Today I was thinking about the many varied tastes we all have in books. This is one of the things I love most about book bloggers is that everyone has opinions and most of them time they are very different. Specifically, though I was thinking about when it seems like you have an opinion that is different from most everyone else's. This usually happens when:
1-You love a book that everyone else hates, OR
2-You hate a book that everyone else loves.
To me, it seems like #2 happens a lot more than #1. But either way, I was wondering what your response is. Often, I will feel somewhat uncomfortable with my opinion and a little apprehensive in posting my reviews, for fear of retribution, though honestly I've never had any truly negative responses to my opinions on books, so I'm not sure why I have that fear. I'm thinking this simply comes from my personal discomfort in having vastly differing opinions from all of you smart people! (I'm realizing how silly this makes me sound, but I'm sticking with the truth here.)
I'll usually, when I have said reaction, stop and think about why my opinion is different. Often, I'll check out reviews of the book to see what other people had to say. I always try to retain my original opinion, but I like to see reasons for others' opinions. This helps me understand why people hated or loved it and I had the opposite reaction. It helps me think slightly more objectively and recognize the good or not so good things I might have overlooked. I think this makes me a more balanced reviewer and I like that.
There's No Accounting for Taste
11:07 AM
mixagrip
What do you think? Do you worry when your reactions are so different from the majority? Do you look at others' reviews before you publish yours? Any thoughts on this?
If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage