If you scroll down on this blog, you'll find a little Shelfari bookcase on the right. In it you'll see some of the books I've read. On Shelfari you can give books up to five stars to show how much you liked them. That's what it says: One star means "I hated it" and five stars means "I loved it". And yet, every time I give a book less than four stars, I worry that people will think I am judging the book's quality, saying that it was badly written or should have been something different. But I'm not. All it means is that I personally liked or didn't like a book. The reasons for that have nothing to do with quality and everything with taste.
You'll find lots of people who'll tell you that you should strive to be objective and put your personal feelings aside when reading. To judge a book not by your own taste but by some set of objective rules of good writing. I disagree.
See, I don't believe in objectivity. I don't think you can ever entirely escape your own biography, your own body, your own mind - all the experiences that shape how you see and feel things. More often than not, a claim of objectivity only serves to disguise your subjectivity. I think it is more honest to accept that your views are subjective and act accordingly. I know not everyone will agree with this. I had disagreements about this with more than one scholar during my time at university - people who said that in scientific writing, you always need to claim your findings as fact and never say "I think" or "in my opinion" or show any other doubt that you may be wrong. I have always disagreed with that. I believe it is just my opinion (no matter how well researched), so I'd better be honest about that.
Take the Twilight series. Literally over a hundred million copies have sold of those books. That's a whole lot of people who liked them. Yet, if you go online, you'll find tons of people stating that the books are terribly written, full of clichés and two-dimensional characters. In fact, it sometimes seems that "Twilight" and "Stephenie Meyer" have in certain circles become almost synonymous with "bad YA writing". Now, you don't have to like those books. But would you really say you think you are a better judge of quality than millions of other readers? That all those people are just wrong or stupid?
I read a YA book once that I didn't like very much. I felt that it was more tell than show, and I could never get myself to really feel for the character. The character's emotional development seemed to have been copied almost verbatim from psychology textbooks, and important events were mentioned in passing. I didn't think it was very well written. Then I went online and looked up some reviews of said book. And sure enough, there were plenty of readers who loved it and who described how much they felt for the character and how exciting the story was. Were they wrong? Or was I?
Neither, of course. It's just a matter of taste. It's not a matter of good or bad quality. It's just a matter of whether I liked it or not.
Now some of you may say that I'll never learn anything if I don't look at books more critically. That is not what I am trying to do.
I read a lot, and I think a lot about what I read. I always analyze what works and what doesn't - for me. I constantly strive to improve my own writing, but I don't presume that what I am striving for is anywhere near some sort of universal truth of what makes good writing. It is merely striving for the kind of writing that I like best and hoping that those readers who share my taste will also like it.
Does that sound like I am suggesting everyone just stay in their little boxes of personal taste and never look beyond their horizon? That is not what I am trying to do either.
Just because I don't believe in true objectivity, I do not think you should just be content to stick to your subjective views. In fact, I encourage everyone out there to try as hard as they can to understand other people's subjective views. If you hate a book that others love, try to understand what they love about it. And if you love a book, try to understand why others might not. Just don't assume that either you or they must have it completely right or completely wrong.
I'm sure plenty of people will disagree with almost everything I've said. But that's only to be expected, right? ;-) It's just my opinion, anyway.
What's your opinion? Do you think there is objectively good writing? Who gets to decide what that is? How do you talk about books you liked or didn't?
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