I am 30 and have never read for leisure, but decided last year that I wanted to start reading because I'm sick of doom scrolling. My wife is a book worm and has been reading for as long as she's been able to. What she's shared and what I see on her sometimes is how bad popular books are.
I am on the Dungeon Crawler Carl bandwagon and I love the books, they're so fun, engaging, and they have subtle (and not so subtle) hints at real moral and ethical dilemmas. My wife started reading them with me and she said they're okay, but they're really predictable and redundant. She doesn't hate them but she doesn't get excited to read them at all. But I don't find it predictable at all, and the ethical issues about the world are so engaging for me.
Then there's "booktok" which is new for me. I don't find interest in all the books, but there seems to be a lot of disdain for the quality of books from more seasoned readers. Like ACOTAR, I'm not interested in it, but my wife said the books are lack luster, I've seen people on this subreddit and YouTube say the same thing, but then it gets recommended all over and the friends I have who have read it love it.
She feels bad being a "hater," and doesn't go around shitting on people's books, nor is she a snob. She just talks about the quality and how it's just not good writing. (She's also a writer). And I don't know what good writing is? She'll tell me these fundamental rules some books break, or the lack of substance/plot, and I just end up shrugging because I really only judge the book on if I liked it. And she never tells me I shouldn't like something or look down on people, but it just seems like most of the popular books right now are just very lackluster for her and book critics.
Then I'll come here and I'll see books I like and people talking about the same themes my wife and her friend brings up and I just don't get it. Or I'll read something and people will say "it's like it's written for an 8th grader," and I'm like, really?? I thought it was an easy read but that wasn't a problem.
So now I feel silly/stupid for liking certain books because I feel like only an amateur would like this book. And when I see a book get popular I get nervous that I'm just reading book "slop," and as I talk about it with more people they're going to realize I read bad books.
NOTE: I know this may sound like my wife just shits on everyone's baby, but I just want to put it out there that because she's my wife I talk to her more than anyone else, so I just hear her opinions a lot because we live together. She keeps her opinions to herself with most people unless they asks, she's very respectful. But her entire life revolves around books, writing, and travel lol.
She also openly says she's more of a critic. We compare it to rotten tomatoes. The critic score could be 26% while the audience score is 88%. I always end up in agreeance with audiences while she's usually really aligned with the critics.
by Pinanims
33 Comments
Everyone is different. Enjoy what you enjoy, reading is reading (period), and not everyone will like the same things you do.
I just needed your headline to say: You’re not reading for a degree, you’re reading for entertainment. You shouldn’t care what anyone else says. I’ve read Paolinis Eragon books multiple times as a teenager and loved that shit. Now as an adult I can acknowledge that those books aren’t good at all, but I don’t regret a second of it. Because then, I had fun. Reading is a hobby, not a chore.
You literally are an “amateur” you’ve been reading one year.
What do you care? Enjoy your life and stop worrying about what other people think. If your wife was a math PHD would you start tearing out your hair because you only use basic math to do your grocery shopping?
The cool part about being an adult is that you don’t have to give a fuck what other people think about you anymore. 👍
>Then there’s “booktok”
Oh ignore that. Look, read what you want. There’s always going to be some areshole with an opinion. You’re 30, you need to learn not to have your feelings set by adverts.
Also, writers are aresholes about other writers. Especially published ones. It’s a mix of not reading for fun (reading like a writer), but also professional jealousy. Ignore it.
This post is just engagement bait looking to get your feelings validated, be honest. Different media for different people. You got other issues goin on.
Just enjoy reading. One person’s trash is another’s treasure.
You gotta be comfortable with what you do and like. Don’t let some social media pressure or peer pressure affect you. Everyone who reads follows their own path….unless they just follow the social media path of whatever the flavor of the month is. That seems like a lame way to read. Find what you like and roll with it.
My reading friends and I LOVE Dungeon Crawler Carl. The audio books are the best!!
Life’s short. Who cares? Just read the books you want to read. Everything from slop to Dickens.
Maybe examine why you like the books you do. That way, if you ever do want to “expand,” you know what to look for. Or don’t because again, who cares?
As a fellow voracious reader, DCC is phenomenal. It took me a book or two to really get into it, but if your wife only read the first one, she’s missing out.
I read good books, I read mediocre books, I read purely for enjoyment. My friends and I have a phrase “I didn’t say it was good, I said I liked it”. Read what you enjoy! It’s a HOBBY
Reading a a great, quality form of entertainment. If you enjoyed a book, it wasn’t a waste!
