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Wherein I ramble about books, movies,
music, TV shows, my life, and occasionally, hot emo boys.
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Wednesday, October 17, 2007
All the other kids are doing it...
I just had an interesting experience. People have been talking about the Black Dagger Brotherhood books for the last two years. I stubbornly refused to read them because they didn't sound like my sort of thing. At all.
But two days ago, I caved. Not because I desperately wanted to read the book(s), but because I was tired of having nothing to contribute to the discussions when people brought those books up. So I paid my money and took my chances.
Now I'm no longer standing in line with my empty bowl while my peers are like, "Back of the line!" I know all the secrets about Butch, Vishous, Zsadist, Wrath and Rhage. Although I still don't know why only Wrath gets to have his name spelled right. Is it because he's king? Only the king gets correct spelling? And his men are subject to the fiendish misappropriation of Hs to keep them humble? MAYBE THE EXTRA Hs STAND FOR HUMILITY! Holy crap, I'm a genius.
Anyway, I digress. I think there's an interesting phenomenon attached to this and it goes all the way back to peer pressure in high school. Yhou knowh, being nudged into doing something you don't necessarily want to, but you want to fit in. You want to wear the right shoes and read the right books, and have a clue what people are talking about when they ask, "What's doing?"
It makes me wonder how much influence "buzz" exerts over our reading choices. Makes me want to re-examine whether I actually want to read something, or if I just want to conform. In this case it was the latter. I could've gone my whole life without checking out the Brotherhood, dig? But I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I wanted to contribute to discussions. I wanted to know what had everyone else so excited.
I'm not a trend-follower. Most times, I'm so oblivious that trends have come and gone before I ever register a shift. But it's intriguing, nonetheless. It makes me wonder whether people have gotten on board with this series in order to feel part of something. In the modern world there's often a sense of alienation and estrangement. People look for ways to belong, and will sometimes do some wild, desperate things in order to evoke those feelings. (BDB Book 4 actually deals with that in some respects.)
For some people, it's church. For others it's family. And for others, it's friends. Then there are people who belong nowhere at all, and feel like nobody gets them, divided, isolated. They die alone. So give someone you love a hug today. If you have no one to hug, email me. I can't come to your house and deliver the love, but I'm a good listener.
'fess up. Have y'all ever bought a book just because other people were talking about it? A CD? Gone to see a movie? You didn't want to be the only one who'd really rather watch a Nature Channel special? Or are you cool with your outcast state?
PS - If this post has been weird, disjointed, and too depressing for your taste, come back tomorrow. I'll post a stupid T13, made up of fart jokes. That should put the smile back on your faces.
But two days ago, I caved. Not because I desperately wanted to read the book(s), but because I was tired of having nothing to contribute to the discussions when people brought those books up. So I paid my money and took my chances.
Now I'm no longer standing in line with my empty bowl while my peers are like, "Back of the line!" I know all the secrets about Butch, Vishous, Zsadist, Wrath and Rhage. Although I still don't know why only Wrath gets to have his name spelled right. Is it because he's king? Only the king gets correct spelling? And his men are subject to the fiendish misappropriation of Hs to keep them humble? MAYBE THE EXTRA Hs STAND FOR HUMILITY! Holy crap, I'm a genius.
Anyway, I digress. I think there's an interesting phenomenon attached to this and it goes all the way back to peer pressure in high school. Yhou knowh, being nudged into doing something you don't necessarily want to, but you want to fit in. You want to wear the right shoes and read the right books, and have a clue what people are talking about when they ask, "What's doing?"
It makes me wonder how much influence "buzz" exerts over our reading choices. Makes me want to re-examine whether I actually want to read something, or if I just want to conform. In this case it was the latter. I could've gone my whole life without checking out the Brotherhood, dig? But I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I wanted to contribute to discussions. I wanted to know what had everyone else so excited.
I'm not a trend-follower. Most times, I'm so oblivious that trends have come and gone before I ever register a shift. But it's intriguing, nonetheless. It makes me wonder whether people have gotten on board with this series in order to feel part of something. In the modern world there's often a sense of alienation and estrangement. People look for ways to belong, and will sometimes do some wild, desperate things in order to evoke those feelings. (BDB Book 4 actually deals with that in some respects.)
For some people, it's church. For others it's family. And for others, it's friends. Then there are people who belong nowhere at all, and feel like nobody gets them, divided, isolated. They die alone. So give someone you love a hug today. If you have no one to hug, email me. I can't come to your house and deliver the love, but I'm a good listener.
'fess up. Have y'all ever bought a book just because other people were talking about it? A CD? Gone to see a movie? You didn't want to be the only one who'd really rather watch a Nature Channel special? Or are you cool with your outcast state?
PS - If this post has been weird, disjointed, and too depressing for your taste, come back tomorrow. I'll post a stupid T13, made up of fart jokes. That should put the smile back on your faces.
I like to read a lot, it's something I love to do and when people start talking about a certain book or series and it's in my area of genre love (paranormals in this case) I'll take a shot.
I will say I prefer Lara Adrian's world, but different strokes and all that.
