(Okay to start off my grammar and spelling here is going to be atrocious seeing as im on mobile and I really couldn’t care less I just don’t want yall hating on me for it)
Okay so of your not aware (which it seems MANY people aren’t) the reason there are different types of books and genres is because… 🎉people can have different tastes and preferences🎉
(*shocker* I know.)
It seems many readers don’t fully understand this concept and personally I don’t see whats so hard to understand.. you don’t like a book..? Okay why waste your time bashing other people and looking down your nose at them? Why not just move on?
And honestly this doesnt just apply to books movies, hobbies, and really any sort of mildly diverse interest seems to have these kinds of situations
For an example I personally am a younger teenager I enjoy books that not exactly considered peak literature (YA, romance, etc) and im getting really tired of the hate
And dont think your safe YA readers its less of a problem but some people think if you read “classics” your just stuck up
Fiction is usually supposed to be fun, creative, maybe inspiring why do we have to hate on what brings other people joy?
Problematic books that romanticize toxicity are a whole different story and I understand criticizing THAT but the amount of hate of perfectly unproblamatic books is crazy
by I_like_broccli
13 Comments
Do people do that in this sub? I’ve not noticed it.
If you have not read Dostoevsky in the original language (apologies to Rowan Williams) you are not doing it right. /s
I understand but you will find this in all aspects of life. I leave with this thought by [Thomas Benjamin Wild Esq](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vqbk9cDX0l0).
I was with you right up until you said, well except for these books which are a completely different story. Nah. What you consider “problematic” is just a book to others. Nobody needs to choose what to read based on what has been deemed ok by others. It’s just a book. Reading it doesn’t mean you endorse the author or any content.
I honestly see the YA crowd trying to devalue classics/ literary fiction far more often than I see the reverse.
Yeah there’s a lot of really popular books that I found terrible. Fuck if I’m going to get in arguments on reddit about them though
You should spend less time worrying about what other people think of you, since you really can’t control that.
I think part of the problem is that some people make a distinction between quality and taste, and others don’t. You can easily spot people from the second group: they tend to say things like “all art is subjective” or “let people enjoy things” etc. At first glance, that sounds reasonable. But the problem with conflating everything with taste is that all media criticism becomes an attack on the people who enjoy that media.
So when people from the first group say “this book is not very well-written,” people from the second group turn that into a statement about taste, and misinterpret it to mean “you’re wrong to like this book”. Or someone will say something like “YA is written for people ages 12-18” (which is an objectively true statement based on the industry definition of YA), and that gets misinterpreted as “you’re wrong for liking YA if you’re an adult.”
Not everything is about taste. The sentences “Anna Karenina is a better book than Twilight” and “I enjoyed reading Twilight more than Anna Karenina” are totally compatible. There is no contradiction. The sooner we can all agree on that, the less common these misunderstandings will be.
I’m not a horror fan but many of my friends are. So far they don’t seem to take offense.
Alternately, I love CATS (1998) and the Depp Willy Wonka and they dont, and I’m not offended.
I’ve gotten a lot of heat about both though x.x. So while I am proud to be a Practical Cat, I don’t talk about horror much (I just say I have Other Plans if invited to any parties)
Criticism doesn’t equate hate of the thing being criticised, and it isn’t an attack on the people who like or are uncritical of it either.
Hey, I hear you. But as an adult, you’ll learn to care less and less every year about what anyone (much less the internet) has to say about your interests. I read all genres, right now I’m reading a book that is basically a Hallmark Christmas movie because I want to feel festive. I literally do not care what a single soul on this planet has to say about the book, I don’t even care what the author would have to say about the book. I’m reading it, it’s my experience, the rest of the world can get f*cked about it. You’ll get there someday, but keep reading what you want until then.
Haters gonna hate. It is what it is. Trick is to not be so bothered by what other people think or say.
Please! I’m getting sick of posts and comments saying how terrible popular authors are. It’s okay that something is popular you don’t like. You don’t have to bash it.
As others have said criticism is not hate. Also, if the person critiquing says they don’t like a genre and discusses that, it shouldn’t be a problem. However, if a person who thinks Dan Brown is high art writes a diatribe about how <insert classic> is bad and the writing is too descriptive and the book could have been 1/3 of the size and more fun to read. Then they deserve any **reasonable** feedback they get.
*reasonable – non-abusive and no death threats.