Have you ever regretted reading a book? Regretted picking up a popular choice that you ended up not enjoying? Did you feel uncomfortable sharing your unfavorable opinion?
{Flickr: incurable_hippie}
Have you ever wondered why no one else adores a certain book as much as you? Did you want to shake them incessantly until they understood the magnificence of said book?
Don’t lie. There’s no need for it because IT’S OK to be different! It’s not ok to want to strangle someone over a book but hey, our imaginations are our own. Just don’t carry out that plan, little Janie, or mama will have lots of ‘splaining to do!
{Flickr: publik16}
Now, where was I…Oh. The differences are part of LIFE. Our uniqueness is what makes us stand out from all the rest. The diversity in our opinions is truly my favorite part of the book blogging community. Our perspectives are shaped from our life experiences and we certainly bring a part of us into our reading. No two people will ever share the same thoughts, feelings and values, so its safe to say that we will never completely agree or disagree on books. Which is rocksauce awesome, in my opinion, because I love the discussion that comes from different perspectives. I get to learn a lot about people when this occurs, and since I’m nosy…ha. Just kidding. Maybe.
There are some wildly popular books out there that I could not understand or even finish, but then there are some underrated or unloved books that I adored hardcore. I may have been upset about people not agreeing with me 12+ years ago when I hated everyone and wanted nothing to do with people, in general. People made me SO MAD. They still do. I want to slap people on a daily basis for their ridiculous antics or horrific acts. But I’m a different person now. If you want to read all about why, go here and here. My opinions of people have changed drastically since becoming a social worker. I no longer judge or blame people. I won’t bore you with the why.
So, where was this post going? Hmmm. Oh, right! Being human, being different. Loving it. Embracing it. Being who we are without feeling regret or superiority. Embracing our differences because it makes life FUN and INTERESTING instead of being a massive pack of boring, lifeless Stepford Wives. Reading that book that no one else liked and LOVING it because YOU are different from everyone else. Reading that one popular book and finding it drab and senseless because YOU see things differently. We are all special in our own right, and we should never have to apologize for it. And if anyone says different, send them my way. 
Note: As you can tell, this post started out with great intentions, but as with any time when Smash must share her thoughts, well, she starts referring to herself in the third person, and yea…that never ends well.
And here’s this, for a quick laugh:
Now, I want to hear your thoughts. Hopefully they will make more sense than my own!
And if they don’t, that’s OK!
© 2012, Smash Attack Reads. All rights reserved.
| Leave a Reply | |
|
|
|
Bravo. This applies to movies, TV shows, music & politics too. I even put 3 books in my Top Ten Tursday that go against the grain. 2 that I liked & a series that I didn’t love. It’s all good.
Of COURSE it goes with all aspects of life. I’m glad we are all different.
This is kind of like another side of my objectivity [is a myth] post. I think that, with our differences, it is impossible to expect that everyone is going to like or dislike the same books. We all have our own preferences, peeves, and expectations when it comes to reading, and those things will influence how we perceive books. Even something as simple as our mood could affect what we think of a book.
Embracing reading differences, I think, also extends to embracing the fact that some people are just NOT readers (either at all or of certain genres), and you can’t force them to be. The boyfriend is an example of not being a reader. Based on his love of THG, I’m pretty sure I have a couple books he’d enjoy, BUT he just doesn’t want to read. And I’ve learned to embrace this (after all, I read enough for the both of us).
Yes, it is like your objectivity post. I have lots to say on the topic, as well, and while this post got out of hand, it’s still there.
And YES about the not readers bit. My husband is reading more now, my influence no doubt, but he is will never be at my level. I have to deal with the fact that he won’t read half the books I think he will enjoy.
I’m one of the few readers out there who doesn’t love paranormal or fantasy. I think it’s hard to appreciate differences because it feels so good when we share opinions. But differences are also great because we get exposed to novels we normally wouldn’t!
Yes, we want to find things in common with others, to feel accepted, etc. I quite like it when I don’t agree with someone though. When I found out some friends did not like the BDB series, I had to know why! It was a great conversation and one of the millions of examples of how experiences and perspectives change your reading experience.
I love that friends all love/hate/get passionate about different books. It is freaking awesome! I am NOSY and I love hearing (uncensored) what people really felt when finished reading a book. It gives me a glimpse of the reader and the work through their eyes!
Passionately love and passionately hate! lol. Yes, experiencing a book via someone’s review, knowing what they liked or disliked about it, is always interesting and entertaining.
This is great. We are ALL entitled to our own opinion about anything. I know a few people who would argue with me about things until we both dropped down dead and it boggles my mind. I usually agree to disagree because you’re right — we can’t ALL agree on everything!
I’ve read a few books which had everyone GUSHING and I finished wondering what kind of WTF-ery I was reading. But then I write my review and go about my day … I also remember finishing the first three Mortal Instruments books and loving them SO MUCH that I had to get my mom to read them so she would love them, too. I was so disappointed when she returned them with a, “Oh, they were good.” THAT’S IT???
But this is something I love about interactions with people — it makes for good discussions and maybe even some good arguments. If we all agreed on everything and had the same opinions we would be in 1984. We would have George Orwell lording over us and Big Brother tapping our shoulder at every turn. And that would be not cool.
Thanks for sharing this!
Or – instead of my reply? I could have just said “Yeah, this.” LOL!
Amen! No 1984 for me. kthxbye!
Opinions are like arseholes. We all have em and we all use em. LOL. I kinda love it when I don’t like a book the majority of the blogosphere did. I LOVE the reactions! I also LOVE the reactions I give someone who didn’t agree with me. It always gets a good response.
MY MOM recommended the Mortal Instruments to me.
I gave her If I Stay and Where She Went. She read them in one weekend, but then came back with this “nice love story” comment and I was like, WHAT ELSE DO YOU HAVE TO SAY, LADY?? Ha. Dang. Gimme some meat. lol
Thanks for reading and commenting!
A fabulous post not just for books, but for life!
My best friend is as much of a bibliophile as I am, but our reading tastes are completely opposite. (In fact, after 10 years of back and fourths? Only this year did we find 2 authors that we agree on. LOL!!) And I’m often hesitant to talk about my love for YA with my friends, for fear of what they’ll think of me. My good friend reads a lot of DEEP stuff, books that bore me to death. So I’m like “Yeah! I read Anna and the French Kiss (again)!!” And she’s all “Oh, I’m reading Anna Karenina.” and then I feel inadequate, which is silly because at least we’re both reading! Right?
Ain’t that the truth!
Don’t ever feel inadequate because your friend is reading classical lit and “deep” stuff. Some YA has deep meaning to many people who read it. Again, all about perspective. I don’t plan to ever read Jane Austen because honestly…boring. Not my cup of tea. But so what. I’ll leave all that Mr. Darcy stuff to the people who enjoy it. I’d rather have a Jace, Tiago or Vlad in my life, thank you very much.
I purposefully avoid some ‘popular’ books just because I don’t want to be like everyone else and read them! Others I end up getting talked into by everyone talking about how much they love them. But I take a fair bit of convincing.
I actually like reading reviews where people thought completely differently about a book than I did – sometimes I even think ‘wow, they’re right, that WAS annoying’, other times I just love that we don’t all love the same thing – how BORING life would be otherwise!
[...] Smash over at Smash Attack Reads talks about how we all have reading differences and how we should EMBRACE them! [...]
[...] Reading Differences: Let’s embrace them! [...]
[...] I talked about embracing our reading differences. [...]
[...] talks about embracing our reading differences. I think if everyone took the time to embrace our differences, there wouldn’t be so much [...]