I have this weird thing. The more the general populace likes a book, or a movie, or a TV show, the more likely I am to completely hate it.
This isn’t true if there’s a fringe cult following of something. If a select slice of the populace loves a movie or book, I still may dig it. Firefly and Discworld, for example. Both of them have rabid fans, and a good number of them. But the general populace at large has mostly not heard of them. I love both.
Here, in no special order, is a list of shit I hate that everyone else seems to love:
Harry Potter
Doctor Who
Twilight — not even as a guilty pleasure. I have several friends who say they know it’s garbage, but they still love it — quietly. Nope. I just fricking hate it.
Anita Blake
Mercy Thompson — I read the books and liked them okay, but the more people rave about them the more annoyed I am that they were just okay.
Serial killer documentaries
Eragon — again, I read the books, and was not super impressed. The more people rave about them, the more annoyed I am that they weren’t that good.
Star Trek after TNG
Anne McCaffrey — I LOVED the Dragon Riders of Pern when I was a teen, but trying to re-read those books as an adult was . . . painful.
The Wheel of Time
And the list goes on. I don’t know why I’m so fussy. I don’t know why I don’t like things that everyone likes. I just know that the more I hear people recommending a show or book, the less likely I am to try it, and if I do, the less likely I am to like it. It took me years to get into Discworld, simply because several people recommended it in a few months, and it made me suspicious. When my sister loaned me Reaper Man, I figured I was safe — she and I mostly like similar things.
Neil Gaiman is an exception. But he’s also one of those authors that people don’t rave about and recommend over and over. I don’t know why that is. He’s just quietly amazing. Harry Potter fans rave and wear clothes decorated with “their” house and want to know which wand you would choose. Neil fans just read his books and squee when they find out you have, too.
I’m willing to take recommendations from people — especially people who’ve given me good suggestions in the past. But I’m always leery about books or movies or shows that people tell me to try. My tastes are really peculiar — and really picky. Having studied how to write a good book, and the whys of good writing, it stands out to me like a giant pimple when something popular doesn’t follow those rules.
I certainly don’t think that makes me or my writing super great — I’m human, I have my blind spots, the things I need to work on, things that I haven’t even learned yet, things I know in my head and so forget to put somewhere on the page.
There’s a difference, though, to me, between reading something where it’s clear the author has a great idea and has made a few errors, and reading something that is completely error-filled, or not that great to begin with.
And there’s a difference between the recommendation of someone who gets that, somehow, somewhere, on some level, like my sister; and someone who has zero idea what good writing is supposed to look like and does not care.
Do I have any guilty pleasures? Books or movies that I know are awful that I love just because?
Y’know — now that I think about it, no. Because the books and movies that I used to love and watch even though they were bad have gotten worse with each re-watch/re-read, until I just don’t enjoy them anymore. While the books and movies that I have loved and continue to love, I keep finding more and more ways in which they are brilliant, and more reasons to recommend them.
So anyway, if you tell me to read something and I do, you should take that as a big compliment. It means I think you have good taste.
Am I just picky? Maybe. But it’s a hill I’m willing to die on. After all, life is too short to read bad books.
