You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion
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Watcha Doing? Version 2015
I don't even think it is possible to create something that everyone in the world will like, no matter whether its books or art or music. In of the first replies to the review someone said that only 7% of the ratings of the book were 1 star, and that was a day ago. The book page now shows an average rating of 1.67 with 78% 1-star. I expect many people have given him 1 star simply for his behaviour, and I wonder if all those raters actually read it, even though they wrote some sentences about it.
He really ruined it for himself.
Peggy wrote: "I don't even think it is possible to create something that everyone in the world will like, no matter whether its books or art or music. In of the first replies to the review someone said that on..."
I completely agree Peggy. It is impossible to create something that everyone will like as everyone has different tastes and what works for one person will not necessarily work for the next person. The world would be a pretty boring place if we did all like the same things.
I think a lot of the recent 1 star reviews for his book are from people who haven't read it but are simply rating it low because they don't like his behaviour. It just seems really coincidental that all these low ratings have appeared in wake of his comments.
Oh my... It seems he forgot to take his medicine this morning...
I gave 1 star to a book which was classic sci fi. Had won 3 sci fi awards nebula hugo and the third. Listed as one of greatest sci fi books ever wtitten. It was Gateway and in my ooinion one of 5 worst books I've ever read. After all the praise I didn't feel guilty at all in fact 1 star was probably 3/4 of a star higher than it deserved in my boat
The author's profile was put down. I don't know it he did it himself of if GR did it. I try to see his profile and an "oops, we couldn't find that profile" message appeared. Sad what he did to himself and his career as a writer...There are 12 pages of comments in the review now. Sad.
I can't understand why he took it so personal. When you are going to rate a book in GR, each star is "labeled" accordingly:1 star = did not like it
2 stars = it was ok
3 stars = I like it
4 stars = I really like it
5 stars = it was amazing
He is definitively a violent person.
Sandra wrote: "I can't understand why he took it so personal. When you are going to rate a book in GR, each star is "labeled" accordingly:1 star = did not like it
2 stars = it was ok
3 stars = I like it
4 stars..."
I don't understand why he took it personally either. It wasn't like it was an attack against him as a person, the reviewer simply said that she didn't enjoy his book and even offered to rewrite her review and elaborate on exactly what it was about it that she didn't like. As long as reviewers don't make personal, vindictive attacks against an author or anyone associated with them there is nothing wrong with expressing dislike of a book.
I was able to pull up his profile, but it says he's not a Goodreads author. I guess I'm a bad person because I give 1 star reviews. One of the phrases that makes me choke these days is "honest review". I'm not sure what that means any more. People ask for the truth and then can't handle it when they get it.
I recently had a short discussion with an author who leaves only 4 and 5 stars out of solidarity with fellow authors. Is that honest? It is kind of refreshing to see a profession where there is such solidarity. Go to a new hairdresser - "whoever did your hair before did a terrible job". New dentist - "we need to correct the poor work that was done previously on your teeth."
As for this situation, if the author hadn't had such a spectacular meltdown, nobody would have even seen the one star rating. He caused his own downfall with his rabid attack. Scary to think he's loose out there.
This makes me wonder about that other nutcase Kathleen Hale who stalked a reviewer and then wrote a Guardian article about how she fixed her. I understand there were charges pressed, but have never heard the outcome.
I give 1 star rates too, but is not very often. 1 star for me means "an unpleasant reading". So far I only have 13 books rated that way in my shelves.
A lot of authors only give 5 stars. I follow a few authors because they don't fear giving an honest rating to fellow authors. Like one author told another author once, sorry for the harsh review but just giving some suggestions on how to make a better novel.
Under a tornado watch here till 8pm. Looks like most of Virginia is under the watch :( we've had watches before but I still hate them. You'd think after living in Nebraska I'd be used to tornado watches (sometimes warnings) but nope..still hate them. On a happier note..I just learned that the show Resurrection is based on a book called the returned. Since the show got cancelled, I'm looking forward to reading the book :)
We don't have tornados here, so what exactly does it mean to be under tornado watch? What's the difference with a warning? Both sound dangerous, take care!