I wouldn’t worry too much about other people’s opinions regarding books. Whether or not you enjoy a book is an extremely subjective matter. The only thing that really matters is how you feel about whatever book you’re reading.
I’ve been an avid reader my whole life. Dungeon crawler Carl is good clean fun. If you like it, who cares.
You’re a grown up. Like what you like.
Some people read for escapism. Some read for literary content. Luckily there’s books for both.
Read what you want to. If you’re embarrassed if someone will see the cover then get a ereader or listen to the audiobook or even a slipcover for the cover of the physical hard copy book. I’m a writer and a reader and I read a little bit of everything. My ereader library is different than my physical library.
I’m 36 and worked in a bookstore for a couple years, and if there’s one thing I have come to learn it’s that all reading is good reading!! Read all the “fluff” you want with no shame! Reading for fun is the best!!!
You wouldn’t put the smash burger from the trailer down the street in a high end restaurant. There is nothing wrong with liking one over the other but good to recognize the difference
Like what you like.
I can’t relate, I like bad books but I’m not insecure about it. I just don’t have the time or energy to take books too seriously. I can’t even muster the will to finish the Expanse series, which I enjoyed before I had so many kids, but I can get through DCC.
Just read stuff. Push your boundaries. Don’t try to impress people.
I don’t think I have read a “good” book since high school
A good book is one you enjoy. Sure, there’s technically good writing and some books might feel like they push a genre forward while others stick with familiar tropes, but what you get out of a book is far more important than where it stands on the quality scale.
If you’re new to reading just read what you wanna read. If you want to “refine” or “elevate” your taste you can worry about that when you start to tire of what you’re enjoying now. When I started reading again post-college I started with YA fantasy and the stuff I loved as a teen. At this point I’ve worked in some hard scifi and plenty of classics but those came along when I started getting hungry for them, not because I was feeling ashamed of what I was reading or feeling fear of “reading wrong.”
You are just starting. You ARE an amateur. I also think it’s best to start with easy and popular books, especially if they manage to pull you in.
I have a habit of reading reviews after finishing a book. I often learn about some of the more hidden messages of the book, and over time, I’ve been able to form my own opinions. But I’ve been reading since forever and still don’t understand everything. I never will. And I also enjoy silly, “bad” and popular books.
As someone who didn’t read for pleasure until his early twenties, part of the reason was because I tried and failed to read the ‘clever-people books’ like David Copperfield. I simply didn’t have the attention span for it.
I started with basic books that were fun and interesting to me, and slowly built up my reading ability. Twenty years later, I now devour the classics.
It was like weight-lifting. Don’t beat yourself up about starting with the 2kg weighs.
If you would like to build up to War and Peace, etc., give yourself time. If you’re happy reading what you’re reading, who cares what everyone else thinks?
Read what you like (and there will still be the occasional clunker) and engage in book communities with like-minded readers. There is no judgement.
Enjoy!!!
Really who cares, my wife is super intelligent and has a very important job, that drains her mentally, but she loves reading. We have amazon kindle unlimited and she devours the trash books on there. Because she loves it, it calms her and make her relax. Doesn’t matter what you read as long as you enjoy it.
Reading is supposed to be an escape and is personal. So what if I like reading reverse harem, it’s not one’s business what I like as long as I enjoy it
Sometimes you go for a big bowl of cereal because that’s what you’re craving for, not every day has to an overnight oats and avocado toast day.
What’s important is to enjoy what you are reading, forcing yourself to read more “elevated” books will just make you stop after a while, it would be pointless.
Like, The Housemaid book, to me it’s “Keeping up with the Kardashians” level of writing and story telling, but I finished it because it had a numbing effect on my brain I would say… to each their own 
Are you reading?
Excellent. Keep doing it. No matter what you’re reading just *keep reading*.
Let’s say you are the kind of person that likes bad books. That still ranks you above the more than 50% of people who don’t even read at all.
A generally acknowledged “classic” book is Pride & Prejudice. In it Austen makes fun of someone who is snooty about what people read.
Reading for pleasure is supposed to be fun. If you’re enjoying yourself you’re doing it right. Judging someone for what they enjoy reading is every bit as ridiculous as judging someone for what car they drive, what watch they wear, or what food they like.
You do you.
It’s easy: time enjoyed is not time wasted.