Since I was seven years old, my very favorite thing to do is read. I read a lot.
(To me reading is listening with your imagination, and writing is sharing your imagination.)
Sometimes I get lucky and read a really good book like The Fever Tree, but more often than not the books I read are just average.
"Ooooo, I just read a good book!" That's what I tell my friends if I read something I love. But, if I don't like a book, I tend to keep my mouth shut for two reasons:
I remember how many bad reviews Harry Potter and Twilight received. It seemed that writers, especially, enjoyed bashing those books, yet millions upon millions of readers loved them. I imagine that J.K.Rowling and Stephanie Meyer both had to grow quite thick skin to withstand the onslaught of criticism they received, but before they did, those bad reviews must have stung. They gave up a lot of time to write those stories. They put their hopes and dreams into them, their lifetimes of experience, their imaginations.
I met a very nice author at a writers' conference who told me that a group of twenty-five writers sabotaged her e-book sales by giving her twenty-five bad reviews on Amazon (this was a few years ago before Amazon changed the review rules for authors). They targeted her book because it was higher up on the sales list than theirs.
There was an interesting article in the Boston Globe today, about how our culture is becoming more judgmental and critical about everything. "'Everything we watch on t.v. is about judging others..."The Bachelor", "So You Think You Can Dance","The Voice"...That's what we do for entertainment--judge others. When we turn off the t.v. we continue doing that.'" (quoted: Jodi R.R, Smith in the the article Yo. Waiter. Take This Back, by Beth Teitell). Today's discriminating public uses the internet to blast everything it doesn't like--from people to products. Some would argue that this is good for consumers, but when it comes to highly subjective material like film, music and books I'm not so sure. I wonder how many good things I have missed--that I would have liked--because of bad reviews.
Susan <3
(To me reading is listening with your imagination, and writing is sharing your imagination.)
Sometimes I get lucky and read a really good book like The Fever Tree, but more often than not the books I read are just average.
"Ooooo, I just read a good book!" That's what I tell my friends if I read something I love. But, if I don't like a book, I tend to keep my mouth shut for two reasons:
- Maybe my friends will love it.
- Someone gave up all of her free time (possibly years) to write it.
I remember how many bad reviews Harry Potter and Twilight received. It seemed that writers, especially, enjoyed bashing those books, yet millions upon millions of readers loved them. I imagine that J.K.Rowling and Stephanie Meyer both had to grow quite thick skin to withstand the onslaught of criticism they received, but before they did, those bad reviews must have stung. They gave up a lot of time to write those stories. They put their hopes and dreams into them, their lifetimes of experience, their imaginations.
I met a very nice author at a writers' conference who told me that a group of twenty-five writers sabotaged her e-book sales by giving her twenty-five bad reviews on Amazon (this was a few years ago before Amazon changed the review rules for authors). They targeted her book because it was higher up on the sales list than theirs.
There was an interesting article in the Boston Globe today, about how our culture is becoming more judgmental and critical about everything. "'Everything we watch on t.v. is about judging others..."The Bachelor", "So You Think You Can Dance","The Voice"...That's what we do for entertainment--judge others. When we turn off the t.v. we continue doing that.'" (quoted: Jodi R.R, Smith in the the article Yo. Waiter. Take This Back, by Beth Teitell). Today's discriminating public uses the internet to blast everything it doesn't like--from people to products. Some would argue that this is good for consumers, but when it comes to highly subjective material like film, music and books I'm not so sure. I wonder how many good things I have missed--that I would have liked--because of bad reviews.
Susan <3
