Jan. 16th, 2019

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In lieu of the usual reading meme...

From yourlibrarian:

Select the summaries of 10 items that you've recently read (or downloaded) can be published or fanfiction. Paste them in a comment here or on a post of your own, or in the community discussion linked HERE.

I haven't read fanfic in a while -- so I'm picking summaries of books I've recently read, am reading, or comics:

10 summaries of books I've recently read or read within the last year or so... )

By the way, all of the above were written by professional marketing folks.

[ETA: I went to look at some reviews on Good Reads. One of the most reassurring things about art and taste...is well for every person who loves your book, someone will hate it. It's the law of averages. And if you get enough varied people to read it -- there will be the entire range of reactions to it. I noticed this with cooking competitions as well -- in the Big Family Cooking Showdown on Netflix, one person loves brussel sprouts on pizza, one hates it. Made me remember how my brother loved Titantic, and my mother and I thought it was meh. Or how I know people that adore the X-files, and I just never understood why. (Probably didn't help that David Duchovny does nothing for me as an actor. I did like Gillian Anderson -- actually the season I watched the most episodes in was the one in which Patrick Wilson replaced Duchovny.) I loved Buffy and I have friends who never understood that. At work, my cubicle mate loves Las Vegas, honestly...Vegas is my nightmare destination. I think of Vegas and cringe. Or I know people who can use Stevia, I do not understand how -- it's so bitter. Taste is a funny thing...sometimes we share it, sometimes we don't. And it's unique to everyone. Our taste often tells us more about who we are as individuals and a society, that the things we've critiqued.

ETA2: When I first saw the negative reviews, there are just two, of the book I published, my initial feeling was anger, and pain. Because it hurts when someone doesn't like something I've created, sweated over, poured my soul into...be a bit like someone telling you that your child or dog or cat was ugly. But then again, not, because not everyone is going to like our children. And we can learn from those who don't. (How to avoid them...comes to mind). But also, it...lends credence to a work of art. Smart Bitches once said that they paid more attention to books with a 3.62 average on Good Reads than 5 stars or 4.8 because you knew a broader range of people read them, also it was almost as if the ratings were giving you the finger -- so there was controversy. Why did 50% love it, and 50% not so much. I have to agree -- the better books I've read are the ones that had negative and positive reviews. Some of the worst books I've read had 5 star ratings -- and very high ones. Same is true with fanfic.
And movies. And television series. Some of my favorite television shows of all time, were the most controversial among critics.

So, I'm tempted to thank those who took the time to write a bad review. I mean, that takes time, you obviously felt something, the book pissed you off big time. If you were ambivalent, you wouldn't have said anything at all. And artists want a reaction to their work...preferably a positive one, but, hey a negative one will do...as long as we're read, and as long as someone thought about what we said for a little bit.]

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