Books to Love and Hate
Ever read a book that you don’t like? Maybe it’s been hyped up by the reading community and you think to yourself, “Well if everyone says it’s good, then it must be!” It’s only when you start reading do you realize it’s not your type of book at all. What then? You paid for that book, you got to finish it to get your money’s worth, don’t you?
No, you don’t.
Back in 2017, I bought a book that came highly recommended. While reading it, I just couldn’t get into it. The story was awful and the characters were one-sided. I pushed myself to complete it because I paid for that book. I wasn’t about to let that money go to waste. The ending was very disappointing and I truly wished that I had never read the book to begin with. After I finished that book I told myself never again would I force myself to read a book simply because I bought it. Now, if I start a book and realize a few chapters in that this isn’t for me, I will take the financial loss and move on. It’s simply not worth putting myself through all that agony when I could have been reading a book I actually liked.
Everyone likes this book, so I should as well
I often get recommended books through social media that everyone is talking about. Surely, if enough people say that a book is good, then it must be worth reading. I beg to differ. It’s perfectly OK to put down a book if you discover that you really don’t like it. It’s like setting boundaries with a toxic friend. It’s OK to walk away.
What I like to do is stick to the genres I usually enjoy reading, or find a writer I like and read almost everything they've written. For example, Lisa See. I love pretty much everything she writes.
Discovering the genre of books you enjoy can often take a lifetime. Your tastes naturally evolve over time as you grow and mature. I’m not reading the same kinds of books now that I did just a couple of years ago. I recently tried rereading a book I had loved many years ago. I remembered the impact it had on me, so I decided to revisit it. However, I quickly realized that the book was written for the person I once was during that particular season of my life.
So, on this day of love, I will do just that: read what I love, not because everyone else loves it too.