@Peggy, no tornadoes? That amazes me. I thought that was a phenomenon everywhere? Do you call them something else there? Like how a typhoon and hurricane are basically the same thing, just different names?The way I remember the difference between a tornado watch and warning (or watch/warning for floods, thunderstorms, etc) is a watch means "Watch out, a tornado may happen!" and a warning means "WARNING! There is a tornado!" It is silly, but that is what makes it easy for me to remember.
I suppose officially a watch means that conditions are right for a tornado (or whatever weather disturbance) to form.
@Stephanie, I hope the storms don't get too bad for you. Stay safe!
Me too :) we aren't planning to go out anywhere tonight. Hubby said it looks like we are on the edge of the watch. Still doesn't make me feel good:( I'm just glad we are on the main floor of the apartment building. Doesn't stress me out as much when we were in the other place, lol! I know warnings are worse but still ...ick for bad weather!
Thanks for explaining! I looked it up, and apparently tornados do occur here, but they are so weak they don't deserve the name and are called whirlwinds. There have been 6 since 1925 that match American ones in strength, but never do they cause as much damage or danger. We do get weather warnings a few times a year, usually related to storms with heavy winds and thunder, and snow. I've never heard of tornado or whirlwind warnings here, and have never experienced one either.
We are under a tornado watch too, for 3 more hours. So far it's only raining. I'm getting used to this.
To everyone currently under tornado watches/warnings: stay safe!
Peggy wrote: "Thanks for explaining! I looked it up, and apparently tornados do occur here, but they are so weak they don't deserve the name and are called whirlwinds. There have been 6 since 1925 that match Ame..."We sometimes get tornadoes here in the UK too but they are usually very weak and don't cause much damage. I personally have never seen or experienced one here but I did see a waterspout in the distance whilst in Florida once.
It's a rare occasion for us to get tornadoes althpugh the threat grows each year. Last June they expected a tornado and gave the estimated touch down spot for it. I heard it and they literally placed it on ny property. Luckily for me it was another 10 miles before it touched down and it was on the ground probably less than a minute
California does not have tornadoes either, we have earthquakes for which we have absolutely no warning, but the bad ones aren't that often thankfully! We also don't have hurricanes, something about the temperature of the water, not quite sure what it is, just know it doesn't happen.
Earthquakes would be insane. I've only felt a small one once in Washington state.
I was at the sheriffs office in 2010 getting interviewed and finger printed for my pistol permit when we had a small earthquake. My chair started shaking and sliding across floor. Then next to us is the prison part of the buikding so we all thought there was a jail break because sounded lije a herd of elephants over there. Don't have time to worry about earthquakes when you think you landed in the center of a jailbreak. Probably the strongest earthquake we've had since you don't usually feel them. I think the epicenter was 100 miles north in Canada if I recall correctly
That authors comments were ridiculous. I will not be reading anything by him either based on his behavior.@Peggy: A tornado watch means the conditions are favorable for a tornado to form. A tornado warning means there has actually been a tornado spotted.
I am running first aid for my kids scout day camp. I thought "oh, I will get a lot of reading done." Unfortunately, that was not the case today. Apparently, we have a group of accident prone kids this week. Nothing major, but still busy.
Our tornado watch has been cancelled :) Sandra, has it been cancelled where you are??
Yes. We are having a beautiful night now.
We apparently have the same amount, if not more, tornadoes here than the States. But they tend to happen in the desert so we have no damage, and it really surprises Australians to find that out, as we don't experience them. We have small ones we call willy-willies but they don't do much, just a small wind tunnel.
The fun ones are the fire tornadoes we get with bushfires. Go google that one... Eek.
We call hurricanes cyclones here, and we have lots of those up north. They tend to hit more populated areas, particularly in Far North Queensland, so we worry about them instead.
