Serious question, has a negative book club review ever made you completely change your reading habits?

Last month someone in my group flat out said my picks were always too safe and predictable. She said I never brought anything with real teeth or a weird structure to the table. It stung because she was right. I switched to a translated novel with no chapters and a non-linear timeline for our next meeting and the debate got heated in a good way. Has anyone else had a single comment from a member totally reshape what you bring to the group?

3 comments

3 Comments

avery_walker3017d ago

That blunt honesty pushed me toward weirder books too and it paid off.

brians2717d ago

Man I used to roll my eyes at people talking about weird experimental fiction. Thought it was just pretentious artsy stuff for people who wanted to sound smart. But a buddy shoved House of Leaves into my hands and I was like fine whatever. Three sleepless nights later I was completely hooked. Now I'm the guy hunting down obscure translated novels and small press releases that dont even have proper plot summaries. That whole "stick to the classics" phase feels like a different lifetime now.

blair_davis5017d ago

Right? Same thing happened to me with a random Jorge Luis Borges collection. You start with one weird book and suddenly you're down a rabbit hole.