Back in May, I read The Devils in my book club, and thoroughly enjoyed it! It was a book that had been on my radar for a while, and one that my boyfriend’s mom was excited for me to get to, since she enjoyed it as well.

Shortly after reading it, we were visiting and I mentioned that I had finished. With both excitement and worry, she asked if I had enjoyed it. When I told her that I loved it, she laughed with relief.

“Oh good! I was worried you didn’t like it and I had bad taste in books!”

I laughed along, because it was such a funny thing to say. Of course I think she has good taste in books (we have many many similar books on our shelves, after all). But it got me thinking. If for some reason I didn’t like The Devils like she did, would that actually make her opinion wrong?

The most obvious answer is a big fat no. We are ALL entitled to our own book opinions. That’s kinda the whole point of consuming media. If we all liked the same things, there would be no variety. And no variety means everything is pointless.

I wondered why my opinion meant so much to her in this moment. Is it because I have a degree in English? Because I have a few things published? Because I write this here blog and am very vocal about my book opinions?

Or is it simply because we want people to like the same things that we like?

When I was in middle school, I suggested a friend read Steelheart, by Brandon Sanderson. As a kid (and even into adulthood), I took opinions about my favorite things very seriously. And when she told me that she didn’t enjoy it, I was flabbergasted! How could she think it was a bad book? How could she not see it?

Specifically for Sanderson, for years I was a fierce defender and fighter in his name. People who didn’t like his books were wrong. People who wouldn’t read them were fools. He was obviously the best and needed to be treated that way!

It felt like I was then allowed to be a critic myself. To admit that there are things about these books that not everyone will enjoy. Things that I myself was now able to take issue with. And while I am still a wholehearted fan, I understand where people are coming from when they say they don’t like his pieces.

(Little did I know, this would be a very useful ability to have when it comes to my boyfriend, who has read exactly one Sanderson book and thinks ragebaiting me about him is the funniest thing ever.)

I can admit that my younger self was a full hypocrite, because there was an author I was very critical of, despite having only read one chapter of one of his books.

And that man is Stephen King, one of my top authors for the last few years.

I talk about this in one of my very first articles, but my first experience was very brief and very polarized. It took me years to try him out again, and boy am I glad I did.

So, what did we learn here in this weird ramble? That it’s okay to have different opinions, and that it’s okay to change your opinion.

When I read and rate the books, obviously I’m aware of what the Goodreads average rating is. And generally, my thoughts are very similar to that of the average reader! But there will always be times where my opinions differ. Like with books I DNF, of course. I’ve DNFd some very popular books, like Alchemised and For Whom the Belle Tolls, which have 4.33 and 4.34 stars, respectively. I didn’t enjoy these books at all! But it’s still important for me to voice my opinion. That brings me to the next important part of this weird jumble of thoughts: The importance of expressing your opinions.

If we only rate books we like, or even dislike, then we are hindering the review process. If we change how we feel about a book based on the reviews of others, that can shift the average, too. If we only read books we know we will like, that can also cause some bias. It’s important that we try to be honest with our thoughts so they’re reflected properly. Generally, fans of a certain genre are going to be the ones reading certain books, and as a result, their opinion of it is likely to be high. But when we step outside of our comfort zones, we still need to be honest.

We also need to respect the opinions of others when we do discuss reviews on books. We’re talking about something someone put a lot of work into, and something that lots of people may enjoy. That won’t stop me from dunking on a book privately, but I try to be respectful and considerate when I make my official reviews.

I feel like this was a very long winded way of just saying that we all have a right to our opinions and should respect the views of others, but maybe this is a reminder we sometimes need.

To lighten things up a bit here at the end, I want to share a few books where my personal review differs greatly from the Goodreads average, just to prove my point. Numbers were pulled in late May, so they may vary slightly from what’s listed below.

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