I did when I joined Goodreads was to put in ratings for all of my favorite books so I'd get some recommendations. I haven't rated nearly as many since I joined as I rated immediately upon joining, so it's skewed way up.

[Ravensknight]

My books go back to 2000, but I didn't start rating/reviewing until '05 or '06. Even still, with just over 1100 ratings, I'm now convinced that there are just a lot of mediocre books out there.
Not bad books, just humdrum. And it is really hard to find over 100 'really good' books each year.

[Geralt]

Originally Posted by KindleChickie

You keep assuming she reviews all the books she reads. So it isnt that she "hates" 40% of the books she reads, just 40% of the books she reviews. It actually makes sense to me. A book usually has to move me one way or another for me to review it. Most books I read don't. So most of my reviews will be 5 star or 1 star.

But I can't help but wonder why you even care? You are putting a lot of energy into being annoyed by a stranger on the internet. No?

Just had a peek and my average is 3.11. So there are only slightly more 5 stars than 1 stars.

I wasn't annoyed I was baffled by her MO (modus operandi) and I wanted to discuss the behavior.
Well, now that I wrote that for 100th time in this thread, I can address your first question.

I wasn't assuming anything. What I found baffling is the hateful reviews she trashes all the fantasy she has read (or the ones she decided to log in) and then she continues to read the same fantasy books, and write hateful reviews. Sorry but that is just cuckoo in my view. And she has no 5 star reviews. Sorry but this chick, just hates.
It makes no difference whether she logs in all the books or not. What is bloody insane is hating the genre and continuing to read it spewing hateful crap and 1 star ratings.

[Ravensknight]

As others have stated, that is the great thing about GR. You can use it how you want to.
Even if it makes no sense [to others]

[GlenBarrington]

Originally Posted by voracious71

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.

I was never policed in what I read. And look at me now, a broken down biker with surprisingly good teeth.

[CommonReader]

I always appreciate to read a really skillful thrashing of a book, even if I don't share the opinion. A well written negative review is certainly much more informative than 5 star guff like "I loved it!! Best book ever. Fast delivery, too!".
On Amazon I tend to read the 1 star reviews first before I proceed to the 5 star reviews. Sometimes the very type of bad reviews is a recommendation for the book.
I am sure that I am not alone in my guilty pleasure of enjoying bad reviews. Germany's best known book critic once remarked that his book with very negative reviews outsold his book(s) with very positive reviews by scores.

[LovesMacs]

Originally Posted by Geralt

It makes no difference whether she logs in all the books or not. What is bloody insane is hating the genre and continuing to read it spewing hateful crap and 1 star ratings.

Maybe she bought all of these books and feels compelled to read and review them after spending money.


Excuse me while I check my own TBR pile...

Nope, don't have that problem!