I suspect the reason I have no trouble suspending belief is because she chose to set her series in the future. I have no way of knowing what the future will be like, so I'm more open to invention. Same with JD Robb's In Death series.
I think JR Ward is a tremendous storyteller and her writing has an almost hypnotic quality. It's very...addictive. Immersing. But it's not something I would have read on my own.
Never read Lara Adrian.
However, time is limited. I just don't have the time to read every recommended book. So, I've opted out of whole series of books - whole genres in fact. Not because I think I'll dislike them but because I probably WILL like them and then I'll have to buy the whole series. And JR Ward books have fallen into that category for me.
But I AM going try Nalini Singh because just everyone says she's fabulous. And that's the kind of hype you can't ignore.
Nalini doesn't hit me like that. Her books are getting consistently better, in my opinion. Caressed by Ice was the best so far, and hell, I sort of want to read it again. And I don't typically re-read books. It has to be an A+++ for me to want to whip it out again, ever, let alone within a month of reading it.
what I wanna know is, where all the black people at? the mexicans? shit, even an asian person? caldwell is so fuckin' white you could use that chlorox detergent on it.
these books are NOT good. they're like a soap opera, but you can't resist reading it to see what's gonna happen and with who and who is the baby daddy.
it is a hot mess.
The only thing I have recently conformed on was that darn Britney Spears video. *blush* I blame peer pressure, and insane curiosity driving me to these lengths. All my non writer friends, spamming me day and night about this new song and video -ARG! Everywhere I turned - hype, buzz, fat jokes, vicious hate snarling, jibs about her pole dancing. Okay. Enough. I'll go view it. I checked it out, and I'm still wondering what the big deal is. To each his own, I guess.
Sad, sad state of affairs when this shit is on the bestseller lists.
and i can't believe you bought these books just because other people were getting them. shame on you, putting money in that author's pocket.
By the time the third book was released, I decided to find out what was causing this fanaticism and bought the first book. The K-Feds-isms made me snicker my way through it. But, ya gotta admit, once you read one, there's something addictive about them and I went out and bought the next two and have kept up with them ever since.
As a rule, if there is a lot of buzz about a book or series, I WILL check it out. If it sounds like something that would interest me, then I DO buy it and give it a try.
You two anons make some good points about the series. But as for how I spend my book money, well, I reckon that's my business.
Dan Brown's the Da Vinci Code for example was...ehh. He's a reader's writer to me.
The biggest thing I'll pick on is Ward's inconsistent world-building. It's an engrossing world, nonetheless and I would just about kill for Tohr's book.
Nalini is a friend and I think her books rock, but then I'm a big paranormal fan, especially for feline shifters. I would have picked her book up anyway :-)
Think about it.
Now, I am intrigued on what the big deal about this series is, but this is what the net, and spoilers and such are for.
Then there are certain times when it comes to my reading choices that I tend to listen to the buzz of blogs and reviews. Normally it's just to see what's out there and learn about new authors and upcoming books. Sometimes I'm interested, often times I'm not. It just depends on my mood. If I'm in a reading slump I'll be more likely to try something that has a good buzz . If I don't have anything else to read, books with good word of mouth are just as good to start with as any other book. There are lots of series that are popular that I've disliked or not even tried. It just depends on what appeals to me at the moment.
As for the BDB, I've been with the series since the beginning. There was an ad for some new vampire series being released, in the back of some book I was reading. I made a note to myself to check it out when it was released. I had nothing else to read so I bought it. I liked the world that Ward created so I decided to come back for more. I've been reading the BDB ever since. I was really very
surprised that her books have gained such a following. I thought the books would be too dark and gritty for the die hard strictly romance fans.
Nalini Singh and Patricia Briggs are two authors that the buzz of blogs and reviews turned me onto. They have both turned into auto buys for me. So sometimes you actually find great stuff listening to the hype.
I got into the BDB when a friend almost forced me to read Dark Lover (I think Wrath has a normal name because he has a naturally occuring H; the others do not). It was only a meh read for me. When I read Lover Eternal, I was hooked. Then I visited the Boards and for all that people criticise it, the community there kind of builds up the series and makes you want more, particularly when JRW would post tidbits on the Brothers' out-of-book experiences.
The thing is, I think the Boards were a double-edged sword. When I read Lover Awakened and all the books after, I was disappointed because the characters never seemed to shine as much as they did on the Boards. Also, the fanatical squeeing turned me off (although I've met some of those fanatical squee girls in person and they're actually quite lovely people *g*).
So I think it's not really about peer pressure when it comes to books or even popular entertainment. It's not that people are coercing me to buy into the hype. It's just that if I don't, I won't quite *get* what people are talking about around the watercooler. Peer pressure is about fitting in and it's fed by insecurity, whereas I think buying into the hype is fed by curiousity, wanting to know what the big deal is, and at times, being excited that I might discover something new and wonderful.
I've read books based on consistently good reviews, but I think that's part of the reading/buying experience. I don't want to spend my money on something that people think is crap--it's too much of a risk for my budget. But if 5 bloggers whose opinions I trust say that Nalini Singh or Meljean Brook is great, there's a good chance that she is and I'm more likely to take the risk with my money.
And now I'm mightily curious... What did you think about the series?