GR banned the "inestable" author so all his comment disappeared. Tge review has more than 600 likes. I was thinking how stressful it has to have been for the reviewer, the guy abusing her and all the people commenting.
wow! the fire tornados images are impressive!
That sounds scary! We have fires and wins but nothing like that, thankfully!
Those fire tornadoes, I googled, are insane!
Yup... it's a classic case of
Rusalka wrote: "Yup... it's a classic case of"
Eek!!!
That's kind of too long...
@ Rusalka, tornado-fire, wow, sounds like a whole new level of hell. Talk about scary!So are cyclones and hurricanes the same then?
And of course an enormously long snake like this would have to be from Australia!
@ Sandra and Stephanie - glad the tornado watch is all clear now in your locales.
@ Amanda - hope the kids stay safe at camp and glad they have your help with first aid (and maybe you can get some reading in some of the other days, heh heh).
Tejas Janet wrote: "So are cyclones and hurricanes the same then?"Yup. Just depends where in the world you are to what you call them.
Hehe, that's a standard meme that pops up every now and then. I thought you'd all "appreciate" Mr Taipan there. Fun fact, not only is he incredibly long, but considered the most venomous of all land snakes. And incredibly aggro.I finally found the meme of that with a fire tornado after I had posted that one above. Too many choices, which really is scary in itself.
But yes, glad everyone is safe and well. Including the scouts in Amanda's care! My memories of scouts first aid was just lots of bandaids.
The picture of that snake gives me the heebee jeebies. I am not a fan.We have the occasional tornado here. A few years back I was working at a clients when the storm hit. The hail and rain was deafening. When it passed, we went outside to see what damage the hail had caused. The building across and down the street was missing one wall. The desks and file cabinets were still there as if nothing had happened to the building. Up until then, we had no idea it was a tornado. The media reported it later as a rare "cold weather tornado". Fortunately, there were no fatalities.
Yikes for the snake, and even more for fire tornados. I hope I never encounter either of them!We have more 'tornados' per km2 than Florida, apparently, but like Lisa said, because they're so weak we don't even notice.
I told my partner about that author and he spent ages reading through all the comments too. Normally he's not bothered with things like that but as Tasha (I think) said, it was like a train wreck that you couldn't look away from. I've seen the fire tornado pictures before and they are very scary looking. Oh and cheers for the snake picture Rusalka!
We definitely get off lightly here in the UK with weather and geological activity. I do remember being woke up to things shaking with a very small earthquake about 12 years ago when I lived in Nottingham. You were lucky Travis that tornado landed further North!
Rusalka wrote: "Tejas Janet wrote: "So are cyclones and hurricanes the same then?"Yup. Just depends where in the world you are to what you call them."
And my hub informs me that typhoons are also in this same category - tornadoes over water. Also water spouts but they're maybe like willy-willies over land in Australia? not sure.
He's says it's all just a matter of location and which ocean.
You were in scouts, Rusalka? : )
Rusalka wrote: "Yup... it's a classic case of"
That is one long snake Rusalka!
I know you asked Rusalka but I thought I'd chime in too. I was a venture scout and then when I was too old I became an assistant scout leader. I loved it. not involved now though but I did it for about 5 years.
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You'll love this one...!! A book club & more
Books mentioned in this topic
Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors (other topics)Gateway (other topics)
The Casual Vacancy (other topics)
The Thirteenth Tale (other topics)
The Fellowship of the Ring (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Isabel Allende (other topics)Enid Blyton (other topics)
Karin Slaughter (other topics)
I've just been looking through reviews of Harry Potter and there are definitely some 1 and 2 star reviews amongst them. The Casual Vacancy also has a lot of 1 star reviews and is currently rated 3.25 on Goodreads. Every author gets low ratings and criticism from time to time and if they can't handle it, they are probably in the wrong profession (which I am starting to think may apply to this guy).