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Tuesday, July 5, 2011

There must be something wrong with me...

There must be something wrong with me...

The last two books I read, both had glowing reviews, on amazon, goodreads, or various blogs. And I was disappointed with both!

Maybe because both seemed like they were murder / mystery / thriller / suspense books but weren't - the premise definitely sounded like they were - a missing 13 year-old girl, or a retired orthopedic surgeon with Alzheimer's suspected of killing her best friend...

I guess for those who read this genre a lot, these two books shouldn't be read as such. For those who don't really read this genre, the plot twists probably were better received.

I guess I just need to take my Sherlock hat off when I read these books!

Note - the two books were The End of Everything by Megan Abbott and Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante. Full reviews coming up soon. Maybe after a couple of weeks I'll TURN MY MIND and that reading books I don't end up liking isn't THE END OF EVERYTHING. (Just can't help but think I want my time back, when there's a lack of time! They aren't bad book, just not books for me.)

The Window Seat Reader had a great post on Why I Rate. I totally rate book based on MY OWN enjoyment, not for their literary merit.
Posted by christa @ mental foodie at 1:53 PM
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9 comments:

  1. rhapsodyinbooksJuly 5, 2011 at 2:37:00 PM CDT

    That happens to me all the time! I dislike a book that everyone else loves and I feel all bad about myself! But then, I find if you blog about it, all kind of fellow dislikers come out of the woodwork! :--)

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  2. AnonymousJuly 5, 2011 at 2:42:00 PM CDT

    I actually feel like that with the book I finished last night. After I read it, I searched for some reviews to see what other bloggers thought of it, and was surprised to see that it had so many positive reviews!

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  3. ham1299July 5, 2011 at 5:12:00 PM CDT

    It's not you. Trust me. Just because a vast majority of readers really like a certain book, it doesn't mean YOU will. There have been a couple of books that made me feel that way, but I just remind myself that everyone's different. No one book will please everyone - no matter how many readers like it.

    And, you know what? This could simply be the result of people only posting positive thoughts. This is one more reason why I refuse to avoid posting negative reviews.

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  4. MarceJuly 5, 2011 at 5:31:00 PM CDT

    Oh no I totally understand wanting your time back uggh.

    I rate because on my own enjoyment also, this is my hobby that I love not my job. Also I like reviewing for fellow bloggers with similar taste.

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  5. christa @ mental foodieJuly 5, 2011 at 8:34:00 PM CDT

    @rhapsodyinbooks - I guess nobody wanted to be the first to post a negative review! I truly mean no disrespect to the author, I know how hard it is to write book (otherwise everyone would have written a lot of books already!) I always felt like maybe I am missing something... like a joke I didn't get!

    @reviewsbylola - now I am curious what book you finished last night. Guess I have to stay tuned with your reviews :)

    @ham1299 - I agree about NOT avoiding posting negative reviews, so thank you for posting them! I think as long as we explain why the book didn't work for us, it's fair. I mean, if the review said "this is a bad book because the author is stupid" then well, that's attacking the person and not reviewing the book.

    @Marce - Just that I have such a big pile of books (from the library, from ARC, and from my own shelf) I really want to prioritize which one I read first! So when I didn't end up liking a book I wish I'd taken the time to read something else waiting for me instead... I supposed I could have abandoned them, but I was interested enough to keep reading. Just not satisfying reads. I definitely don't want to be a professional book critique - that'd mean I have to write long paragraphs lol.

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  6. BaileyJuly 5, 2011 at 9:11:00 PM CDT

    Thanks for the sweet shout-out!

    And don't worry about sometimes not enjoying what all the masses enjoy. It's definitely happened to me before, and I always feel goofy like I 'missed the boat' or something but sometimes I find my mood just isn't right or maybe I just wasn't the intended audience for whichever book it was. Thanks again for the link love :)

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  7. christa @ mental foodieJuly 10, 2011 at 4:38:00 PM CDT

    @Bailey - you're welcome, your post got me thinking :) I just found it interesting that some bloggers don't like to post negative reviews, thinking it's doing the author a disservice. I think not posting a negative review is doing other readers a disservice. Not so much to warn them away from the book, but just to share why this book didn't do it for me, so that if you have similar reading taste, then take that into account. There are some books that have really good reviews but I found meh - then I remember it's not a genre I like... so no wonder.

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  8. trishJuly 13, 2011 at 4:23:00 PM CDT

    I'm just glad I'm not the only one who didn't like Turn of Mind. Even if I hadn't gone into it thinking it was more of a mystery, I'm not sure I would have liked it.

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  9. christa @ mental foodieJuly 13, 2011 at 8:45:00 PM CDT

    @trish - you're right. the "stream of consciousness" style of books really aren't my thing... I didn't really like any of the characters either...

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